Welfare and Student Support Administrator

FURTHER PARTICULARS WELFARE AND STUDENT SUPPORT ADMINISTRATOR

Job Title: Welfare and Student Support Administrator

Department: Academic Office

Contract Type: Permanent, full-time

Salary: £34,000-£37,000 per annum depending on skills and experience

Responsible to: Head of Welfare and Academic Registrar

Liaises with: The College’s Welfare Team; Academic Office; Web & Media Office; Chaplain, Bursary and the Porters’ Lodge

Job purpose: To support the Head of Welfare and Academic Registrar in the provision of welfare, financial and other non-academic support to the students of the Merton College.

To assist with the coordination of for the Welfare Team and its activities, implementing and reviewing its processes on an ongoing basis and collating evidence in order to inform welfare decisions and assist resource planning.

Merton College

Merton College is one of the oldest and most beautiful colleges in Oxford, tucked away behind the High Street, with stunning views across Christ Church Meadows but within easy reach of other University buildings and the city centre. We are a vibrant, diverse, inclusive community with an exceptional record of academic success. The College currently comprises around 590 students (320 undergraduate and 270 graduate), alongside some 70 Fellows, 50 other academic staff, and over 100 members of support staff. We admit around 95 undergraduates each year and a comparable number of postgraduate students across a range of subjects in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences.

More information about the College is available on our website:

Student Support at Merton College

Merton College is committed to providing effective support to its students, and takes a pro-active and collaborative approach to its welfare provision.2

The College has a Head of Welfare with overall responsibility for student welfare within the College. The Head of Welfare leads a Welfare Team which comprises a part-time College Nurse, a full-time Senior Welfare Adviser, a Welfare and Student Support Administrator, and three Junior Deans for Welfare (who are usually postgraduate students of the University). The team proactively organises and promotes a range of activities and courses throughout the year, typically including free yoga classes, mindfulness courses, welfare walks, a weekly tea, regular neurodiversity lunches, and environmental projects.

In addition, the Middle Common Room (MCR - the postgraduate student body) and the Junior Common Room (JCR - the undergraduate student body) each elect two Welfare Representatives every year, and a team of students is trained as peer supporters.

A Welfare Forum is held each term at which a range of issues relating to the welfare support of students is discussed. This brings together JCR and MCR representatives, key College staff and welfare team members, Merton link personnel in the University’s Disability Advisory Service and Oxford University Counselling Service, and the College Doctor.

Welfare and Student Support Administrator

This post supports the Welfare Team and Academic Registrar in the provision of welfare, financial and other non-academic support to students of the College, as well as assisting with wellbeing arrangements for the student body.

The Welfare and Student Support Administrator will be a member of the Academic Office, working with the Head of Welfare, the Academic Registrar, the Senior Tutor (who is head of the Academic Office), and the Chaplain (who chairs the College’s Student Support Sub-Committee). Although there can be connections between welfare, financial difficulties, disability and academic progress, the College maintains some important boundaries to ensure confidentiality as appropriate. The Welfare and Student Support Administrator will need at times to be mindful of these boundaries when handling the various components of the role, but also recognising where cohesion between different aspects would maximise the support provided to students. As such, candidates should possess not only strong administrative skills, but also tact, discretion, and good judgement, particularly around confidential and sensitive matters.

Main Duties of the Role

The Welfare & Student Support Administrator will have particular responsibility for:

Committee support

• Servicing the termly Welfare Forum, including producing the agenda and taking notes, at which general matters relating to welfare and wellbeing are discussed;3
• Organising and attending the regular informal meetings of the Welfare Team;
• Servicing the termly welfare meeting: o collating relevant information to inform casework practices; o preparing meeting agendas (in discussion with the Head of Welfare and other members of the wider Welfare team) and producing a record of agreed actions after the meeting, with follow up as required;
• Servicing and associated administration of the Student Support Sub-Committee (which meets four times each year and is chaired by the Chaplain) and the Compassionate Fund (which often has its business carried out by email circulation);
• Assisting the Head of Welfare, Academic Registrar and Senior Tutor with updating relevant welfare and financial policies.

Student wellbeing

• Having an up-to-date knowledge of student welfare cases, using initiative and sound judgment about any issues which need to be brought to the attention of the Welfare team;
• identifying new processes and improvements which add value to the delivery of College welfare and which enhance the quality of the welfare data which informs decisions;
• working with the Head of Welfare and other members of the Welfare team to assist in the development and promotion of a range of wellbeing activities, seminars and events for membes of the College;
• supporting the Academic Registrar in organising the accommodation ballot dispensations scheme for students with particular housing needs relating to welfare or disability;
• collating data and assisting with the compilation of the Welfare Team’s annual Welfare Report;
• Supporting the Head of Welfare in monitoring the use of the welfare budget;
• Ensuring that emergency contact details (e.g. of College Officers) and response documentation is up-to-date and shared regularly;
• Assisting with the organisation of central services and other training for welfare-related roles, such as the Peer Supporters.4

Student Financial Support

• Being available to students as an approachable point of contact for queries about financial grants and awards;
• Administering the College’s financial support schemes, e.g. travel and year abroad awards, Graduate Research Grants, book bursaries;

o Collating and reviewing applications; o Producing papers for the Student Support Sub-Committee and following up on agreed actions including with the Bursary;

 Where appropriate, supporting students with application processes for College or University financial support.

Administrative Support

• Setting up and maintaining rigorous systems for securely keeping and managing sensitive personal data, to comply with the Data Protection Act, privacy legislation and the College’s regulations;
• providing administrative support to the Head of Welfare and wider Welfare team as required, for example setting up meetings, following up on agreed actions, liaising with appropriate members of the College and/or welfare and wellbeing providers;
• Minute taking for welfare-related, disciplinary, or other student processes

(e.g. disciplinary investigations, fitness to study, appeal hearings);

• Ensuring that all welfare and financial support information and resources on the College website and intranet are accurate and kept up-to-date;
• Enhancing administrative processes for welfare and financial support;
• Assisting with arrangements to support students with disabilities, as required;
• Undertaking any other duties, commensurate with the role, as required.

Safeguarding

Employment will be conditional on undertaking safeguarding training and a satisfactory report from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Other duties

The post-holder will be required to undertake other duties at the direction of the Head of Welfare, Academic Registrar, or Senior Tutor. The duties listed above may be varied5

from time to time without changing the essential character of the post. In addition, although the focus of the role is student support, the members of the Academic Office and of the Welfare Team work closely together and on occasion may be asked to carry out other duties, and to provide cover in the event of absence.

Person Specification

Candidates from a range of backgrounds are encouraged to apply for this role. The ability to demonstrate possession of the skills and qualities specified below is more important than experience in a similar role.

Essential

The post-holder is required to:

• be in possession of proven administrative skills, with the ability to work with high levels of accuracy and meticulous attention to detail;
• be financially astute;
• be well-organised and clear-thinking, with the ability to multi-task, to work calmly and logically under pressure, and to adapt to changing situations;
• possess a warm, open, approachable, and non-judgmental manner, with sensitivity to the particular needs of students from a diverse range of backgrounds, and to have excellent listening skills and the ability to empathise with other people;
• possess good written and oral communication skills, with the ability to deal tactfully and appropriately with a wide range of people, including those in difficult situations;
• have a high level of discretion, and the ability to ensure confidentiality in all College matters;
• be able to work independently, practically, and resourcefully as a member of a small team – this includes being willing to take ownership of their duties, and possessing the judgement to know how and when to take initiative, and when to refer to others, as well as being able to maintain appropriate boundaries in a College context;
• be IT-literate, with strong IT skills appropriate to a Windows-based office, including Excel, and the preparedness to learn new applications as required; and
• be flexible in their approach to work, with a co-operative and collaborative attitude, and an appreciation of the fact that roles in a busy office are not always clearly demarcated, and that team members will be required to help each other out in order to ensure delivery of high-quality service.6

Desirable

The post-holder will ideally possess:

• sympathy with the values, ethos, and objectives of a small, collegiate institution; and
• experience of working in the area of welfare and/or wellbeing, broadly defined.

Salary and Benefits

The salary offered for the full-time appointment is £34,000-£37,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience.

Weekly hours of work are 35 hours, normally between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday with an unpaid one-hour lunch break. There may be some flexibility for the postholder to start earlier or later in order to travel to the College.

The postholder is eligible for membership of the University of Oxford Staff Pension Scheme (OSPS), which is a contributory scheme, free medical insurance (which is assessable as a taxable benefit), 30 days holiday per year (excluding bank holidays), free car parking, cycle to work and electric car schemes, and loans for the purchase of seasonal travel passes. The College has a gym and sports facilities, which are free for staff to use, and there are a number of organised activities such as yoga and circuit training that are also free. Meals in College are provided free of charge when on duty.

Application Procedure

Those wishing to apply for this post should complete the online application form at and email the following as a single PDF (in this order) to [email protected] in the named format ‘Last Name First Name Application’:

• a curriculum vitae, no longer than three typed sides of A4, which should include the names and contact details of two referees.
• a covering letter outlining their motivation for applying and how their skills and experience equip them to undertake it;

Please put your last name and ‘Welfare and Student Support Administrator’ in the subject of the email.

The closing date for applications is 9.00am on Monday, 1stSeptember 2025.

The interviews are anticipated to take place in the week commencing 8th

September 2025.

Applicants are encouraged to complete an Equal Opportunities Recruitment Monitoring form at the end of the Application Form. The information collected on the equal7

opportunities recruitment monitoring form does not form part of the selection process and will not be circulated to the selection panel. It will be used solely to monitor the effectiveness of the College’s equality policy which is published at

References will only be taken up for the successful candidate.

The appointment will be conditional on satisfactory provision of proof of the right to work in the UK.

This position may be discussed further with Helen Webster, Head of Welfare
([email protected]).

This appointment will be determined only by personal merit and the application of criteria related to the duties of the post. No applicant will be treated less favourably than another because of their sex, gender re-assignment, marital status or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, racial group, disability, age, religion and beliefs or sexual orientation.

Merton College is an equal opportunities employer

August 2025