Job Description

Details

-----------

Reference number

420132

Salary

40,669
The salary for this role is 40,669 (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.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Senior Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Type of role

Communications / Marketing

Working pattern

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

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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

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

Location

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


Bristol, Darlington, Manchester, Wolverhampton

About the job

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

Job summary

Do you enjoy building solid working relationships with internal and external stakeholders?

Do you have excellent time management skills with the ability to filter and manage your workload?
If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Briefing and Correspondence Advisor to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

The Elections Directorate is a welcoming and inclusive team. We are responsible for a challenging and dynamic policy landscape, always in the public eye, covering electoral policy and law. This includes how elections are run, who can participate and how elections and campaigning are regulated. We are at the start of an exciting new programme of work to implement key manifesto and other ministerial commitments set out by the Government, through primary and secondary legislation, and digital and operational delivery.
The commitments include:
Increasing engagement of young people by enfranchising 16- and 17-year-olds; Encouraging participation by improving voter registration; Reforming voter identification rules to improve accessibility for all electors; Strengthening the political finance framework.

The Elections Directorate works with a range of stakeholders including local government elections teams, the Electoral Commission, electoral sector representative organisations, ministers, parliamentarians, the devolved administrations, civil society organisations and other government departments. This is an exciting time to join our team, shaping a high profile and ambitious programme of work that continues to draw significant attention within Parliament, across the media and from a wide variety of commentators interested in how our democracy works.

Job description

As a lead in the Elections Briefing and Correspondence Hub you will be part of a dynamic team in a fast-paced environment delivering a major government change programme.

Key responsibilities will include:

Production of accurate, timely and high-quality pieces of correspondence and answers to written Parliamentary Questions to meet the departmental targets and support external messaging on elections and electoral reform. Production of high-quality briefings for Ministers and senior officials to support engagement with a range of stakeholders. Overseeing the process of continuously reviewing existing communications lines and materials and proposing improvements to meet evolving priorities and supporting the Communications team with the development of outward facing messaging. Collaborative working with colleagues across the Elections Directorate to track and coordinate cross-Directorate engagement with stakeholders, ensuring a joined-up approach and supporting the Strategic Engagement team with forward planning. Overseeing and managing the shared elections inbox, working with policy, delivery and digital colleagues to ensure accurate and timely responses to incoming queries from stakeholders. Maintenance of the Local Authority Database, ensuring information is appropriately captured and stored for reference. As needed, working with colleagues across the communications and engagement team to provide secretariat support to internal and external meetings.

Person specification

You will have:

Excellent written communication skills, including the ability to write succinct, clear advice and briefings and to tailor messaging to a range of audiences. Excellent relationship management skills and the ability to build productive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. The ability to work under pressure to urgent or shifting deadlines, including the ability to work flexibly on quickly changing or multiple priorities. Excellent project management and time management skills. The ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills.

Benefits

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


Alongside your salary of 40,669, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes 11,781 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.

CV Declaration

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. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage.


Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system - this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).


Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to each question rather than seeing a candidate's full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reducethis as much aspossible.


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



When writing your application, remember:

the assessor won't be reading your answers sequentially do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)

At sift, we will be assessing

Behaviour 1 (lead behaviour) - Communicating and Influencing - Tell us about a time you have had to communicate complex information in a clear, concise and convincing way


Behaviour 2 - Delivering at Pace


Behaviour 3 - Seeing the big picture


There is a 250 word limit per question.



In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:

Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at Pace


Strength: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

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

Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Delivering at Pace, Seeing the big picture


Strengths: Yes

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox - 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.

SEO salary

The salary for this role is

40,669 (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.

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:

Wolverhampton Darlington
Bristol Manchester


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.

Please note:

The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES

:


Sifting is envisaged to take place starting 15/08/2025 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 in 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

All MHCLG colleagues must meet the Baseline Personnel Security Standard. This is a series of basic security checks to confirm identity and employment history.

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.
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

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


This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
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 : Ruth Law Email : ruth.law@communities.gov.uk
#

Recruitment team

* Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk