The job advert for a temporary role lasting between 12-24 months was published yesterday (3 October). It outlines that the successful candidate will “own” the design and establishment of the new scheme administrator, with an annual salary of £105,000.
Following this initial phase, a further competition will be run for a permanent appointment for the long-term operation of the organisation.
Defra is seeking someone with proven experience or expertise within the packaging and recycling sector.
Administrator
The scheme administrator will determine how producers pay fees to cover local authorities’ full net disposal costs for household packaging waste under EPR.
The Treasury has dictated that the administrator must be from the public sector. Defra announced last month that it is establishing an “interim” scheme administrator steering group for the UK’s EPR for packaging scheme (see letsrecycle.com story).
Defra said at the time the interim group will “support the design, establishment, and mobilisation of the packaging EPR scheme. It will play a critical role in the formation of the Scheme Administrator and future improvements in its design and development”.
The successful candidate to head the EPR scheme administrator will head up the steering group. They will report to the Defra director of resources and waste, Emma Bourne, but work closely with senior leaders across the four UK nations.
Role
Defra outlined that the temporary head of the EPR scheme administrator will “set the strategy” for the scheme.
This includes ensuring that “approximately 7,000” obligated producers expected to join the EPR scheme “are given due consideration through regular engagement and effective involvement in decision making / governance”.
The head will also “own the design” of the scheme administrator, drawing on and applying international best practice in EPR scheme administration “in the design of organisational functions and operations”.
Defra added that the scheme administrator head will also “own the definition of the organisational structures, processes, and governance arrangements, supported by the head of strategy & governance”.
Public body
Defra outlined in its consultation response, and in a webinar earlier this year, that it would establish the scheme administrator in 2023, with the aim of it being “fully operational” in 2024 (see letsrecycle.com story).
With payments under EPR being pushed back to October 2025, the scheme administrator will have around eighteen months to design the system and build the delivery team once appointed.
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