Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector

• As a Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector, you’ll work in a slaughterhouse or meat processing plant and ensure that all meat is being produced safely and in accordance with relevant laws.
• You’ll check that live animals and poultry are all healthy and inspect carcasses to make sure that no nasty diseases are present.
• You’ll also guarantee that the highest animal welfare standards are maintained and that they are cared for properly and transported safely.
• Any actions that you recommend must be implemented immediately.
• This is a very important role, as you’ll be responsible for the safety of the public who purchase meat products and hopefully very quickly you will transition to the role of Official Veterinarian.

As a Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector, your day-to-day duties will involve:

• Inspecting live animals and verifying that they have proper identification and are free of any diseases
• Ensuring high levels of hygiene and safety in slaughterhouses, processing plants and cold stores
• Checking animal welfare conditions
• Ensuring all processes are humane
• Making recommendations for improvement
• Recording and collecting data and writing reports
• Helping with post mortem inspections of carcasses
• Supervising the disposal of unfit meat
• Keeping up to date with regulations and advising companies of changes
• Liaising with a variety of different people
• Verifying the safe handling and disposal of animal by-products

• As a Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector, you will be expected to be able to deal with all sorts of different people, from animal breeders, staff in slaughterhouses and factories, other inspectors, butchers and retailers; this means someone who is an effective and confident communicator, able to build good working relationships and sort out issues as they arise.
• You’ll need to be able to write up detailed reports and understand legislative issues so that you can make effective decisions when required.
• Difficult situations will arise occasionally as part of the job and you’ll need to be the sort of person with the necessary diplomatic and communication skills to sort these out.
• And you’ll need to have a comprehensive knowledge of the meat processing sector.

• A Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector usually works between 37 and 40 hours per week from Monday to Friday but this can vary, and overtime might be required to meet a deadline; also, you may have to work outside normal working hours if you’re visiting a slaughterhouse or processor.
• You can expect to spend some time travelling around from one inspection to the next so a driving license and access to transport is useful; conversely, if you’re inspecting a production line you might expect to be standing in one place for a while.
• You’ll have to be physically fit to be able to move and lift heavy meat carcasses; and sometimes the working conditions might be hot or cold, and you’ll be expected to wear protective clothing such as boots, hats and overalls.
• This is not a job for anyone who doesn’t like strong smells and a noisy environment!
• Within less than 12-months you would be expected to have trained through to become part of our Official Veterinarian team in both a technical and leadership role.

To work in the UK as a vet you need to provide the following:

• Proof of citizenship of a European Community country (EU passport copy – EU National Identity Card)
• Veterinary Medicine Degree
• EU or international driving licence

As from 2020, you are not required to be registered with the RCVS in order to work as veterinary meat hygiene
inspector. We will only need your diploma with an official translation.

However, if you would like to progress further to become an Official Vet (OV), you will have to register with the
RCVS. Below you can find more information about the registration process and the documents that are required,
so you know what you need, even before arriving in the UK.

In order to register with the RCVS, we will assist you with the entire process and ensure you have all the relevant documents. You will need to provide us with your veterinary diploma or provisional diploma (if you are newly graduated) with a translation. You will also need a letter of good standing from the veterinary college in your country where you are studying, also with a translation. If you are not registered with a veterinary college, the letter of good standing must be from your university. It must state that you:

• hold a veterinary degree
• are registered to practice as a veterinary surgeon by that authority
• are of good professional standing and good character, and there is no charge of unprofessional conduct or a criminal offence outstanding against you, including, where relevant, details of any cautions or criminal convictions, including absolute and conditional discharges and spent convictions, or any adverse findings, including professional disciplinary proceedings against you.

For Italian candidates, a photocopy of your State Examination Certificate with a certified English translation is also required. Please visit www.rcvs.org.uk/registration for additional information.

We can arrange for the translation of your documents should you have trouble obtaining a translation. Apart from that, we will ask you to complete a few forms. If you have any problems gathering your documents, we will be more than happy to help.

At the time of the interview, you must be able to interpret the language and respond appropriately in order to participate in a conversation.

All overseas applicants must have achieved IELTS level 5 in order to be considered for VMHI positions. However, if you would like to progress further to the OV position, a higher level of English will be required. The VMHI position will give you the opportunity to improve your English and progress further.

You will firstly have to complete our Online VMHI assessment course. Please bear in mind that this part must be fully completed before coming to the UK, but it is available anytime, anywhere, allowing you to arrange when and where you want to take it. You will need access to the internet for this. We are aware that everyone needs a different amount of time to absorb and process information, and with our online learning you will be able to take things at your own pace.

The Online VMHI assessment course consists of the following:

• Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector Induction Training Course:
  This course consists of 13 theoretical online modules. The course will guide you in the understanding of your role and main duties as Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector and teach
  you about the Meat Industry in the UK. The average amount of time to complete this course
  is 24 hours. You will be required to pass a final assessment in order to pass the course. Upon
  successful completion of the course, a certificate will be issued by Eville & Jones.
• Level 2 Certificate Principles of the Safe Use of Knives in Meat Inspection:
  This course consists of 17 short modules. The course will guide you in the understanding of the
  Health and Safety issues to do with using knives and give you a deeper insight into the use of
  knives and personal protective clothing during meat inspection. The average amount of time to
  complete this course is 20 hours. You will be required to pass 3 different assessments in order to pass the course. Upon successful completion of the course, a certificate will be issued by Food
  and Drinks Qualification (FDQ Limited is a specialist awarding organisation focused on the food and drink industry).
• VMHI Administrative Online Induction:
  This is a short online course for those candidates who are soon to begin working for Eville & Jones. This course will assist you in understanding Eville & Jones as a company, as well as its procedures and policies. It will guide you in taking the next practical steps towards becoming a Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector, and you will learn about the equipment that you will be provided with, cars, taxes, salary, etc. The average amount of time to complete this course is 16 hours.
  A tutor will be assigned to you to guide you during this time. You will have their email address and telephone number to clarify any uncertainties or answer any questions that you may have during your training period. Upon your arrival in our Leeds office, a full induction training day will take place and the final arrangements for your practical training will be organised.
• Practical Training in the UK:
  • The practical training will be arranged in the region where your base plant will be. This may be
  anywhere in England or Wales and, as such, you must be prepared to potentially travel a long distance from Leeds.
  • The total period of the practical assessment is 4 weeks, and you will be doing, on average, 35  hours of assessed work per week. You will, again, during this time be assigned a coach/tutor to
  help answer your questions and guide you throughout the process.
  • Some more difficult plants (like plants with a faster speed line), might take an additional week
  of training, making a total of 5 weeks of training

The best way of getting to Leeds is to fly to Leeds-Bradford Airport (LBA). Once there, bus services
(https://www.flyingtigerbus.co.uk) to the city centre are available. From the city centre you can take other
transportation to travel onwards to your assigned accommodation. In the event that no flights are available to LBA, our recommended options are:

• Sheffield Airport, located in Doncaster and only 45 minutes away from Leeds, by train or bus
• Manchester Airport, located one-hour-and-a-half away from Leeds by train or bus
• Liverpool Airport, located two-hours-and-a-half away from Leeds by train or bus
• London Airports (Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Stansted). London airports are less convenient than the other
  airports we have mentioned, because train and bus tickets are more expensive and travel times are longer

From the airport you will need to find your way to Leeds and then to the hotel assigned to you. We will be happy to provide you with travelling instructions once you have booked your flight.
For train information please see the link below:
https://www.thetrainline.com/train-companies/national-rail/national-rail-map
For bus information please see the link below:
https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

Please note that you are the person responsible for purchasing and arranging your travel tickets from your home country/city to Leeds.

Before you start the practical training in the UK, you will have to complete the Online VMHI Assessment Course (please see point 6 for more information). Once you have completed this in your home country and arrived in the UK, you will attend a one day induction at our headquarters in Leeds. We will inform you of the date and time of the induction, and all you need to do is come along, bringing any documents that we have requested – you don`t need to worry about anything else!

The one day induction session includes: completion of HR documents, paperwork for opening a bank account,
driving tuition (theoretical and practical), company car allocation, company mobile, protective equipment, a facemask fitting test and other administrative tasks. After the office induction is finished, you will travel to your allocated work region.

We understand that finding permanent accommodation is a priority anyone moving to a new country. It is our aim that all our new employees move into permanent accommodation as soon as possible, when they arrive in the UK.

We also understand that meeting accommodation costs is the biggest challenge at the beginning of your stay in the UK, so here is how we help:

• We book and pay for temporary accommodation near your workplace base plant (it can be anywhere in England or Wales) at a Bed and Breakfast for one week (Bed and Breakfast is typically shortened to B&B or BnB and is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes that have rooms available for rent)
• During your week at the B&B, the company will assist you in finding your own permanent accommodation
  by providing you a number of links, where you will find all the necessary information to arrange viewings of potential rooms/places
• We will provide your landlord or letting agency with a letter of reference
• We normally suggest looking for a room in a shared house, as this is the most affordable option at the beginning of your stay in the UK (the bills are usually included in the price of the rent). However, we do take your preferences into consideration, and should you wish to rent a flat or house instead (more expensive and takes longer to arrange) we will assist as above. If you would like more information about types of
  shared accommodation that you can find in the UK, please visit this link: https://www.homeprotect.co.uk/shared-occupancy-insurance/shared-accommodation-types
• A sum of up to £450 is allocated by the company to every new VMHI who joins us. This money is for the first month’s rent of permanent accommodation near the base plant (which can be a room in a shared house where you can stay for as long as 3, 6, 12 months or longer, depending on the contract and your liking)
• The company will pay a £300 accommodation deposit directly to your landlord. This sum will be paid back to the company by you in monthly instalments. Please note that the deposit (£300) will be returned to you by the landlord when you move out of the property

Please note that, should you need to stay at the B&B longer than a week due to not being able to move to the permanent accommodation, the allocated £450 for the first month’s rent will be affected as follows:

Your cooperation with us is important, as we will try to help you move into permanent accommodation as soon as possible.

Please be assured that 98 percent of our new starters successfully move into permanent accommodation within the first week. We are positive that with our help you can also be one of them.

A driving licence is required for the VMHI position. Anyone with a valid driving licence issued in their country of origin is permitted to drive in the United Kingdom for up to 12 months. Holders of a licence issued in EU/EEA nations can drive in the UK until the document expires. You won’t need to retake your test or exchange your driving documents.

If you hold an International Driving Permit (IDP), you will be able to drive in the UK for up to one year from
your arrival date in the country. Please note that you may need to obtain this IDP in your home country. If you hold an IDP, you must apply for a full British driving licence BEFORE the 12 month expiration period is complete. If you wait until after the expiration period to extend the validity of the IDP, you will not be allowed to legally drive in the UK.

As part of your induction, you will be required to undergo a half-hour driving assessment with a qualified driving instructor. If you pass it, the company will give you a company car.

If you do not pass it, we will pay for you to take driving lessons until you become confident driving in the UK and can retake and pass the driving assessment.

As we service a high number of plants (slaughterhouses) in the country, we are not able to inform you about the schedule of every plant, so we will therefore wait until we know which plant you will be working at. Your working hours will be a minimum of 37 guaranteed hours per week, but you are very welcome to work more hours if you would like to. As every plant that we service has different hours of work, we might ask you to take extra shifts depending on the time of year or a possible increase in demand. For example, in the south of the UK we have plants where our inspectors work an average of 40-45 hours per week. If you a have preference for working the minimum number of hours or would prefer to work more, we can arrange that for you as long as you let us know during your recruitment process. If you do this, you can be placed at a base plant that meets your requirements. Please note that you might have to work in plants other than your base plant if the minimum of 37 hours per week is not met there.

In order for you to be able to calculate how much tax you will have to pay, you must have a National Insurance number (NI number). The National Insurance number is a number used in the United Kingdom in the administration of the National Insurance and social security system. It is also used for some purposes in the UK tax system.

Your NI number is used to pay your taxes, your pension contribution, your NI contribution, and to have access to free medical care and other similar social services that are approved by the government.
You can start to work before your National Insurance number arrives.

When you arrive in the UK, the company will provide you with a temporary NI number until you are able to get a permanent one. You are the only person who can apply for a permanent NI number, as nobody else is allowed to do it.
We will advise you how you can get one once you arrive in the UK, but if you would like more information about getting one, please follow the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/your-national-insurance-number

Your salary will be paid every 4 weeks, which means that you will receive a payment 13 times a year. You will receive the first payment after your first 4 weeks of work, once the practical training has finished and you have passed your final assessment.

Your exact salary after tax is given in The Terms & Conditions, where it is specified that the deductions for tax and National Insurance contributions will be 20 % for a salary range between £12,501 and £50,000 per year. This means that for a gross salary of £21,164.00 per year, your yearly net salary is £18,031.52, which is broken down into 13 payments of £1,387.04.
Please note that this has been calculated based on the minimum guaranteed number of hours worked per week (37 hours @ £11 per hour).

We are not able to estimate every person’s cost of living, but if you would like to calculate your approximate monthly expenses, you can click on the link below to get a rough idea of the cost of living in the UK:
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=United+Kingdom

We are here to support you and help you to acclimatise to your new life in the UK.

• We will help you with logistics—by booking temporary accommodation for you when you first
  arrive and giving you all the details so that you know where to go, what to do, and what you will
  need (laundry, supermarket, restaurants, bus lines)
• We will help with any questions you have about settling down in the UK.
• We will help you open a bank account
• We will provide an English mobile number and free phone calls within the UK
• We will pay your mileage during training and give you an allowance for food and drink during
  practical training
• We will try whenever possible, to place you in an area of the country where you already have
  family or friends
• We can advise you on how to register with a doctor (also called a GP)
• We will provide driving tuition with an instructor to help you adapt to the British driving system
• We will advise you on how to arrange time off to attend the National Insurance Number (NIN) appointment
• We will give you up to £450 to cover the first month’s rent of permanent accommodation. We will also pay a deposit of up to £300 directly to your landlord and provide references for you in order to help you secure permanent accommodation.

Unlike in some other veterinary careers, vets in Public Health have a very transparent career path. If they work hard and gain all the right skills, vets in this sector are able to advance in their careers very quickly.
Starting as a Veterinary Meat Hygiene Inspector you will become part of the team within Red & White Meat
Slaughterhouses. This role requires keen observation skills, good communication and great attention to
detail. Whilst you are working as a VMHI, once you have gained the necessary knife skills, you will be assessed and offered the opportunity of becoming an Official Veterinarian (OV). Depending on your performance and confidence as a VMHI, you can apply to be selected for the OV course at any time after you have started working for us.

Apart from that, and depending on position availability, your level of English and experience, we may be able to offer you a position in the following veterinary fields:

• Export Certification (includes full training by Eville & Jones)
• Management positions when they arise, once you are sufficiently experienced

We will always keep you informed about opportunities where you may be able to advance in the company,
including to managerial positions.

If you are from the European Economic Area 1 (most of Europe), you will need a valid European Health Insurance Card. Your EHIC will cover you for any necessary treatment in England until you register with your local General Practitioner (GP). It will also cover you for the treatment of pre-existing medical conditions. The UK is currently in a transition period until 31 December 2020, during which your EHIC will remain valid. Under the terms of the Brexit deal, the transition could be extended by one or two years. When you start to work, you will have access to the NHS, as you will be a tax-payer and you will have a NI number.

The NHS is the national health system that operates in the UK. It is a residence-based healthcare system, which monitors all the public hospitals, GP practices, doctors, nurses and carers within the UK.
In order for you to be able to have easy access to healthcare, you must register with a General Practitioner (GP) also known as a family doctor.

Most NHS services are free to people who are ordinarily resident in the UK and, as such, services are not dependent on nationality, payment of UK taxes, National Insurance (NI) contributions, being registered with a GP, having an NHS number or owning property in the UK.

The term ‘ordinarily resident’ means living in the UK on a lawful and properly settled basis for the time being, and you’ll be asked to prove this.

You do not need to be ordinarily resident in England to access GP services without charge. If you become ill
while away from home or you’re not registered with a GP but need to see one, you can still contact your nearest practice to ask for treatment.

For more information, please follow the link below:
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/visiting-or-moving-to-england/moving-to-england-fromoutside-the-european-economic-area-eea/