Occupational Health Advisor in London

Salary - Cheltenham: £52,576, London: £54,752

Flexible working options including part-time and compressed hours, with flexibility around start and finish times.

About us

MI5 keeps the country safe from serious threats like terrorism and attempts by states to harm the UK, its people and way of life. We carry out investigations by obtaining, analysing and assessing intelligence, and then work with a range of partners, including MI6 and GCHQ to disrupt these threats. Through our protective security arm, we provide advice and guidance to government, businesses and other organisations about how to keep themselves safe. A role in MI5 means you’ll do unique and challenging work in a supportive and encouraging environment, making a real difference to UK national security.

The role

As an on-site Occupational Health Advisor, you’ll play a crucial part in protecting and promoting the health and wellbeing of colleagues. You’ll manage casework, support employees with existing health conditions, and help teams to build a culture that prioritises physical and mental health. You’ll collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team, working with colleagues from Wellbeing, Safety and Psychology, as well as other healthcare professionals.

You’ll support our people with advice on how to manage their health conditions in the workplace, while providing travel clearances, risk assessments, health surveillance, and fitness for work medicals. Your advice will be relevant and timely, and your recommendations will be in line with medical standards and legislation.

You’ll also have opportunities to shadow different teams across the organisation(s) to better understand how to support our colleagues, while working with partners, such as HR, to provide the best possible service.

Due to the nature of this role, there is no home working available. However, we offer a range of flexible working options including part-time, compressed hours and job share. You’ll have flexibility in your start and finish times, as long as you’re present on-site for our core hours and willing to work as part of the team to ensure cover. You’ll be employed by MI5, but if you join us in Cheltenham, you’ll be based and work predominantly with people at GCHQ. Occasional UK travel may be required and, if you’re interested, international travel may also be an option depending on business needs.

About you

You will be a qualified Occupational Health Advisor, registered with NMC Part 1, with good knowledge of occupational health and employment legislation. You’ll have experience managing diverse and complex caseloads, including physical and mental health surveillance, risk assessments, and fitness for work medicals. You’ll be able to make evidence-based decisions and provide effective, practical solutions.

You’ll also have an ability to analyse issues and use your strong attention to detail and organisational skills to deliver a prompt and efficient service. With excellent interpersonal skills and clear written and verbal communication, you’ll be able to effectively engage and collaborate with employees, partners and management.

Training and development

When you start, you’ll get an organisation induction and a buddy to help you settle in. We’re proud to offer an inclusive and supportive working environment, and as an organisation that values and nurtures our colleagues, both professionally and personally, we’re dedicated to helping you fulfil your potential. From a wide range of courses through our internal training academy to the chance to build on your professional qualifications, we’re committed to making the most of your skills. Our support includes funding for job-specific training such as audiology, spirometry, vision screening and HAVS (Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome), along with clear progression pathways.

Rewards and benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £52,576 (Cheltenham) or £54,752 (London), plus other benefits including:

• 25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days’ public and privilege holidays.
• Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme.
• A dedicated development budget.
• An interest-free season ticket loan.
• A cycle to work scheme.
• Facilities such as a gym, restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations).
• Paid parental and adoption leave.

Equal opportunities

At MI5 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pension’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident Leader we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so.

What to expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

• Eligibility questions – you’ll need to answer a series of questions relating to this vacancy.
• If you meet the eligibility criteria, and pass the essential criteria sift, you’ll be invited to an interview.
• Interview, including technical and competency-based questions.
• If successful, you’ll receive a conditional offer of employment and progress to the vetting stage of the process.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply

To work at MI5, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria. This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process.

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate.

The role is based in either Cheltenham or London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application.

You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

Right to withdraw statement

Please be aware that we reserve the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.