Consular Officer-

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities) 1

**Main purpose of job**:
To deliver high quality consular services and assistance to British Nationals in South Africa.

You will manage our Emergency Travel Document (ETD) service and administer other services such as citizenship services and notarial services. You will also support the Vice Consul by managing straightforward and occasionally complex consular cases, with appropriate oversight. You will be involved in prevention work for South Africa, including writing online guides on bereavement, detention and rape and sexual assault, and will support the organisation with crisis preparedness and response.

For more information on the type of assistance we provide, you can read our our public guide "Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide”.

**Roles and responsibilities**:
As Consular Officer, you will be responsible for providing consular services and assistance in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini. You will be regularly issuing Emergency Travel Documents and providing face to face service with customers, some of which may be emotionally challenging.

You will be expected to visit people who have been arrested, are in prison or hospitalised; visit mortuaries; support bereaved families and victims of crime including sexual assault, and dealing with cases involving child abduction.

**Consular services**
- Operating the front desk and monitoring public mailboxes, responding to a range of queries (with empathy) telephonically, in writing, and in person.
- Manage our Emergency Travel Document (ETD) service by maintaining our appointment booking system, facilitating interviews for the ETD Centre and printing ETDs in line with our Service Level Agreements.
- Assist with the administration of citizenship ceremonies in South Africa.
- Ensure that British people can contact us when they need to, and access information as easily as possible including by updating Contact Hub and ensuring security guards are well briefed.
- Ensure that the consular office is organised and operating effectively in line with our consular standards checklist and consular guidance.
- Maintain an organised filing system in the office and on MS Teams and support other team members with admin tasks when required.

**Consular assistance**
- Lead on straightforward cases (including death, welfare and hospitalisation for example) involving vulnerable British people in difficulty in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini.
- Support the Vice Consul to provide consular assistance on a small number of complex cases, with supervision. Please note that vulnerable and complex cases can include: arrests/detentions, hospitalisation, victims of serious crime (including rape and sexual assault) and suspicious deaths.
- You will be required to prioritise cases, devise case management strategies, engage directly with the affected person, and promptly update case notes in our case management system.

**Prevention**
- Updating and publishing content on gov.uk to ensure British people can contact us, and can access services online. This includes updating online guidance on bereavement processes, updating websites and ensuring the right services from local professionals are accessible to viewers i.e. lawyers, medical professionals and funeral directors.
- Building contacts and working with partners including local authorities, the tourism industry, airlines, NGOs and other diplomatic missions etc. to prevent incidents from happening or getting worse.

**Crisis**
- In conjunction with colleagues, ensuring crisis preparedness by participating in crisis exercises and learning opportunities, ensuring crisis kits are stocked, managing critical information, responding to distressed British people and being willing to deploy to the field in a crisis.
- You will be expected to play a role in any crisis response delivered by the British High Commission, for example by training as a Consular Field Team member.
- You may also be asked to support crisis responses in other countries through our “regional resilience” arrangements. Crisis work may involve working outside your contracted hours or travelling at short notice.

**Other**
- Meeting consular business targets and continuously improving and testing services are fit for purpose, based on feedback, stats and insights.
- Ensuring the consular office is organised and is operating efficiently in line with the Consular checklist and consular guidance.
- Maintaining an organised filing system both in the office and on MS Teams and MS Office, including managing personal information and documents responsibly, and supporting on administering Citizenship Ceremonies.

You should be aware that consular work involves difficult conversations with distressed individuals and may require visiting challenging environments, such as prisons and hospitals, so emotional intelligence and personal resilience are essential.

You can expect to travel a few weeks per year, often within