Apprentice Environmental Health Assistant (Food & Safety)

Summary

Are you passionate about making a difference in public health and safety? We are offering a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious person looking to develop a career in public health and regulatory compliance. You will gain practical experience carrying out investigations, inspections and providing support to local businesses and consumers.

Wage

£24,309 a year

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Training course

Environmental health practitioner (integrated degree) (level 6)

Hours

Monday - Friday, Shifts to be confirmed. There may be additional requirements to work outside of normal working hours.

37 hours a week

Start date

Monday 4 August 2025

Duration

4 years

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

You will work alongside staff from teams covering a wide environmental health remit, including Food Safety, health and safety, environmental protection, and private sector housing.

Initially, you will gain an understanding of the broad range of work undertaken by the service. Following completion of our induction process, you will primarily be based in the Food and Safety Team.

Responsibilities will include:

Carry out food complaint investigations
Assist with food Inspections
Investigate infectious disease notificaitons and accident reports.
Inspect special treatments
Conduct food sampling
Provide help and support to local businesses and consumers
Provision of customer and business advice
Participate in initiatives to improve safety, including collaborative work at Reading Festival
Use of database systems
Service Requests
Supporting Senior officers in their work
Liaison with internal teams and external bodies including government organisations

Where you'll work

Civic Offices
Bridge Street
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 2LU

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

WESTON COLLEGE OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Your training course

Environmental health practitioner (integrated degree) (level 6)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

Provide specialist, professional and technical environmental health advice and guidance to a range of stakeholders such as residents, businesses, property owners, government agencies and partners
Plan, undertake and lead inspections, audits and other forms of investigations across the breadth of environmental health matters
Evaluate applications and grant relevant licences and permits eg. environmental permits, HMOs, caravan sites, skin piercing, tattooists etc
Negotiate with and influence a range of stakeholders in relation to a range of environmental health matters
Identify, evaluate and communicate environmental health risks and risk management solutions to a range of stakeholders
Ensure all activities are undertaken in accordance with relevant legislation, guidance and codes of practice
Infer and apply a range of legislation related to environmental health, eg. the Environment Act, Environmental Protection Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act, Food Safety Act, Housing Act, Public Health Act, Police and Criminal Evidence Act, data protection legislation, anti-social behaviour legislation etc
Employ a range of research, analytical and problem-solving techniques to resolve environmental health issues through creative and critical thinking, devising practical solutions and applying problem solving strategies
Critically evaluate and analyse evidence and information
Formulate judgements and decisions based on the evidence available and applied knowledge eg. on acceptable levels of pollution emissions, water data, acceptable levels of noise etc
Manage objective measurement and analysis of scientific information to determine the appropriate course of action eg. noise measurement, air emissions etc
Appraise, implement and communicate relevant interventions eg. enforcement actions
Produce accurate records and reports and where appropriate, recommend interventions, including the collection and handling of evidence with a view towards legal proceedings
Assess and deal effectively with difficult and confrontational situations
Participate in health promotional activities in high priority environmental health areas eg. shisha, smoking, obesity, food safety etc
Implement effective decision making, exercising discretion, initiative and independence within the scope of own role
Communicate and influence effectively with a diverse range of stakeholders including spoken and written communication skills, presentation skills, giving advice and guidance / mediating / negotiating and persuading, handling private and sensitive information (eg. data protection)
Use a range of standard IT packages to undertake for example, word processing activities, produce reports and input / analyse data
Work as part of a multi-disciplinary and/or multi-organisational team and collaborate to achieve successful outcomes
Lead activities relating to environmental health matters
Carry out sampling and collect evidence for monitoring, investigations and/or enforcement purposes in accordance with legislation and current guidance
Examine and assess compliance with conditions
Plan, organise and prioritise workload to meet deadlines
Provide specialist, professional and technical environmental health advice and guidance to a range of stakeholders such as residents, businesses, property owners, government agencies and partners
Plan, undertake and lead inspections, audits and other forms of investigations across the breadth of environmental health matters
Evaluate applications and grant relevant licences and permits eg. environmental permits, HMOs, caravan sites, skin piercing, tattooists etc
Negotiate with and influence a range of stakeholders in relation to a range of environmental health matters
Identify, evaluate and communicate environmental health risks and risk management solutions to a range of stakeholders
Ensure all activities are undertaken in accordance with relevant legislation, guidance and codes of practice
Infer and apply a range of legislation related to environmental health, eg. the Environment Act, Environmental Protection Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act, Food Safety Act, Housing Act, Public Health Act, Police and Criminal Evidence Act, data protection legislation, anti-social behaviour legislation etc
Employ a range of research, analytical and problem-solving techniques to resolve environmental health issues through creative and critical thinking, devising practical solutions and applying problem solving strategies
Critically evaluate and analyse evidence and information
Formulate judgements and decisions based on the evidence available and applied knowledge eg. on acceptable levels of pollution emissions, water data, acceptable levels of noise etc
Manage objective measurement and analysis of scientific information to determine the appropriate course of action eg. noise measurement, air emissions etc
Appraise, implement and communicate relevant interventions eg. enforcement actions
Produce accurate records and reports and where appropriate, recommend interventions, including the collection and handling of evidence with a view towards legal proceedings
Assess and deal effectively with difficult and confrontational situations
Participate in health promotional activities in high priority environmental health areas eg. shisha, smoking, obesity, food safety etc
Implement effective decision making, exercising discretion, initiative and independence within the scope of own role
Communicate and influence effectively with a diverse range of stakeholders including spoken and written communication skills, presentation skills, giving advice and guidance / mediating / negotiating and persuading, handling private and sensitive information (eg. data protection)
Use a range of standard IT packages to undertake for example, word processing activities, produce reports and input / analyse data
Work as part of a multi-disciplinary and/or multi-organisational team and collaborate to achieve successful outcomes
Lead activities relating to environmental health matters
Carry out sampling and collect evidence for monitoring, investigations and/or enforcement purposes in accordance with legislation and current guidance
Examine and assess compliance with conditions
Plan, organise and prioritise workload to meet deadlines

Your training plan

You will be pursuing a Level 6 Apprenticeship Standard in Environmental Health, through Weston College
As part of this program, you will attend Weston College as instructed, for workshops
An assessor will conduct on-site observations to evaluate your progress, as well as supporting you in college throughout your apprenticeship
At the conclusion of your program, your qualification will be assessed through an End Point Assessment

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

English (grade 4/C+)
Maths (grade 4/C+)

A Level in:

3 A-levels (grade 4/C+)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
IT skills
Organisation skills
Team working

Other requirements

It is recommended that the successful candidate have completed at least one A level in a Science based subject

About this company

Reading Borough Council is a unitary authority in Reading, Berkshire. Reading is an urban authority with a diverse population. Reading town centre is one of the largest in the South of England, with a large number of commercial and domestic premises alongside a large university, college and football stadium. Reading Borough Councils vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential to be a city of green spaces, smart technology and economic growth, and that everyone who lives and works here can share the benefits of its success. The Environmental Health professions of Food Safety, Health and Safety, Environmental Protection and Private Sector Housing sit within Public Protection and fall into our groups – Community and Consumer Protection. Public Protection sits within Planning Transport and Public Protection and is within our Directorate of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services.

Company benefits

Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service. Local Government Pension Scheme. Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey to and from work.

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Depending on vacancies at the time of completion the apprentice will have the opportunity to apply for any vacant posts across each of the Environmental Health teams at Reading Borough Council

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

WESTON COLLEGE OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Naomi Judge

naomi.judge@weston.ac.uk

01934411594

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000323249.

Apply now

Closes in 17 days (Sunday 22 June 2025 at 11:59pm)

When you apply, you’ll be asked to sign in with a GOV.UK One Login. You can create one at the same time as applying for this apprenticeship.

Cookies on Find an apprenticeship

Contents