Stephen Bennett

Experience

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  WHSmith and Aspens Department Store

  Jan 1988 - Jan 1990

  Retail/Stockroom Assistant

  Following my completion of secondary education, I worked in retail as a stockroom assistant at WHSmith (receiving, handling and checking stock deliveries; stock audits and replenishment), then Aspens which was a department store in East Grinstead. There I worked both as stockroom assistant and in a customer facing sales/service role on a clothing department.

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  Xafinity Paymaster

  Jan 1990 - Jan 1998

  Administrative Officer

  I started out working in pensions administration and then later promoted as a training and support officer. This was when it was known as Paymaster General's Office - a government department and part of the Civil Service before privatisation, paying at the time NHS, civil service, teachers and RAF pensions among others. I assisted with developing training materials, delivering 1 to 1/group training courses including internal processes, IT systems and train the trainer. I also worked on publishing the staff newsletter, managed a large library of standard documents and was part of a project team helping to develop and test a new pension payment system. Show less

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  Reed Business Information

  Jan 1998 - Jan 2006

  Marketing Executive

  Worked on B2B marketing for a range of business publications and advertising solutions such as Kellys and Kompass directories, Kemps Film & TV directory (kftv.com), Farmers Weekly, Caterer & Hotelkeeper and Creative Handbook publications. Varied work including design of sales literature and marketing campaigns online and offline, sales support, editorial/design, controlled circulation management and event/exhibitions management. I also got involved in product testing, reactive sales and supporting clients in the use of various business data solutions. During this time I developed a good eye for creative design/marketing and knowledge of print production, use of images and electronic marketing tools.The Marketing Executive role was a promotion after a period as Marketing Assistant, and my initial employment was as a product support desk administrator, which was more involved in supporting customers on installation and use of the premium CD and online product range at the time. I assisted with numerous sales seminars, customer workshops and industry exhibitions. Show less

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  Silverline UK Limited

  Jul 2006 - Jul 2011

  Administrator

  Sole office administrator at small but long established manufacturing company in the water filter industry. Provided admin support, personal assistant role to the directors, sales and customer service plus marketing support for their product range, including the set up of social media pages and a successful Google Ads campaign. I managed the CRM database and marketing of product consumables. I also occassionally assisted another member of this family business with marketing of a separate mail order business. Show less

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  Rethink Mental Illness

  Jul 2011 - Jan 2014

  Supporting/project managing business development work across the South West and London boroughs, including submission of pre-qualification questionnaires and invitations to tender. My work contributed to successful bids for contracts including a new model 'Recovery House' for those experiencing a mental health crisis in Dorset, and statutory mental health advocacy services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. I also coordinated a programme of internal quality monitoring audits for the range of services operated, scheduling, people resourcing and assisting with site visits and follow up of actions. Show less Provided administrative back up to London & South West regional associate director and area managers, across a wide range of work & projects related to provision of mental illness support and services, including business development activities. My role included developing policy and procedure documents, e.g. information governance guidance and often contributed to improving the content and readability of new service tenders, as well as ensuring correct submission of required documents. I acted as supervisor to two other admin assistants in the team and would often deal with enquiries from the public, partners, trustees and service users, incuding for some time assisting with calls to a mental health advocacy consortium line. I would often handle sensitive data and on occasions when required, I minuted (sometimes verbatim) staff disciplinary meetings and regular senior management/committee meetings.As an additional role, I provided secretariat to an external steering group at which Rethink had representation, which linked into the then newly emerging NHS clinical commissioning groups. This involved liaising with external partners from the health service, other voluntary sector and service user representatives. Show less

  • Acting Regional Support Officer

    Jun 2013 - Jan 2014

  • Administrator

    Jul 2011 - Jun 2013
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  British Red Cross

  Jan 2014 - Jun 2016

  Assistant to Director of Operations

  Executive Assistant to Area Operations Director for Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and the Channel Islands. Position made redundant June 2016 after national restructure.My role was to provide support to the Area Operations Director and operational management team, which includes traditional personal assistant type tasks (organising meetings & events etc.), but I also had a wider remit supporting all aspects of operations across the area, in particular raising the profile of the amazing work the British Red Cross does locally to support people in crisis. A large part of my role was dedicated to internal and external communications to engage both the workforce and public.This included managing a local twitter account @RedCrossSW and editing & designing a 4 yearly 'Local Life'​ magazine (distributed to over 1,500 volunteers and staff) plus other literature. Examples of Local Life I produced are in the media links below. I looked after local internal communications such as regular email newsletters and edited staff and volunteer intranet pages. My work in this area contributed to increased awareness of the local work of the charity in the South West, generated media interest including BBC radio and greater level of communication between volunteers, staff, management and the wider organisation.In 2014, for 5 weeks I provided administrative support and task logging for the multi-agency logistics & transport cell, set up by Somerset Civil Contingencies Unit, to support the major flooding incident on the Somerset levels. I provided support and reporting to the incident Silver Command and collectively, our work provided vital humanitarian support to the public impacted, e.g. getting healthcare and services through to isolated communities, heating fuel and supplies to homes and identifying/escalating welfare concerns to help those most vulnerable. The incident had escalated within my first week in role and so adapted fast to events and changing base locations. Show less

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  Swan Advocacy

  Jul 2016 - Dec 2016

  Office Manager

  Managed the referrals team for the services of Swan Advocacy and provided a broad range of support to the organisation as part of the operational management team including: ICT hardware & system support and set up, general office facilities; health & safety oversight; procurement; procedures and policy; supporting recruitment; supporting engagement and responding to/processing referral enquiries from clients and professionals. The majority of my time was spent on troubleshooting ICT and building issues. I was also part of a task & finish project group to review and design improved lone working practices. Show less

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  St John Ambulance

  Jan 2017 - Dec 2017

  HR Admin Coordinator (Volunteers)

  I was responsible for line managing the South West HR Admin Team which supports the path of volunteers from their recruitment onwards. The team follows processes to ensure that volunteers are appropriately recruited, screened and appointed in accordance with St John Ambulance procedures and policies. My team supported the activities of St John Ambulance in providing high quality first aid and related services across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire.Other elements of my role included: HR case work, recruitment support, disciplinary and grievance, process implementation and general guidance to volunteer managers. During 2017 my team and myself were heavily involved in supporting the implementation of a new national database for managing staff and volunteer information.Following a national restructure moving my team's work to a central hub in the West Midlands, my role was due to cease in Q1 of 2018, and I decided to take a short break to look for my next opportunity. Prior to departure, I supported the team with their confidence to recognise their abilities, and to apply for suitable alternative roles which they did successfully. Show less

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  NHS England

  Mar 2018 - now

  Network Support Officer for the South West Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Diabetes Clinical Network (Band 4 NHS). I primarily support the South West Integrated Stroke and Cardiac Clinical Networks plus general administration across the team, and my role supports the aims and objectives of the NHS Long Term Plan in improving pathways of care and outcomes for those living with long term conditions, My role includes the day to day admin to support meetings, events, documents, finance and communications. Other work has included developing the clinical network's workspace on FutureNHS used by our NHS partners and professionals and project work, such as helping to map service provision so that inequality and inconsistency across the region can be identified and addressed, supporting workstream meetings with clinicians and health practitioners across the whole pathways to co-design change and enabling them to seek funding for improvements. Show less Band 4 role, working within the Primary Care Commissioning team, supported the commissioning team activity around primary and secondary care dentistry provision across the South West. The role included managing the paper and electronic processing of dental contracts, variations and performer information in order for them to be paid accordingly, supporting commissioner meetings, events and local dental network meetings. I managed the production of regular dental bulletins to south west NHS practices, dealt with correspondence in/out out of the team and communications between health professionals and sometimes the public, which could often be challenging conversations around complaints and lack of access. During the first wave of the Covid pandemic in 2020 this was extremely fast paced, particularly with communications and national directives, adapting to working from home and during a time of pressure whilst practices were forced to remain closed, whilst setting up and maintaining urgent dental care centres across the region. Show less

  • Network Support Officer (SW Clinical Networks)

    Sept 2020 - now

  • Admin Support (Primary Care Commissioning)

    Mar 2018 - Aug 2020