How we work
Good environmental practices can lead to economic benefits for business and for Scotland.
To support this, we’ve established multi-disciplinary and specialist teams to help us achieve our ambitious vision for Scotland’s environment.
We employ around 1300 people across Scotland in a wide variety of roles, from scientists and regulators to administration officers and accountants, who all contribute to achieving our objectives and the national outcomes set by the Scottish Government. The framework within which SEPA operates, and our key roles and responsibilities which underpin the relationship between SEPA and the Scottish Government is available for the public to view.
More information about our corporate objectives is available in our Corporate Plan and Annual Operating Plan, both of which are included on our performance page.
Working across a number of departments, teams, specialisms and locations, our people work hard to ensure that the right skills, knowledge and experience are in place to provide world class environmental protection for Scotland.
Our People Strategy
Here at SEPA, we are Passionately Purposeful. We know having a strong set of shared values is a powerful way to bring us together as an organisation. We’re connected by a passion that drives us to be purposeful in every action we take – to protect our environment, promote our work, and support our people.
That means cultivating a workplace that supports not only our passion and our professional lives, but our personal lives. Our People Strategy has been developed to bring clarity on our commitment to our people, how we will support our teams to deliver on their outcomes and make a difference to the future of our environment. (This document will be made available in HTML format on this website as soon as possible in February 2025). We are working to create a safe, welcoming and high performing environment, where employees belong and feel valued. So we can be our best, and make the biggest impact.
That’s what it means to discover a workplace that’s Passionately Purposeful – for our environment, our people, and for your career.
To find out about working for us, visit our jobs section for details of current vacancies.
Our service charter
We will be:
- Courteous - dealing with you with courtesy and integrity at all times
- Accessible - we will make it easy for you to access our services and information
- Understanding - we will try to understand your business needs so as to appreciate issues from your perspective
- Good partners - we will work with you to help you protect and improve the environment
- Constantly improving - we will regularly review our performance, listening to and learning from you
- Accurate - we will strive to get it right first time and will act promptly
- Good communicators - we will express ourselves simply, clearly and within agreed timescales
- Fair - we will apply the law fairly and consistently and provide a proportionate enforcement response
- Competent - our staff will be well-trained and equipped with the right knowledge and skills
- Secure - we will protect the privileged information we hold
- Expert - we will be an influential and respected source of environmental data information
We rely on the people of Scotland to engage with us - as customers and partners of SEPA, you too can play your part and help us achieve our aims. Please contact us if we have provided a good service; if we have fallen short of your expectations; or to suggest improvements we should make.