Dog Enforcement Officer

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create an inclusive workplace culture, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.

The Dog Enforcement/ Pest Control Team deals with over 300 stray dogs per year, licences all pet establishments within the city boundaries and enforces the Public Space Protection Orders for dog control. The pest control responds to over 3500 requests for pest control treatments, services 550 commercial pest control management contracts,

The team work closely with other partners, including RSPCA, Police, dog rehoming centres and other internal sections, including the food safety team, and the street enforcement team. The service has a statutory duty to seize stray dogs from public areas and ensure the well-being of dogs in its care under the Care Act.

In line with our One Coventry Values we strive to have a workforce that reflects our local communities and welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds, applicants who have a disability and applicants who are from the LGBTQ+ community to apply for our senior leadership roles.

Our Values are:

• Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
• Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
• Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
• Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
• Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
• Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

You will mainly be providing support for the dog enforcement section; you may be called upon to help and support the pest control team.

The duties of these roles will involve:

• Responding to and seizing stray or unsupervised dogs from public areas, some of which may be aggressive and dangerously out of control.
• Ensuring the well-being of any dogs in our kennel,s including exercising, cleaning, feeding and general kennel duties.
• Making enquiries to find the legal owner of any dog that is brought into our kennels or seized as a stray and reuniting the dog with its owner.
• Collect fines and costs associated with kennelling costs.
• Taking calls on our duty mobile phone for reports of stray dogs in public areas.
• Enforcing the Public Space Protection Orders (Dog Control), this will include carrying out surveillance and issuing fixed penalty notices to offenders
• Responding to dog fouling complaints on private land
• Keeping up-to-date records.
• Licencing of pet establishments

The job may involve helping and supporting the pest control section.

All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.

The successful candidate will:

• Be reliable and committed
• Have a professional attitude and be willing to take on the tasks and duties within the remit of the role and service area
• Customer-focused and able to remain respectful, calm, and polite in environments where they may experience challenging behaviours or situations when assisting the general public and customers by responding to minor queries and complaints
• Confident to take appropriate action to avoid formal complaints.
• Knowledge or experience in dealing with dogs
• Ability to deal with awkward and aggressive dogs
• Experience in working with the general public
• Good teamwork skills

This recruitment process will be in two parts. The first part is attending an event at the Whitley Depot on 17th October 25, where you will hear all about the service, and have a tour of the kennels followed by an assessment. Once you apply for this position, you will be invited to book a place to attend.

The second part is for you to attend a face-to-face interview on the 24th October 25. You will only be asked to attend an interview if you have been successful in part one of the process.

If you would like an informal discussion about this role, please feel free to contact phil.hibbered@coventry.gov.uk

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the following criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

For full details on the application process, please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies