Senior Travel and Assessment Officer

The hourly rate for this position is £19.64 plus an additional £2.94 per hour annual leave allowance (£22.59 per hour in total).

We are excited to be hiring a new Senior Travel and Assessment Officer to join our fantastic 'Children, Schools and Lifelong Learning' Business Support service. The contractual base for this position is Woodhatch Place in Reigate, however the role is predominantly home based, with expectation you will attend the office to support occasional in-person meetings, for training and to collect your laptop.

This role is offered on a 'zero hours', bank contract which means there are no guaranteed hours. However, we envisage current requirements being to cover one appeal hearing each month which will take approximately 20 hours, plus holiday cover for another administrator.

Please note that you will need to be available between 9am and 5pm on variable dates, as you will be required to attend the panel and action pre and post panel administration within these hours. As a bank employee, you will not be expected to accept every request to work, but there is a requirement for you to accept reasonable requests to work on a regular basis.

Our Offer to You

• Generous annual leave allowance
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Carers leave and volunteering days dependant on agreed working hours
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents

About the Role

The Council provides home to school transport for children, but in some cases where transport has been declined, parents will dispute the decision and request their case be heard at appeal. We are looking for an Administrator/Minute Taker to support these appeals.

As an experienced minute taker and meeting organiser, you will attend the Home to School Transport Appeal Hearings online via Microsoft Teams and will guide meeting chairpersons throughout the hearing. You will ensure procedures and timescales are adhered to, interjecting during the meeting to keep the chairperson on track or refer to procedures if necessary, and will take detailed notes on a laptop. You will also be responsible for additional work, both before and after the appeals, which will include gathering documents, responding to questions from panel members, attending panel pre-briefings and writing up minutes and decision letters following the hearing.

As a Senior Travel and Assessment Officer, you will need to be highly organised, willing to take responsibility and initiative, and be comfortable in setting your own priorities and meeting deadlines. You will make sure that everything is in place to guarantee that all runs smoothly for the processes and teams you support. You will be used to working with senior management and confident at speaking out and interjecting within meetings to ensure guidelines, agendas and timescales are being adhered to.

Your Application

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills and align with our behaviours:

• Experience of supporting management, arranging complex meetings, setting agendas and keeping detailed records
• Experience in taking detailed minutes, typing directly onto a laptop
• Administration experience including an awareness of working with sensitive information
• Ability to work as part of a team within existing protocols, whilst being proactive and using your initiative
• Excellent interpersonal skills, along with a high level of written and verbal communication ability
• Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and SharePoint)
• Ability to take a confident and organised approach to your work

To apply, we request that you submit a CV and you will be asked the following 5 questions:

• Please outline your administration experience
• Meetings cannot be recorded so taking detailed notes directly onto a laptop at complex meetings is a key requirement of this role. Please give evidence, with examples, of your laptop note taking experience
• Please describe, and give examples of, what experience you have supporting senior management
• Please list the skills and any qualifications you have that are relevant to this job
• Please tell us how you would fulfil the demands of this role with regards to your availability and flexibility around your other commitments

A basic DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) will be required for this role.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 30.11.2025 with interviews planned to follow.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

Surrey County Council is undergoing Local Government Reorganisation, moving from a two-tier system to two new unitary councils in April 2027. If you are employed by Surrey on 1st April 2027, your role will transfer with current terms and conditions to one of the new organisations, supporting local devolution and greater powers for our communities.

Join our dynamic team and shape the future of local government. Make a lasting impact with innovative solutions and improved services for our community. Help us build a brighter future for our residents!

Our Commitment

We are a disability confident employer which means if you have shared a disability on your application form and have evidenced you meet the minimum criteria, we guarantee you an interview.

Your skills and experience truly matter to us. From application to your first day, we're committed to supporting you with any adjustments you need, we value inclusion and warmly welcome you to join and help build a workplace where everyone belongs.