Job Description

Details

-----------

Reference number

420393

Salary

33,787
(National: 33,787)


(London: 37,170)
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Higher Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

(Group: Strategy and Communications) [Directorate: Communications]

Type of role

Communications / Marketing

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Number of jobs available

2

Contents

------------

Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

------------


Bristol, London, Wolverhampton

About the job

-----------------

Job summary

Are you a natural communicator who wants to work on the issues that matter at the heart of government?


Do you thrive in a fast moving environment collaborating with your team at the forefront of government communications?


If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Press Officer to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!


Government press officers handle many of the news stories you read, watch, listen and react to every day. Working in a media team within Government Communications is an exciting opportunity that will challenge and develop you as a professional communicator. You will be operating at the very heart of government, helping to shape media coverage on issues that affect everyday lives and are regularly top of the news agenda.


The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is central to the mission-driven government, from delivering the homes this country needs, to handing power back to communities and rebuilding local governments.


By joining a communications team, you will become a member of Government Communications, a well-established profession of communicators working in government departments, agencies and arm's length bodies. You'll benefit from continuous professional development from our new learning and development curriculum, a network of skilled communicators sharing best practice, and mentoring opportunities. For more information on how becoming a part of the government communications profession can support your career and professional development, please visit our careers page.


Government Communications is determined to ensure that the profession is representative of the audiences we are communicating with and welcomes applications from the widest range of people of different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences as well as those who have caring responsibilities.


You can find out more by visiting: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/career/

Job description

We are looking for motivated and creative individuals, with a passion for the news and current affairs, to join our supportive, ambitious and collaborative team.


To be successful in this role, you will be confident in turning complex information into clear content that resonates with diverse audiences. You'll be responsible for developing innovative media handling plans across multiple platforms - beyond traditional print and broadcast media - working creatively with colleagues on digital and social media channels to reach different audiences. Collaboration is also key, and you will work closely with ministers, communication professionals and other stakeholders to create clear communication strategies and concise messaging. One of the main aspects of your role will be responding to incoming queries from the media. This will involve proactively monitoring for breaking news and coverage that might require correction or clarification, providing swift and effective responses to requests for comment and keeping the department updated on developments.


Your key responsibilities will include:

Reactive Media and Press Management

-managing breaking stories, drafting concise media lines to very tight deadlines, and confidently verbally briefing senior journalists.

Proactive Media Handling

-drafting proactive press releases and communications handling plans that tells the government's story in a clear and succinct way. You will work with policy colleagues and political advisers to agree key messages and plans to maximise ministerial time, including on visits.

News Management

-the ability to quickly spot both potential problems but also opportunities to insert a government voice positively.

Digital Communications

- helping government create, shape, share and exchange information through online and virtual networks. With the support of an experienced network of peers and a strong focus on professional development, you will develop skills in line with these areas.

An essential part of the role is participating in the press office out-of-hours rota, providing a 24/7 point of contact for media enquiries and responding to breaking incidents outside of core business hours, for which you will be remunerated in line with the department's overtime policy.


Regular attendance in London to support ministers and special advisers will be required.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Excellent understanding of the national news agenda, including outlets spanning consumer and trade audiences as well as the nations and regions. Political judgement, strong news judgement and excellent understanding of the news cycle and the social media landscape. Exceptional verbal and written communication skills - producing high quality written content such as press releases, op-eds and briefings, for a range of different stakeholders and audiences, with minimal supervision and requiring minimal edits. Confident when briefing senior figures and/or journalists. Proven ability to distil large amounts of complex information into clear and concise key messages suitable for specific audiences. Strong organisational and planning skills, comfortable managing multiple priorities and working to extremely tight deadlines. Strong networking skills with confidence in building and maintaining a network of internal and external contacts, including journalists. Strong team collaboration skills, working effectively as part of a team, contributing to shared goals, supporting colleagues and fostering a positive team environment.

Desirable Criteria

Experience of working either in a journalism/media/press office environment will be an advantage, although we are open to a range of backgrounds. Ability to plan communications strategically and long term, based on insights and always ending in solid and honest evaluations.

Benefits

------------


Alongside your salary of 33,787, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes 9,788 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Learning and development tailored to your role. An environment with flexible working options. A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity. A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.

Things you need to know

---------------------------

Selection process details

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.


As part of our pre-employment checking process, we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process.

CV and Cover Letter Declaration

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment.


Please remove references to your:

name/title educational institutions age gender email address postal address phone number nationality/immigration status

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:

Experience: Your covering letter should be no more than 650 words and detail how you meet the essential criteria set out in the job description.

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document.

When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter

.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following Success Profile Elements:

Behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Seeing the Big Picture.


Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.


The interview will also involve a written test based on a fictional press office scenario, for which you will need to draft a short media statement and your thoughts on media handling to help manage that scenario.

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:

Experience


Behaviours

Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.

We do not consider direct CV applications - you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs.

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.

HEO salary

The salary for this role is 37,170 (London) or 33,787 (National).

For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation's terms and conditions.

Benefits

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018

:


Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.


For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.

Location

Bristol London Wolverhampton

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.


At present, a minimum of 60% of your working time will be spent in your contractual office location. Requirements to attend other office locations or off-site meetings will be counted towards this. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 24th August with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

Reserve List

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

Security Clearance Requirements

CTC (Counter Terrorism Check)

All MHCLG colleagues must meet the Baseline Personnel Security Standard. This is a series of basic security checks to confirm identity and employment history. In addition to the BPSS, successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. CTC security checks requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC).


Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.

Before starting your application it's very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules

Candidate Pack Information

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.

Internal Fraud Database

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.


For more information please see: Internal Fraud Register




Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check .



See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:


UK nationals nationals of the Republic of Ireland nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.



We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles .
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

---------------------------------


Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

#

Job contact :

Name : Gareth McKeown Email : gareth.mckeown@communities.gov.uk
#

Recruitment team

* Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk