Business Support Officer

About the job

Salary: £27,254 – £29,540 a year
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent 

This role is office based Apex House, Luton Town Centre.

Luton Council is seeking a highly organised and motivated Business Support Officer to join our multi-agency Youth Partnership Service, supporting children and young people who access Early Intervention, Prevention, and Youth Justice services.

This pivotal role provides comprehensive business administration support across a multi-disciplinary service, ensuring the smooth running of operations while helping teams meet legislative and statutory requirements. The post also includes responsibility for managing a front-facing reception service, acting as the first point of contact for service users, families, and carers, and ensuring a professional and supportive experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver a wide range of business administration functions across the Youth Partnership Service.
• Manage a front-line reception service, providing initial contact and support to children, young people, and their families/carers.
• Support service delivery by maintaining accurate records, managing information relating to risk, and meeting statutory deadlines.
• Assist with performance monitoring, service delivery, and practice improvement across the partnership.
• Supervise or mentor administrative staff, ensuring high standards of service and professional development.
• Prepare documentation and take accurate minutes at meetings.
• Use Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and databases to manage information, analyse data, and produce reports.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and external partner agencies to maintain effective service operations.
• Manage conflicting workloads and tight deadlines, maintaining accuracy and professionalism at all times.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

 

About you

We are looking for someone who is organised, proactive, and confident working in a busy service environment supporting vulnerable children and young people.

You will demonstrate:

• Experience providing business and administrative support within a regulated organisation, including working with systems, processes, and procedures that require statutory deadlines to be met.
• Experience supervising staff or mentoring colleagues.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships with service users, colleagues, and external partners.
• The ability to analyse information and apply processes to meet service requirements.
• Experience taking clear and accurate minutes of meetings.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages, particularly Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• The ability to apply sound judgement to problems with minimal supervision.
• A flexible and collaborative approach, with the ability to work effectively as part of a team.
• An understanding of equality, diversity, and discrimination issues, and the confidence to take appropriate action where necessary.

Knowledge and Qualifications

• Some knowledge or understanding of Youth Justice and/or Early Intervention & Prevention services.
• Level 2 qualification in Excel and Word Processing (or equivalent experience demonstrating strong keyboard and data entry skills).
• GCSEs (Grade C/4 or above) or equivalent in English Language and Mathematics.
• Ability to communicate clearly and fluently in spoken English, providing accurate help and advice to members of the public.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to manage heavy and competing workloads while meeting targets and deadlines.
• Willingness to work flexibly as part of a rota, including evenings and weekends (approximately twice per month) to support service needs.

Why Join Us?

At Luton Council, you’ll play an important role in supporting services that help safeguard and improve the lives of children and young people in our community. We offer a supportive team environment, opportunities for development, and the chance to make a meaningful difference.

Apply today to be part of a service dedicated to supporting young people and families in Luton.

 

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 19.2 per cent (at April 2026) 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