1 Why West Sussex County Council
Join us and make a difference in our communities
What we do changes lives. We are there when people are born and care for them in later life; along the way we support them in every step.
That might be in our schools, through our social care services, supporting and growing the economy in a sustainable way, providing libraries, saving lives with our Fire and Rescue service, providing Trading Standards, maintaining highways and much more.
We aim to be a forward thinking, progressive organisation, with a highly motivated and dedicated team of people who are passionate about delivering valued services and making a positive difference to the lives of our residents.
We know there are many challenges for public sector organisations and there is more change ahead in West Sussex. That’s why we need to make sure we’ve got the right people to tackle those challenges and help our residents as we navigate those changes.
We want to encourage and empower our staff by building the right culture that places customers at the heart of what we do, guided by our values.
We invest in our staff with development and career opportunities and work closely with our partners to work as a single team, across a single organisation, serving our residents.
Join us and you will have access to a wealth of learning and development opportunities, continuous professional development, the right technology and working arrangements that work for you.
You will be supported to make a genuine difference, be recognised for your effort, valued for your unique skills and have the opportunity to achieve your full potential.
Search for jobsFurther information
- Our Council Plan - Our plan sets out a four-year pledge to the people of West Sussex about what we will achieve.
- West Sussex Life - Provides statistics and information about West Sussex, such as its geography, residents and the County Council’s key priorities.
- Map of West Sussex - View our map to find out where West Sussex is situated and where our main council buildings are. You can also discover some of the many attractions that West Sussex has to offer.
- Experience West Sussex - more information on what West Sussex has to offer.
2 Join us and make a difference in our communities
West Sussex County Council is an organisation that provides services to more than 850,000 residents every day. As one of the largest employers in West Sussex, we have a number of responsibilities as a local authority and work with partner organisations to deliver our services to improve the lives of local residents.
Find information on the services we provide and some of our key jobs within those areas.
Adults’ Services
We provide a large variety of services to support vulnerable adults. This includes work in residential homes and day centres. We work with adults with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental health conditions; providing therapies and support and working towards enabling everyone to live independently.
Example roles in this area include:
- Social Worker
- Occupational Therapist
- Assistant Care Manager
- Support Worker
- Safeguarding Advisor
- Support Broker
- Contracts Officer.
Children and Family Services
We support the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and their families across the county, ultimately giving them the best start in life. This can include working with children and families to identify, intervene and plan support.
We also have a dedicated team that provides early help in the hope that children’s social care services will not be required. In addition, we also ensure young people are given a voice and provide training to safeguard all children in West Sussex.
Example roles in this area include:
- Social Worker
- Practice Manager
- Child and Family Worker
- Youth Intervention Officer
- Hub Support Assistant
- Residential Child Care Worker
- Data Officer.
Community Services
We provide community-based services that include libraries, record offices, events and ceremonies. We also have a responsibility to register all births, deaths and marriages in West Sussex, as well as organising UK citizenship ceremonies. Our Customer Service Centre also plays a huge role in supporting our residents, providing them with information and directing them to the support that they require.
Example roles in this area include:
- Library Assistant
- Customer Service Officer
- Archivist
- Driver
- Registration Officer
- Community Officer.
Corporate Services
To support all the front-line services that directly impact residents, we provide a range of corporate services that enable positive outcomes. These include the delivery of staff training, IT support, and project management, as well as being responsible for the HR function.
Our finance teams ensure that our services are cost-efficient and that we maintain financial control.
Our legal teams provide advice to all services, in addition to our Democratic teams who facilitate our political responsibilities.
We also have a Communications team who ensure clear messages are delivered to the residents of West Sussex residents.
Example roles in this area include:
- Accountant
- Insight Analyst
- HR Business Partner
- Resourcing Advisor
- Legal Assistant
- Communication and Engagement Officer
- Graphic Designer
- Democratic Services Officer.
Education and Schools
We are responsible for providing the education for children and young people in West Sussex. As well as schools, we also provide support for:
- admissions
- attendance
- safeguarding
- transport
- home education.
In addition, we also ensure there is adequate support for parents and children who have special educational needs (SEN) as well as aiming to improve educational experiences and outcomes for those children looked after by the authority.
Example roles in this area include:
- SEN Caseworker
- Teacher
- Teaching Assistant
- Educational Psychologist
- Careers Advisor
- Investigating Officer
- Link Advisor
- Administrator
- School Business Manager.
Environment and Infrastructure
Our Highways team manages the day to day operations of our roads and enable our residents to stay connected around the county. We take a sustainable approach in order to create a better quality of life for now and for years to come.
We strive to achieve efficiency savings, reduce the quantity of natural resources that we consume, and focus on ensuring that our services run as sustainably as possible.
Example roles in this area include:
- Building Surveyor
- Facilities Officer
- Planner
- Technician
- Highway Engineer
- Project Manager
- Streetworks Coordinator
- Driver.
Public Protection and Fire & Rescue
We protect the residents and businesses in West Sussex from harm and improve resilience within the county. Our Fire & Rescue Service are not only here to protect people and property from fire, but we also work with businesses to support fire safety, host educational events such as 'Safe Drive, Stay Alive' and give safety advice to older people in their homes.
We also have teams that help with animal rescues, searches during natural disasters, and protecting consumers from fraudulent services.
Example roles in this area include:
- Firefighter
- Service Van Engineer Crew Commander
- Trading Standards Officer
- Resilience and Emergencies Advisor
- Fleet Support Officer
- Community Fire Safety Officer.
Additional information
3 Diversity and inclusion
Our cultural ambition is "to be an organisation which lives and breathes our values, where all of our people are able to work in an empowered, collaborative and innovative way to make a real and positive difference for all our communities”.
It is also to create a working environment that is diverse and inclusive and that supports our entire workforce to be able to be the best we can be without fear or favour.
Diversity
We are committed to creating a culture where people from all backgrounds and those with differing skills and experiences feel genuinely valued. We understand that a diverse workforce helps us to deliver the best services for our residents.
Under the Equality Act (2010), there are nine protected characteristics:
- age
- disability
- race
- sex
- gender reassignment
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- religion or belief
- sexual orientation.
Each year we profile and monitor our workforce by race, disability, gender, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
Our staff networks
We have active staff networks that meet regularly and provide support to employees. They are the:
- Black and Minority Ethnic Network
- Carers Staff Network
- Disabled Staff Network
- LGBTQ+ Staff Network
- Mental Health Staff Network
- Staff Culture Board - hearing the voices of people across the organisation
- Women's Staff Network.
Through the 'Time to Change Employer Pledge' we have made a commitment to remove the stigma around mental health. We encourage involvement in personal resilience activities to stay well and support those who need it to return to work as soon as possible.
Our apprenticeships provide opportunities for young people, those looking for a career change or parents looking to get back in to work. In addition, we provide support to veterans getting back into work.
Inclusion
We are committed to employing and developing disabled people. This means that we:
- interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a vacancy and consider them on their abilities
- regularly discuss with disabled employees what we can do to make sure they develop and use their abilities
- make every effort to retain employees if they become disabled
- ensure all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make these commitments work.
Jobs for people with learning disabilities or autism
If you have a learning disability and/or are on the autistic spectrum, you can find information on how apply for any of our vacancies on Help for people with a disability.
Inclusion and being accessible to all is very important to West Sussex County Council. We want to provide equal opportunities and support and empower all our colleagues to fulfil their potential. To ensure we continually improve and develop as an organisation, we are a proud member of the Business Disability Forum (BDF), Inclusive Employers (IE) and Employers for Carers (EFC). We are also committed to being a disability confident employer.
4 Our vision and values
Our vision
Our vision for the county is that local communities are independent, strong and vibrant. We target our effort on those services that will make the biggest difference to communities, enabling them to help themselves in achieving their aspirations.
We work with other organisations and join up our respective expertise to help achieve this. Where needed the County Council will provide a helping hand to those residents who are at risk when they require it.
The West Sussex Plan sets out how we plan to shape our services over the next five years.
Our values
We are proud of our values because they were developed with our employees during the Great Place to Work employee engagement events. They demonstrate how we work and interact with customers, partners and colleagues on a day-to-day basis.
We have five core values, which are central to successfully achieving our vision and corporate plan priorities:
- Proud to be customer-centred - we put the customer central to everything we do.
- Listen and act upon - we listen to each other and act on what we say.
- Honest and realistic - we are honest and realistic about what we can achieve.
- Trust and support - we trust and support each other to achieve our goals.
- Genuinely valued - we feel our contribution is valued and our achievements are recognised.
We have a 'Living Our Values Every Day' recognition scheme, which is only available to all staff employed by West Sussex County Council. It enables us to recognise and celebrate the great work that our employees do, especially those who model our core values and behaviours every day.