Nurse in charge, night shift at St Aldhelm's Hospital
About 54 minutes. Included in Plus.
A registered nurse has called in sick and a confused patient now needs someone with him all night. Work out what the ward needs, get cover through the escalation route, and allocate the night safely.
Skills: Calculate safe staffing from patients' care levels; Escalate a staffing gap in writing with SBAR; Allocate patients within load and competency limits; Plan for the time before cover arrives
Brand manager, licensing at Maple and Moss Foods
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
A licensing partner wants its co-branded cereal bar pack approved before a printer's slot. The logo is too small, the partner's logo too big, the bar is short of fibre for its high fibre claim and short of granola for its made with claim. Review it, decide, and hold the claims when the launch date is used as pressure.
Skills: Review artwork against brand rules and a licence; Separate must fix items from advice; Check claims against evidence and a claims register; Give a partner clear, usable feedback under time pressure; Hold brand and legal standards against commercial pressure
Events coordinator at Scottish Society of Civil Engineers
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
The venue needs the final dinner numbers by noon. Work out who will really be there and what the contract will cost, give the venue exact numbers and allergies, then deal with late guests and an honest answer about nut safety.
Skills: Work out final event numbers from bookings and terms; Use a contract's terms to make a cost decision; Pass dietary and allergy information accurately; Keep extra costs and promises within authority
Release captain (senior software engineer) at Orla Books
About 80 minutes. Included in Plus.
Release 5.4 must get a new bank feed connector live before an aggregator switches off its old interface on 31 October, but Android crashes, a slow migration and a quarantined test stand in the way. Judge readiness, recommend a plan and roll it out without over-promising.
Skills: Judge release readiness against written criteria and evidence; Separate what a dashboard shows from what the policy counts; Recommend a release plan that protects a hard external deadline; Ask for only the exceptions the policy allows, with reasons; Plan a staged rollout and the communications that depend on it
Front office duty supervisor at Calder Quay Hotel
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
The hotel is sold out and a room has just flooded. Work out the room position, decide who to move to another hotel and on what terms, and handle the night when it changes again.
Skills: Work out a hotel's room position from live records; Apply a walk procedure fairly and within a spending limit; Write to a displaced guest clearly and honestly; Hand over an evening's decisions so the morning can act
Facilities and procurement coordinator at Marlow Street Studios
About 85 minutes. Included in Plus.
The office cleaning contract ends in six weeks. Reconcile a year of invoices against the contract and the sign-in log, recommend to your manager whether to renew, negotiate or retender and what needs approval from whom, and put the practice's position to the supplier.
Skills: Reconcile invoiced work against contract terms and site records; Evaluate commercial options under budget and authority constraints; Respect approval limits and escalate the right decision; Communicate a negotiating position to a supplier honestly
Housing officer, repairs at Calderbrook Homes
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
Twelve repair requests, a cold snap from Wednesday and a contractor who will soon be fully booked. Triage them under the policy, answer a resident who has been told the wrong thing, and get a decision on a roof above your limit.
Skills: Triage repairs by risk to the household under a policy; Keep repairs separate from rent arrears; Write to a resident honestly about a repeat problem; Request approval with options, costs and interim safety
Supply planner at Thornbury Kitchenware
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
The lead time from Portugal has jumped from six weeks to nine, and the best seller has a big promotion before Christmas. Project the stock, recommend what to do with the costs, and help sales tell the biggest customer the truth.
Skills: Project stock week by week and find a shortfall; Compare supply options on cost, timing and risk; Request approval within purchasing limits; Support honest customer commitments with numbers
Investor relations manager at Thornbury Industrial plc
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
The internal profit forecast has slipped below what analysts expect, and the company is in its close period. Work out whether the gap triggers the disclosure committee, answer an analyst and a big shareholder without signalling anything, and act fast when the share price moves for no reason.
Skills: Calculate consensus by a defined method; Recognise when a forecast gap triggers disclosure governance; Decline investor requests in a close period without signalling; Spot signs of a leak and escalate at once; Prepare announcement questions and answers within published information
Customer services officer at Northbrook Borough Council
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
Fourteen missed bin reports after a breakdown and a short staffed route. Decide who gets a crew back under the policy, reply honestly to residents, and answer a councillor without promising special treatment.
Skills: Apply a published service policy case by case; Protect vulnerable residents through escalation; Reply to residents honestly without blame; Answer an elected member within the rules
Dispatcher at Lockgate Couriers
About 50 minutes. Included in Plus.
A van has broken down with nine parcels, including medicines, funeral flowers and lab samples. Reassign them within three drivers' hours, decide what moves to tomorrow, and keep the customers who will wait informed.
Skills: Reassign work by priority within time and hours limits; Weigh a cost against a service promise; Tell customers about delays early and honestly; Escalate what needs a manager's approval
Customer support associate at Hearth Box
About 50 minutes. Included in Plus.
Six customers wrote in overnight after a bad delivery day. Sort the queue, apply the credit policy, reply honestly to an angry customer and escalate a food safety report with the facts.
Skills: Sort a support queue by urgency and impact; Apply a credit policy and approval limits; Write an honest customer reply under pressure; Escalate a food safety report with the facts
Social media coordinator at Wren and Dale Garden Centres
About 65 minutes. Included in Plus.
The agency says photos are the garden centre's best posts and wants more of them. Measure October properly, plan November's biggest moments within budget and the advertising rules, and handle a complaint that is spreading in the comments.
Skills: Compare content performance like for like; Plan content around business moments within a budget; Follow advertising and giveaway rules; Handle a public complaint without promising or arguing
Outpatient booking coordinator at Riverside General Hospital
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
A consultant is off sick for two weeks and sixteen patients need rebooking. Put them in the right order with the right clinicians before their target dates, look after a patient who cannot make the only slot, and tell the manager about any breach.
Skills: Prioritise patients by access targets and policy; Match patients to the right clinician and time; Talk to patients about changes without causing alarm; Report a breach early with the facts
Legal operations assistant at Kittering Homes
About 60 minutes. Included in Plus.
A supplier has sent back your company's contract with fifteen changes and the sales team wants it signed by Friday week. Sort the changes against the playbook, escalate what you cannot agree, and answer the supplier without giving away more than you may.
Skills: Review contract changes against a playbook; Spot a change of meaning hidden in a definition; Escalate with a clear risk and recommendation; Negotiate in writing within your authority
Software engineer at Gatehouse Tickets
About 60 minutes. Included in Plus.
A colleague's change will issue partial refunds to thousands of festival customers, and all its tests pass because they check the code against itself. Work out the right refunds from the finance policy, review the change, and hold the line on a money bug when the release date is used as pressure.
Skills: Check code against the rule it implements, not its own tests; Work out expected money values exactly from a policy; Write review comments an author can act on; Hold a safety decision under release pressure
Paralegal at Ashby Kerr Solicitors
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
A client has sent sixteen documents for an employment tribunal claim and wants the damaging ones left out. Review each for relevance and privilege, raise the hard calls with the solicitor, and draft the list, explaining kindly to the client why a manager's message has to go in.
Skills: Decide relevance against the issues in a case; Recognise privileged and without prejudice documents; Escalate a legal question instead of deciding it; Explain a disclosure duty to an unhappy client
Assistant restaurant manager at The Gannet Kitchen
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
The weekly food cost has jumped from 31 to 40.5 percent and head office sees it on Wednesday. Find what is wrong in the records, query the supplier, and explain what is really driving the cost.
Skills: Check purchases and stock records for errors; Calculate a weekly food cost percentage; Query a supplier politely and within authority; Explain the cause of a cost rise with figures and options
Facilities helpdesk coordinator at Brightstone Property Services
About 50 minutes. Included in Plus.
Twelve requests after a wet weekend: a trapped person, a leak onto a desk, a stuck fire exit, cold offices and a few things that are not yours to fix. Triage them, get approval where you need it, and tell tenants the truth about who pays.
Skills: Prioritise building faults by risk and service level; Decide responsibility using lease clauses; Act on safety first and get approval for spending; Say no to a tenant politely and with the clause
Farm assistant, grain store at Hollins Farm Partnership
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
Eight lorries are booked for this week's wheat. Check every bin against the contract, decide what needs drying or checking and what that costs, and tell the merchant honestly what is coming.
Skills: Check stored grain against a contract on every measure; Spot a risk in a trend, not just a reading; Compare the cost of acting now with the cost later; Change bookings honestly within authority
Tax assistant at Pembrey and Lowe Accountants
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
A photographer has sent a year of spending with her own notes on what counts as business. Sort each item under the firm's expenses guide, ask her the right questions, and hold the rules kindly when she pushes for a holiday and cash wages to count.
Skills: Classify expenses as allowable, mixed use, capital or not allowable; Apply the mileage rule without double counting; Ask a client clear questions for missing evidence; Explain a rule to a client who disagrees
Procurement officer at Eastmoor District Council
About 85 minutes. Included in Plus.
Four bids for a three year grounds contract. Score them exactly as published, deal with a price that looks too low and a panel member's late declaration, recommend an award within the rules, and handle the people who want to know the result early.
Skills: Apply a published evaluation method exactly; Investigate an abnormally low bid against the specification; Handle a late conflict of interest and recalculate; Recommend an award within budget and approval rules; Handle councillors and bidders within procurement rules
Payroll assistant at Larkfield Care Homes
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
Payroll closes at noon tomorrow. Check a week of extra hours against timesheets, approvals and the policy, answer a worried colleague honestly, and give your manager the exceptions she must decide.
Skills: Check extra hours against timesheets, approvals and policy; Calculate normal and time and a half pay correctly; Explain held pay honestly to the person affected; Keep decisions within payroll authority and escalate the rest
Quality technician at Pennant Precision Components
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
A batch for the morning truck failed its final check on a machine that has just failed calibration. Decide what the results really show, contain the batch, and tell the customer the facts.
Skills: Interpret inspection data from a suspect measuring instrument; Hold product within quality authority under schedule pressure; Define a containment from in-process records; Write a factual nonconformance report and customer notification
Outage planner at Northvale Electricity Networks
About 60 minutes. Included in Plus.
A failing transformer must be swapped by crane before winter, with 2,168 customers kept on supply through a neighbouring feeder that can carry only so much. Find a window the load allows, look after the people who depend on medical equipment, and replan when a pre-check cuts the backfeed.
Skills: Read demand profiles against network capacity; Choose a work window within safety and field rules; Plan support for customers who depend on medical equipment; Replan quickly and within authority when capacity changes
Duty operations controller at Skerry Air
About 80 minutes. Included in Plus.
Fog has held twelve morning flights and three crews whose duty limits are running out. Build a recovery plan that stays inside the limits without leaning on captains' discretion, look after the passengers, and replan when an island airport says it will close early.
Skills: Rebuild a flying programme within crew duty limits; Choose which service to protect when not all can run; Refuse to plan on discretion under pressure; Arrange passenger care and priority help through the right team; Replan quickly when a new constraint arrives
Audit associate at Hartwell and Achebe LLP
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
Twelve expense claims sit in your sample. Test each against the client's policy, tell control deviations from misstatements, query the client without accusing anyone, and project what you found to the whole year.
Skills: Test transactions against a client policy, attribute by attribute; Tell a control deviation from a misstatement; Query a client for evidence without accusing anyone; Project sample errors and compare them with audit thresholds
People advisor at Fenwick & Hale Insurance
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
Run the monthly absence review for one team, advise a team leader who wants to start a formal process for the wrong reasons, and arrange a fair stage 1 meeting for someone who does meet a trigger.
Skills: Apply attendance triggers using the policy, not the export; Advise a manager on disability and reasonable adjustments; Push back on a manager within your role and escalate; Arrange a fair formal meeting with correct notice
Security risk and compliance manager at Brackenfield Retail Group
About 80 minutes. Included in Plus.
Marketing wants a fast growing analytics vendor live before Black Friday, and it wants 1.2 million customers' names, emails and card digits. Assess the vendor's evidence, score the risk, design the controls that would make an exception acceptable, and keep the gate shut when the vendor reveals an old incident.
Skills: Assess vendor controls on evidence, not answers; Score third-party risk by a defined method; Design compensating controls that change the risk; Route a risk decision to the right approver; Hold a security gate under commercial pressure
Fundraising officer at Kestrel Valley Wildlife Trust
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
Check two months of donations for the Gift Aid claim, then tell a major donor that the project she funded has been cancelled and give her a real choice, and report both to the fundraising committee.
Skills: Apply Gift Aid rules donation by donation; Handle restricted funds within charity rules; Give a major donor bad news and a real choice; Report figures and decisions to a committee
Communications manager at Orchard Gold Drinks Ltd
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
A mother's video of glass in your best selling juice is spreading, a second customer has posted a photo, a supermarket wants an answer by one, and the managing director wants to say the product is completely safe. Read the situation, issue a careful holding statement, and communicate the recall when it comes.
Skills: Assess the severity of an incident from evidence; Write a holding statement that is accurate and kind; Advise a senior leader against words that will backfire; Communicate a recall clearly to consumers, retailers and media; Work within legal approval and decision rights
Operations assistant at Millbrook Bakehouse
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
Work out the week's supplier order from the records and the rules, cover a barista shift without breaking the hours limit, then send the order and fix the rota so the week runs from the records.
Skills: Work out an order from records, rules and pack sizes; Read a lead time against a date; Find the cover that fits the rules, not the easiest one; Turn an approval into records other people run from
Data analyst at Kibble and Co
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
The dashboard says repeat purchases have halved since June and marketing wants 50,000 pounds to win customers back. Check what the number measures, find out what changed in June and what is incomplete, and tell the board what the data really says before it spends the money.
Skills: Check what a measure means before trusting its trend; Separate a mix effect and incomplete periods from real change; Combine rates correctly from counts; Write a board note that leads with the answer; Disagree with a colleague's figures constructively
Site safety advisor at Pellow Construction
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
Twelve findings from the weekly safety walk. Decide which work stops now under the procedure, deal with a roofing contractor who wants to keep working, and tell the client the truth about the scaffold she has come to see.
Skills: Apply stop work criteria consistently; Enforce permit to work conditions under pressure; Say who must act and by when on every finding; Report safety matters accurately to a client
Clinical research coordinator at Hallam Road Clinical Research Unit
About 80 minutes. Included in Plus.
Fourteen trial participants to check before the monitor arrives. Find the visit and eligibility deviations, report a major one honestly while the investigator and a nurse push for a softer version, then beat the 24 hour clock on a serious adverse event without making a medical call.
Skills: Check participants against a protocol; Report a deviation honestly and on time; Protect source records under pressure; Meet a safety reporting deadline; Stay inside delegated authority
Team leader, Supplier Payments at Brackwell Supplies
About 95 minutes. Included in Plus.
One of your team has met the quality trigger two months running. Read his error rates like for like, plan the foreign-currency work for November, and decide what to tell him and your manager.
Management consultant at Larkspur Partners
About 85 minutes. Included in Plus.
A client's finance director has told his board that closing a depot will save 3.04 million pounds a year. Rebuild the savings from the client's own data, tell the steering committee the true number in a deck, and correct it again when a depot manager's figure turns out to be wrong.
Skills: Separate costs that end from costs that move; Build a savings and payback model from client data; Present an unwelcome number answer first; Handle a client sponsor's expectations with evidence; Revise analysis openly when data changes
Assistant store manager at Corner and Co
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
Four weeks of counts show stock missing on high value lines. Find what the paperwork explains, refer what it does not to the right people without pointing at anyone, and protect the shelf and the team.
Skills: Reconcile stock and separate paperwork errors from loss; Refer suspected theft with facts, not names; Act on loss within a spending limit; Talk to a worried colleague fairly
Chief executive and co-founder at Fieldnote
About 65 minutes. Included in Plus.
The board pack says the company spends 70,000 dollars a month; the January ledger says more, and the board meets on Friday. Build the runway statement from the ledger, cost the ways through the next ninety days and recommend one, and settle with your co-founder what happens to the integration he wants to finish.
Skills: Build a cash figure from the ledger, not the plan; Choose a way through against the goal, not only the cash; Give a co-founder a decision he argued against
Commercial property underwriter at Harrowby Mutual Insurance
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
A loyal cold store client wants to renew at last year's price with its sprinkler discount, but the survey found burning foam panels in the roof and the backup sprinkler pump has failed. Rate it by the guide, refer it, and hold firm terms with a broker who says a rival is waiting.
Skills: Rate a property risk by the underwriting guide; Recognise when a risk must be referred and why; Set conditions that address the main hazards; Hold terms with a broker while keeping the relationship; Explain a price change by the features of the risk
Learning and development coordinator at Corran Foods
About 70 minutes. Included in Plus.
Fourteen training requests and a budget that covers about half. Allocate it by the policy, check the compliance dates yourself, say no to a director's favourite course with a real alternative, and re-plan when Finance cuts the budget.
Skills: Allocate a budget by a published order of priority; Check requests against records before funding; Say no to a senior manager with a real alternative; Re-plan quickly when the budget changes
Cover officer at Brookfield Academy
About 50 minutes. Included in Plus.
Three teachers are absent and the cover list must be on the staffroom screen by 08:30. Build it within the cover rules, tell the people affected, and deal with the change that comes at lunchtime.
Skills: Allocate cover within workload and safety rules; Weigh a department's priority against the policy; Tell colleagues what has been arranged and what it risks; Choose between costed options when the day changes