About the job
Salary: £30,024 - £32,597 a year
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Fixed Term
As a Business Support Officer within Luton Borough Council's Housing Directorate, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of a high-quality, efficient and responsive business support service. You will provide comprehensive office management support across the Directorate, overseeing procurement of consumables, coordinating IT and mobile requirements, managing meetings, and delivering a wide range of clerical and administrative functions. You will ensure that all corporate requirements - including service and business planning, equalities, health and safety, HR, IT, and quality assurance - are effectively coordinated and embedded within the service.
A key part of your role will be managing clear and consistent communication across the Directorate, including maintaining the Housing intranet and web content. You will support the delivery of regulatory and inspection requirements by providing high-level administration, coordinating consultation drafts, and helping to ensure that all action plans and business plans reflect corporate and departmental priorities.
You will support performance management activities, providing timely analysis, interpretation and recommendations for improvement, and ensuring all performance information is accurately captured and reported. You will also coordinate a range of events, from internal meetings to large-scale events such as the annual Housing Staff Conference involving up to 400 participants-managing budgets, logistics, publicity, and stakeholder engagement.
In this role, you will provide direct and confidential support to the Housing Director and Heads of Service. This includes diary and meeting management, preparing agendas and briefing materials, minuting internal and external meetings, and managing both electronic and paper communications with accuracy and discretion. You will liaise professionally with Councillors, MPs, external partners, and senior officers, handling complex enquiries and ensuring appropriate arrangements are in place for meetings, seminars, conferences, and surgeries.
You will help maintain effective business support functions across the Directorate, including complaints management, FOI and DPA processes, members' enquiries, procurement and risk management. You will manage telephone enquiries, exercising sound judgement in prioritising issues, resolving matters directly where appropriate, or directing queries to relevant service managers and monitoring follow-up actions.
Financial and HR administration will form an important part of your responsibilities, including supporting the preparation of the annual revenue budget, processing invoices and purchase orders, and ensuring accurate budget coding in line with Council financial procedures. You will also maintain employee records, ensure compliance with LBC policies, update HR systems, and prepare routine and ad-hoc reports for team leaders.
Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.
About you
You will be an experienced and highly organised business support professional with a proven ability to deliver comprehensive administrative services and respond effectively to complex enquiries. You will bring demonstrable experience of developing, reviewing and implementing systems and procedures, with the confidence to use your initiative to solve problems both within and outside established processes.
You will have strong analytical skills, able to interpret and present large volumes of data, produce meaningful statistics, and support performance and financial monitoring. You will be confident working with financial information, understanding budget statements and procedures, and accurately calculating fees and charges where required.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications-particularly Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and SharePoint-is essential, along with the ability to design, maintain and quality-assure accurate computerised records and databases. Your advanced organisational skills will enable you to manage competing priorities, plan workloads effectively, and meet strict deadlines for both yourself and the wider team.
A confident communicator, you will be able to engage professionally and tactfully with senior managers, Members, colleagues, external organisations and customers, always delivering a high-quality, customer-focused service. You will be comfortable attending and supporting meetings inside and outside the borough, including preparing documentation and ensuring accurate records are maintained.
You will work well both independently and as part of a busy, high-performing team, contributing to a culture of continuous improvement and supporting others to achieve shared goals. An understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion is essential, ensuring that services are delivered fairly and without discrimination.
You will hold a Business Administration NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent qualification) or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience gained in a similar role.
This is a public facing role so you'll need to show off your fluency in speaking and writing English.
About us
Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision - that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty - is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.
The people of Luton depend heavily on this council - and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough
Application Process
Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person's criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.On occasions, we may close a vacancy early due to a very high number of applications being received.
Benefits
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:
- From 25 to 32 days' annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
- Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
- Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
- Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
- Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
- Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
- Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
- Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
- Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
- Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
Salary: £30,024 - £32,597 a year
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Fixed Term
As a Business Support Officer within Luton Borough Council's Housing Directorate, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of a high-quality, efficient and responsive business support service. You will provide comprehensive office management support across the Directorate, overseeing procurement of consumables, coordinating IT and mobile requirements, managing meetings, and delivering a wide range of clerical and administrative functions. You will ensure that all corporate requirements - including service and business planning, equalities, health and safety, HR, IT, and quality assurance - are effectively coordinated and embedded within the service.
A key part of your role will be managing clear and consistent communication across the Directorate, including maintaining the Housing intranet and web content. You will support the delivery of regulatory and inspection requirements by providing high-level administration, coordinating consultation drafts, and helping to ensure that all action plans and business plans reflect corporate and departmental priorities.
You will support performance management activities, providing timely analysis, interpretation and recommendations for improvement, and ensuring all performance information is accurately captured and reported. You will also coordinate a range of events, from internal meetings to large-scale events such as the annual Housing Staff Conference involving up to 400 participants-managing budgets, logistics, publicity, and stakeholder engagement.
In this role, you will provide direct and confidential support to the Housing Director and Heads of Service. This includes diary and meeting management, preparing agendas and briefing materials, minuting internal and external meetings, and managing both electronic and paper communications with accuracy and discretion. You will liaise professionally with Councillors, MPs, external partners, and senior officers, handling complex enquiries and ensuring appropriate arrangements are in place for meetings, seminars, conferences, and surgeries.
You will help maintain effective business support functions across the Directorate, including complaints management, FOI and DPA processes, members' enquiries, procurement and risk management. You will manage telephone enquiries, exercising sound judgement in prioritising issues, resolving matters directly where appropriate, or directing queries to relevant service managers and monitoring follow-up actions.
Financial and HR administration will form an important part of your responsibilities, including supporting the preparation of the annual revenue budget, processing invoices and purchase orders, and ensuring accurate budget coding in line with Council financial procedures. You will also maintain employee records, ensure compliance with LBC policies, update HR systems, and prepare routine and ad-hoc reports for team leaders.
Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.
About you
You will be an experienced and highly organised business support professional with a proven ability to deliver comprehensive administrative services and respond effectively to complex enquiries. You will bring demonstrable experience of developing, reviewing and implementing systems and procedures, with the confidence to use your initiative to solve problems both within and outside established processes.
You will have strong analytical skills, able to interpret and present large volumes of data, produce meaningful statistics, and support performance and financial monitoring. You will be confident working with financial information, understanding budget statements and procedures, and accurately calculating fees and charges where required.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications-particularly Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and SharePoint-is essential, along with the ability to design, maintain and quality-assure accurate computerised records and databases. Your advanced organisational skills will enable you to manage competing priorities, plan workloads effectively, and meet strict deadlines for both yourself and the wider team.
A confident communicator, you will be able to engage professionally and tactfully with senior managers, Members, colleagues, external organisations and customers, always delivering a high-quality, customer-focused service. You will be comfortable attending and supporting meetings inside and outside the borough, including preparing documentation and ensuring accurate records are maintained.
You will work well both independently and as part of a busy, high-performing team, contributing to a culture of continuous improvement and supporting others to achieve shared goals. An understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion is essential, ensuring that services are delivered fairly and without discrimination.
You will hold a Business Administration NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent qualification) or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience gained in a similar role.
This is a public facing role so you'll need to show off your fluency in speaking and writing English.
About us
Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision - that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty - is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.
The people of Luton depend heavily on this council - and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough
Application Process
Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person's criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.On occasions, we may close a vacancy early due to a very high number of applications being received.
Benefits
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:
- From 25 to 32 days' annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
- Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
- Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
- Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
- Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
- Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
- Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
- Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
- Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
- Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel