Resource Planner – Kent
NHS AfC: Band 4
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.
Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year.
Job overview
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is looking for organised, proactive and people‑focused individuals to join our Planning Team as Resource Planners.
This is a key operational support role, helping to ensure the right people are in the right place at the right time to support safe, effective patient care across our services.
As a Resource Planner, you will work closely with operational managers and frontline teams to coordinate staffing, manage rosters and support workforce planning activity using the Trust’s workforce management systems. You will play an important role in maintaining service delivery, ensuring staffing levels are effectively planned whilst balancing staff wellbeing, annual leave, training abstractions and operational demand.
This is a fast‑paced role where no two days are the same, requiring excellent communication, problem‑solving and organisational skills.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will support the effective planning and rostering of operational and non‑operational staff across a designated area of the Trust.
Key responsibilities include:
- Creating and maintaining staff rosters using the Trust workforce management system
- Allocating staff to duties in line with operational demand and service requirements
- Managing annual leave, training abstractions, sickness and other staffing changes
- Supporting compliance with Working Time Regulations and Agenda for Change terms and conditions
- Acting as a first point of contact for staff queries relating to scheduling and planning
- Producing reports and workforce information for operational management teams
- Supporting rota redesign and flexible working arrangements where required
- Working collaboratively with operational leaders to support safe staffing and service delivery
The role requires the ability to work under pressure, prioritise competing demands and maintain accurate records within a busy operational environment.
Working for our organisation
- Option to join NHS pension scheme
- A minimum 27 days’ holiday each year, increasing after 5 years’ service
- Personal and professional development and training opportunities
- Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes
- Access to occupational health and counselling services
- Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money‑saving deals
Other than in exceptional circumstances, the starting salary for staff new to the NHS will be the bottom point of the band to which they have been appointed.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Resource Planner role is responsible for supporting the administration and coordination of staffing and rota management within an agreed operational or business area.
You will:
- Accurately maintain workforce records and staffing information
- Allocate staff resources effectively to support operational performance
- Ensure staff hours, abstractions and annualised hours are monitored and recorded appropriately
- Liaise with managers and HR colleagues regarding staffing matters and workforce changes
- Provide guidance and support to staff on scheduling‑related queries
- Support the implementation of new rota patterns and workforce initiatives
- Produce reports and workforce data to support decision‑making
The successful candidate will need to demonstrate strong communication and organisational skills alongside the ability to work independently and collaboratively within a busy team environment.
Qualifications
- English and Maths at level 2 and or equivalent NVQ level qualification
Knowledge
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of products
- Knowledge of administrative and budgetary processes
- Good understanding of demand/resource planning principles
- Knowledge of scheduling processes in the ambulance service context
- Knowledge of NHS Agenda for Change and Working time Regulations
Experience
- Experience of team working environment and ability to work with others towards shared goals
- Ability to work to a deadline, defining and delivering against key objectives
- Experience of working with staff and managers at all levels within an organisation
- Experience of working with workforce management systems
Skills
- Good written, verbal and non‑verbal communication, inter‑personal and organisational skills, with the ability to work unsupervised at times and problem‑solve when required
Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated.
Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS‑COV‑2 (COVID‑19) vaccination.
Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.
In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.
Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.
Equal Opportunity
The Trust is a passionate commitment to being an inclusive employer – a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement networks, facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds.
We actively support equality of opportunity for all our staff and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, any disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. The Trust is making progress towards its aim of becoming more reflective of the diversity of our community in our workforce and guarantees an interview to candidates with disability who meet the essential criteria specified. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and those from other under‑represented groups.
The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people – including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes – including the interview – are fair and equitable.
We are a committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on‑going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role.
The majority of our roles will include some travel between sites for business purposes. If the vacancy you’re applying for includes work related travel, you will be required to ensure that you hold and have covered the cost of suitable car insurance to support this.
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