Person specification

Published: 06 March 2025

Job title: Organisational and Workforce Development (OWD) Assistant


Attributes

Experience

Essential: 

  • Ability to plan and schedule events and activities.
  • Ability to work to deadlines.
  • Ability to prioritise workloads.
  • Experience of working as part of a team

Desirable:

  • Experience of working in an OD/ HR/ L&D function.
  • Events planning and co-ordination experience

Education, qualifications and training

Essential: 

  • Qualifications or skills and experience at SCQF Level 4/Level 5 (i.e. Standard Grades or National Qualifications).
  • Commitment to own CPD.

Desirable:

  • Qualifications or skills and experience at SCQF Level 9 (i.e. Degree in relevant subject).
  • CIPD qualified or working towards.

Skills and knowledge

Essential: 

  • Excellent organisational and planning skills
  • Ability to manage conflicting priorities and work to tight deadlines/prioritise workloads
  • Strong IT skills, with good working knowledge of all Microsoft Office packages
  • Strong communicator, both verbally and in written form.

Desirable:

  • Experience of using Cornerstone learning management system or other learning management systems
  • Working knowledge and understanding of OD/HR practices and key policies and procedures.

Key performance outcome

Effective communication

Essential: 

  • Demonstrate clear and concise verbal and written communication skills.
  • Ability to select appropriate communication style and methods depending on the needs and abilities of the audience.
  • Listens actively and questions to check understanding.

Team working

Essential: 

  • Ability to contribute to and support the work and decisions of the team.
  • Ability to work co-operatively and supportively with others.
  • Values and makes use of skills, knowledge and experience of others.

Improvement focus

Essential: 

  • Contributes to the development of new ideas, policies and procedures where appropriate.
  • Aware of trends and changes in processes and procedures and keeps own knowledge and skills up to date.
  • Seeks opportunities for learning and personal development.

Personal accountability and responsibility

Essential: 

  • Maintains a high standard of work, ensuring attention to detail, actively seeking out continuous improvement.
  • Demonstrates initiative within own area of expertise.
  • Takes responsibility for own actions and decisions.

Working in partnership

Essential: 

  • Openly shares information as and when appropriate, maintaining confidentiality as appropriate.
  • Respects others, recognises and values differences and diversity.
  • Keeps others information of progress of work plan, targets, etc.

Please note – these are key performance outcomes to be used to recruit into the role. Successful applicants will be assessed against all the performance indicators used in the Performance Development Review System once established in the role.

Downloads: 569

Person specificaton

Published: 28 November 2024

Job title: Payroll and Workforce Information Assistant


Attributes

Experience

Essential:

  • Working in a customer facing role (internal or external customers) as the first point of contact (telephone, email or face to face).
  • Prioritising and managing workload under broad guidance.
  • Working with large datasets, particularly numerical data.

Desirable:

  • Working in an administrative/office-based environment.
  • Working in a local authority or public body setting.
  • Coordinating and designing processes.
  • Working with payroll
  • Working with Resourcelink or a similar HR/payroll system.
  • Working in Corporate Services (HR, Finance or IT) in a public sector setting.
  • Use of SharePoint and Microsoft 365 in a workplace setting
  • Working with Microsoft Power BI and Power Automate

Education, qualifications anad training

Essential:

  • Significant skills and experience to SCQF Level 6

Desirable:

  • A qualification at SCQF level 6 or above (e.g. SQA Higher grade) in a numerical, business, office administration, or IT related subject (e.g. accountancy, HR, payroll).
  • European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) or a similar qualification, demonstrating your ability in using Microsoft Office suite effectively, particularly Office 365.
  • Desire to work towards, Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals membership (CIPP).

Skills and knowledge

Essential:

  • Excellent customer service skills.
  • Ability to transfer knowledge or skills to others through a variety of different methods (eg demonstrations, producing guidance materials).
  • IT literate – particularly with Microsoft office 365 suite.
  • Excellent numeracy skills and basic statistical analysis
  • Able to present information logically and concisely.
  • Knowledge of Microsoft Power BI and Power Automate. 
  • Basic knowledge of typical employment related payments and deductions (e.g. salaries, pensions taxes, statutory payments such as maternity pay).
  • Basic knowledge of accounting procedures.

Desirable:

  • Knowledge of Microsoft 365.
  • Able to use IT effectively to analyse, compare and present data (e.g., make use of Excel and Power BI).
  • Knowledge of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
  • Knowledge of HR policies and procedures.

Key performance outcomes

Effective communication:

  • Demonstrate clear and concise verbal and written communication skills.
  • Ability to select appropriate communication style and methods depending on the needs and abilities of the audience.
  • Listens actively and questions to check understanding.

Team working:

  • Ability to contribute to and support the work and decisions of the team.
  • Ability to work co-operatively and supportively with others.
  • Values and makes use of skills, knowledge and experience of others.

Improvement focus:

  • Contributes to the development of new ideas, policies & procedures where appropriate.
  • Aware of trends and changes in processes and procedures and keeps own knowledge and skills up to date.
  • Seeks opportunities for learning and personal development.

Personal accountability and responsibility:

  • Maintains a high standard of work, ensuring attention to detail, actively seeking out continuous improvement.
  • Demonstrates initiative within own area of expertise.
  • Takes responsibility for own actions and decisions.

Working in partnership:

  • Openly shares information as and when appropriate, maintaining confidentiality as appropriate.
  • Respects others recognises and values differences and diversity.
  • Keeps others information of progress of work plan, targets, etc.

Please note – these are key performance outcomes to be used to recruit into the role. Successful applicants will be assessed against all the performance indicators used in the Performance Development Review System once established in the role.

Downloads: 1979

Personal Assistant

Published: 28 November 2023

Role: Personal Assistant

Location: Flexible – Any Care Inspectorate office

Salary: £27,696 - £30,357

Hours: 35 hours per week

Contract: Temporary (to 31 March 2025)


About us

The Care Inspectorate is the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards an expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.

The Care Inspectorate offers a range of great benefits in addition to hybrid working and you can find out about them here on our website.

About the role

The Strategy and Improvement Directorate is focused on helping to improve outcomes for people who use care services in Scotland. We are looking to recruit a Personal Assistant, reporting to the Executive Support Officer, to provide high quality, confidential PA support to the Executive Director. The Executive Director leads teams in delivering complex projects. This role will form a key part of the Executive Director’s leadership team and will provide ad-hoc administrative support to that team.

This role will include checking and prioritising the Executive Director’s email correspondence and meeting invitations; developing and administering a system for dealing with enquiries and composing responses to routine correspondence and co-ordination of the Executive Director’s diary by arranging meetings, events, booking venues, and organising hospitality for visitors as necessary. The role will also cover the preparation of agendas and paperwork for meetings, minute-taking and monitoring of action records.

About you

You will have experience of providing PA support to senior management in a fast-paced change environment. You are highly organised and able to plan and manage your time and workstreams efficiently and effectively. You understand that priorities and deadlines can change quickly and you respond flexibly and effectively. You will have a proactive approach and be confident in using your own initiative. Your attention to detail is meticulous and you have a clear commitment to maintaining high standards. You are a great team worker and able to build and maintain good working relationships. You will have excellent word processing and IT skills with experience of Microsoft applications. You will also have experience of diary management and minute taking.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Claire Brown (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please complete our online application form by 08:00 on Monday 10 June 2024.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held at our Stirling office on 27 June 2024.

Downloads: 7347

Personal Assistant to the Interim Executive Director of Transformation, ICT & Digital

Published: 31 March 2021

Location: Dundee

Salary: £22,425 - £23,964

Contract: Temporary until 31 March 2022 – potential for extension

About the role

The Care Inspectorate is a scrutiny body that supports improvement in care. Our vision is that people across Scotland receive high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices. We are a national organisation, employing in excess of 600 staff working across our network of offices and from home.

Reporting to the Executive Support Officer, you will be responsible for providing an efficient and effective confidential tailored support service to the interim Director of Transformation, ICT and Digital.

This role will include organising and preparing documents, preparation of meeting papers and taking minutes for specific directorate meetings together with composing routine correspondence, diary management and arranging travel and accommodation. In addition, you will be required to develop and administer a system for dealing with enquiries, recording, acknowledging receipt of and re-directing letters and monitoring progress of responses with limited direction.

You will be an excellent organiser and communicator with proactive and friendly inter-personal skills together with a multi-tasking ability and flexible approach, working well under pressure to meet tight deadlines.

You will have excellent word processing and IT skills with experience of Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and experience of diary management and minute taking.

You can find out more about the role in the person specificationjob profile and job advert.

Next steps 

If you believe that your expertise and motivation make you suitable for this post, please complete an application and return by email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 8am on Wednesday 14 April 2021. Interviews will be held by Teams video call on Wednesday 21 April 2021.

If you require any further information, or for an informal chat, please contact Claire Corbett (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Please note that initially you will be required to work from home due to the current covid situation.

Application Form

Equalities Monitoring Form

Downloads: 3757

Planning assistant

Published: 06 October 2017

Job title: Planning Assistant

Salary: £27,696 - £30,357

Hours: 35 per week

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Permanent


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

We desire to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a 4-week period.

Starting salary

Please bear in mind that new entrants start on the grade minimum for the role. However, we have a generous benefits package which you will find on our website.

About the role

Working as part of the inspection planning team, you will provide comprehensive support in the delivery of all inspection planning activity. You will have a key role in the development and delivery of the Care Inspectorate’s planning resources. Working with colleagues, internal and external, to devise and implement a range of initiatives, ensuring that the Care Inspectorate develops sound policies, procedures and practices in relation to its planning activities.

About you

You will have excellent interpersonal and organisational skills, be highly skilled in all Microsoft Office packages, particularly Microsoft Excel, and be experienced in manipulating data. You should also be able to work on your own initiative and enjoy a challenge.

You should be educated to SCQF level 4.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Judy Gilmour - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Sarah McMaster This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, complete the online application form by 08:00 on Monday 3 March 2025.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held in the week beginning 17 March 2025 at our Dundee office.

Downloads: 9539

Planning Coordinator

Published: 09 November 2017

Role: Planning Coordinator

Salary: £31,938 - £35,328

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: Flexible – Any Care Inspectorate office across Scotland

Contract: Temporary for 12 months (potential for further extension)


About the role

The Care Inspectorate's role is to regulate and inspect care and support services, carry out scrutiny of social work services and conduct joint inspections with other scrutiny partners of services for adults and children. We have a significant role in providing assurance and protection for people who use services, their families and carers and the wider public as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland.

In this demanding and challenging role you will manage and co-ordinate the delivery of national inspection planning across a wide range of social care services and services for children and adults. This role ensures that the Care Inspectorate makes the best use of its resources and performs effectively and efficiently as an independent scrutiny and improvement body. This will include the management, co-ordination and delivery of scrutiny and improvement planning activities and plans for the current year. As well as draft plans for subsequent years, ensuring inspection planning activities are consistent with the Care Inspectorate’s objectives and targets.

About you

You will have a strong operational background in planning activities, together with workload planning, prioritisation and allocation experience.

You will be educated to SCQF level 7 (e.g., Advanced Higher, Higher National Certificate (HNC), Professional Development Award, Certificate of Higher Education, Modern Apprenticeship, SVQ, etc.) or have relevant skills and experience in planning coordination.

You will also have supervisory experience and demonstrate a broad level of knowledge of working within inspection/regulation of care and associated IT systems. In addition, you will have excellent communication skills and the ability to translate plans into action.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

For an informal discussion about the above post, please contact Deborah Holroyd, Head of Business Change This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email. 

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form and an equal opportunities form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08.00 on Monday 29 April 2024.

It is anticipated that the assessment for this post will be held in person around 8 May 2024. The assessment will be a competency based interview and a skills exercise. 

Downloads: 6580

Planning Manager

Published: 02 April 2024

Job title: Planning Manager

Salary: £38,553 - £42,597

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Temporary for up to 12 months


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards an expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.

About the role

Due to a period of absence a temporary vacancy has arisen within our planning team. In this demanding and challenging role, reporting to the head of business change, you will manage and co-ordinate the delivery of national inspection planning across a wide range of social care services and services for children and adults to ensure that the Care Inspectorate makes the best use of its resources and performs effectively and efficiently as an independent scrutiny and improvement body. This will include the management, co-ordination of inspection activities and national and team plans for the current year and draft plans for subsequent years, ensuring inspection planning activities are consistent with the Care Inspectorate’s objectives and targets.

About you

The successful applicant will have an operational background in planning activities, and system and processes, together with workload planning and prioritisation.

You will be educated to standard grade level and hold a relevant HNC qualification. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to demonstrate a broad level of knowledge of working within inspection/regulation of care and associated IT systems alongside the ability to translate plans into action.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Deborah Holyroyd at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form and equal opportunities form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08:00 on Monday 22 April 2024.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held no sooner than Wednesday 24 April at our Stirling office.

Downloads: 3508

Policy Assistant

Published: 19 November 2021

Location: Any Care Inspectorate office

Salary: £25,320 - £26,877

Contract: Temporary for one year


The successful applicant will provide an efficient and effective support service to the Policy Team, reporting to the Senior Policy Adviser.

You will be required to provide a confidential tailored support service. Duties will be varied and include overseeing email traffic to the Policy Team’s shared mailboxes, supporting the Policy Analysts to maintain the Hub website, updating routine papers and undertaking small research projects with support from the Policy Analysts.

The role will also include regular policy and parliamentary scanning activities, alerting staff to relevant developments.

You will have excellent interpersonal, organisational and research skills, be highly skilled in all Microsoft Office packages and be able to work on your own initiative and enjoy a challenge.

You’ll find more information in the:

For an informal chat prior to applying, please contact Claire Neary, Senior Policy Adviser on 07818588721.

If you believe that your expertise, skills and motivation make you suitable for this post, please complete an application form (and an Equalities Monitoring Form where you are an external applicant) and return by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by no later than 8am on Monday 6 December 2021.

Downloads: 3224

Subcategories

The early learning and childcare expansion… 

Role: Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)

Location: Forth Valley, Borders, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh & Glasgow

Salary: £31,083 - £39,069 plus excellent benefits

Hours: 140 hours to be worked over a 4-week period

Contract: Permanent or 2-year secondment (would be considered)

Join us and make a difference – for you, for everyone

It’s our job to ensure care for everyone, everywhere in Scotland is as good as it can be. If you are as passionate about high-quality care as we are, and you’re experienced in your field, we’d love to hear from you.

About us

As a national scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect care services and partnerships across Scotland, report on the quality of care people experience, and support improvements in services to facilitate improvements in outcomes for people.

We inspect care services individually. We also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in local areas.

We champion high-quality care whenever we encounter it across the thousands of inspections, we carry out each year, and we work closely with all care providers to support them to improve all the time. We collaborate with other organisations too, supporting improvement across public services. Our work plays a big role in reducing health and social inequalities between people and communities.

We are looking for talented people to join us in making a difference - specialists who understand how to put people’s needs, rights and choices at the heart of delivering social services – and how to lead improvement too. Our 600 staff work with services across the public, voluntary and private sectors. We have offices across Scotland and many of our staff work from home.

About you

Whether early or established in your career, you will share our determination that care, social work and justice services should work well for people – every time. You’ll be confident about what good-quality care looks like and how to deliver it. You’ll be good at analysing information and evidence. You will have excellent writing skills for narrative inspection reports that are clear, concise and focused on outcomes. You will be confident in working with a wide range of people and at supporting and advising on improvement.

You’ll currently be working, or have significant experience in, social care, social work, health, children’s services, early learning, child protection, or community learning and development. You will be registered or eligible to register with a professional body like the SSSC, NMC or GTC.

About the role

Our care inspectors work with care services: childminders, nurseries, care homes, care at home, housing support and a host of other specialist services. A specialist in your field, you may have helped lead a service and have a strong track record in delivering quality. You’ll be adept at leading improvement and influencing others. You will work with people experiencing care, and care service providers, managers and staff.

Why join us?

We strive to be a great employer, knowing that competitive salary, leave and pension schemes are only part of that. We pride ourselves on the values we hold, person-centred; fairness; respect; efficiency and integrity - all supported with a culture of care and kindness.

We believe in collective leadership and innovation. You’ll have a lot of autonomy to manage your own work and use the professional skills you’ve honed during your career – but in new ways. Starting on day one, our learning and development support will help you become confident in the craft of scrutiny and in supporting improvement. Because a lot of your role is about sharing effective practice across Scotland, the impact you can have on experiences and outcomes for people is significant. You will draw on management and leadership skills you’ve developed in the past.

We’re proud to be a progressive, supportive employer – we’re happy to talk about flexible working with you and we’re members of the Disability Confident Scheme, aiming to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.

New appointments will normally be placed on the minimum grade for the role; a higher starting salary may be offered in exceptional circumstances only.

ELC expansion

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding the provision of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 hours to 1140 hours per year by 2020. The expansion of ELC is aimed to support the reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap and improve long term outcomes for children and families.

Due to the ELC expansion programme we are looking for 7 further ELC Inspectors in addition to the “business as usual” Inspector campaign launched recently.

Principles and aims

The priority for the expansion to 1140 hours is to improve children's outcomes and close the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, the expansion aims to support parents into work, study or training. The Scottish Government's four principles of the ELC expansion are: quality, flexibility, affordability, and accessibility.

The Scottish Government has stated that quality is 'at the heart' of the expansion and that achieving a high-quality ELC experience for children is a key objective.

Use and provision

A 2018 survey found that the main reason why parents use funded ELC is that they consider it beneficial for their child's learning and development. In addition, parents reported using the funded hours to either work, increase the number of hours they work, or look for work.

Funded ELC in Scotland is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries, crèches and playgroups, from across the public, private and third sectors. A small number of childminders also deliver funded ELC, but the Scottish Government hopes this number will increase under the expansion to 1140 hours.

Criteria to apply

  • We require you to hold a relevant qualification (minimum SCQF Level 9), register with either the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or any other relevant professional body and undertake PVG checks.
  • You must also be prepared to do a Professional Development Award in Scrutiny and Improvement (Social Services) at SCQF level 10 with appropriate support from the organisation.
  • You will have a minimum of three years recent and demonstrable management experience in a relevant field. You must also be willing to travel with overnight stays as required.

Before you apply

  • Please contact the relevant body directly to resolve any queries you have regarding registration or eligible qualifications for registration (SSSC, NMC and so on) before submitting your application.
  • For an informal chat about the job role, please contact (Who?) You or Kim Connolly, Team Manager on 07766133161
  • For all other queries, please contact Human Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To apply

  • If you are interested, please see the minimum criteria to apply as an Inspector and the specific guidance and directions to apply. Thereafter, click on the gateway questions link to apply.
  • Your completed application form (campaign number C39 only forms) and equal opportunities form should be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.no later than Monday, 14 October 2019 at 8.00am.
  • We anticipate that selection days will take place in the week commencing Monday, 18 November 2019.