Business Support Assistant

Business Support Assistant

Fixed Term, Full Time

Annual Salary: £25,959 per annum

Location: Clacton on Sea

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Closing Date: 10/06/2026

Please note this vacancy is available as a fixed term 37 hours per week contract up until 01/12/2026.

The Opportunity

Essex County Council (ECC) is undergoing significant transformational change to enhance customer focus and service delivery. As part of this, the Business Support team will work within specialised Business Centre Support Teams and Service Support Teams to promote specialised knowledge and improve service efficiency.

The Role

As a Business Support Assistant you will join a friendly and collaborative team that plays a vital role in keeping services running smoothly. Your day to day work will involve word processing, minute taking, data entry, updating databases, call handling, managing shared inboxes, and ensuring information is accurate and well organised.

You will act as a trusted point of contact for colleagues and stakeholders, using strong communication skills to respond professionally to queries and build positive working relationships across the organisation.

You will support a range of on site and reception activities, acting as a welcoming presence for staff, visitors and customers. This will include handling enquiries, supporting reception duties, managing petty cash and ensuring the site runs efficiently.

Due to changing service demands you may be required to undertake a range of additional or alternative duties, including supporting other teams and carrying out varied administrative tasks as needed.

You will be encouraged to take ownership of your workload, develop strong organisational skills and gain valuable experience with key systems, processes and business procedures.

Accountabilities

• Provide high quality, efficient and effective Business Support services to internal customers within agreed timescales and SLAs.
• Respond to customer requests and queries promptly and efficiently.
• Act as a professional representative of the Business Support service at a local level, handling customers via telephone calls personally or redirecting in line with Essex customer standards.
• Provide self directed clerical support, checking own work and proactively raising standards.
• Maintain confidential records according to Essex County Council policy and guidance.
• Support the team or service with the organisation of events, conferences and workshops.
• Provide support across the team or service in dealing with correspondence, meeting documentation and finance support in all aspects of documentation processing.
• Share knowledge and good practice with colleagues and highlight more efficient ways of delivering customer service.
• Work effectively across on site and remote settings, providing on site support when required.
• Achieve specific individual and shared targets and objectives defined annually within the performance management framework.
• Actively participate in training and support cross skilling to ensure flexibility and continuity of service.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) including maths and English, or an equivalent vocational qualification, or equivalent demonstrable experience.
• Evidence of the ability to develop skills and knowledge in role.
• Demonstrable experience and competence of MS Office applications and their practical application.
• Ability to use computerised systems with a high level of speed and accuracy.
• Previous experience of managing electronic or hard copy filing systems.
• Ability to communicate in a manner which is easily understood and tailored to meet the needs of the audience.
• Experience of dealing with sensitive and/or personal information in accordance with GDPR requirements.
• Ability to think of improved ways of working and openness to new practices and responsiveness to change.
• Ability to take ownership of work and fulfil agreed commitments, checking work for accuracy.
• Demonstrable ability to deliver effective customer service.

Legal and EEO Statement

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We are committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. We also interview all veterans and care leavers who meet the minimum requirements for the role.

We provide many employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate carers' needs.

All employees and volunteers are required to uphold the council's code of conduct and Nolan principles.

As part of employment, if your role requires a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service is an annual subscription; you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.