Our Values

In line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.

Our Values are:

• Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
• Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
• Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
• Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
• Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
• Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

About the team we are recruiting to

Coventry is a diverse and exciting place to work with excellent opportunities created by a challenging and varied workload. You will be joining a busy, friendly, and professional Licensing & Business Compliance Team with prospects to gain experience in a wide range of subject areas as well as operate in a variety of commercial and domestic settings.  Exciting things are happening in Coventry with Coventry City of Culture 2021, starting in May 2021 with a 365 day programme of Culture and the Commonwealth Games in 2022. 

The team covers a wide range of functions including Food Standards, Feed Hygiene, Animal Health and Welfare, Fair Trading, Consumer Advice, Product Safety, Door Step Crime, Under Age Sales of Restricted products, Counterfeiting and Licensing enforcement. 

The successful candidates will be working in our Regulatory Services team which is made up of multi-disciplinary professionals including Licensing, Trading Standards, Food and Safety, Housing Enforcement and Property Licensing.  These specialisms embrace a range of service areas used by the community which primarily involves people, businesses or organisations needing to obtain some form of consent or are required to comply with various legal provisions.  The service area aims to: 

• Ensure that the public, visitors, workers and residents of Coventry have the right to a healthy  and safe work and domestic environment; 

• Treat all regulated persons and businesses in a fair and consistent manner, through a process of education, persuasion and enforcement, ensuring that the public and businesses observe the law 

• Protect public health and the wider environment, whilst minimising disruption to enterprise or economic activity and reducing the legislative burden on complaint and business. 

We are seeking positive, experienced, enthusiastic, talented and driven Trading Standards Officer to join this busy and dynamic team. 

What is the job role?

Under the general direction of the Principal Trading Standards Officer, the successful candidate with be responsible for contributing to  

• Deliver a high quality Business Compliance and Advice service in a way that contributes to the achievement of the City Council’s vision and objectives for a growing and sustainable city. 

• Enforce all relevant legislation administered by the section, and to educate and encourage the public and business proprietors in order to improve relevant standards. 

• Undertake the investigation of complaints and inspections of premises, including joint inspections with other agencies to ensure compliance with legislation as required ensuring all relevant legislation is being complied with.  

• Prepare reports and briefing notes as necessary for relevant committee and member meetings such as Licensing and Regulatory Committee, Cabinet Member Meetings and Scrutiny Board and provide technical support to the Chair of Committee, Cabinet Member and Senior Officers.  

• Provide first line contact, offer appropriate assistance, advice and support for members of the public and businesses, including outside agencies, Elected Members, Senior Officers and other Council Departments, making telephone enquiries or calling in person; and provide professional and legally correct advice and information 

• Prepare statements of evidence and correspondence to be submitted to Legal Services, and attend Court as required to give evidence and report back on the outcome.  

• Interview alleged offenders and witnesses under PACE as required. 

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Who are we looking for?

A Trading Standards Officer with experience of carrying out investigative work in an enforcement environment, with knowledge and an understanding of legislation and Codes of Practice (including PACE) in relation to Trading Standards and Consumer Protection and any associated regulations and policy relevant to the service area.  Experience of sampling, animal health and welfare, food standards and feed hygiene are desirable. 

The successful candidate will have the ability to build relationships with businesses and customers and have excellent standards of customer care and equal opportunities when delivering the business compliance function. 

We are looking for someone with the ability to deal confidently with a wide range of people including businesses, the public, internal and external stakeholders, Elected Members, senior managers and colleagues. You will need to have good written and oral communication skills and excellent organisational skills to enable workload prioritisation and meeting deadlines. 

When applying for this role you will be asked to write a personal statement. Please include the following examples in your application:  

• Experience and Knowledge of working within a Trading Standards Team 
• Examples of dealing with customers and building relationships with businesses to get desired outcomes. 
• Ability to work on your own initiative and generating ideas to solve problems. 

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.

Interview date(s): 21st October 2024

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies

Coventry City Council