Job Summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job Description

The Private Office and Parliamentary (POP) Directorate is recruiting permanently for an SEO speechwriter. This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all who consider themselves suitable for the roles and meet the eligibility criteria in the wider advert within Civil Service Jobs.

Location:

Successful candidates will be based at the following location:

102 Petty France, London

We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France)

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
Flexible working patterns
Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range.

If you are already a civil servant and are successful in an external recruitment competition for a role with us, your starting pay will be the better of:

promotion terms or transfer terms, as appropriate; or
pay on appointment arrangements (minimum of pay range)

Security Clearance

This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:

United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.

This role requires SC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Work of the Private Office and Parliamentary Directorate

POP exists to support the work of Ministers both in how they interact with the Department’s various internal policy teams and operational arms, but also externally, including with Parliament and MoJ’s numerous stakeholders – organising their diaries, briefings, correspondence, and other written materials.

Role and purpose

The Private Office and Parliament Directorate is looking to recruit an SEO Speechwriter to support the MoJ’s speechwriting team.

The team sits at the heart of the ministerial private offices supporting ministers and MoJ senior leaders to communicate their ideas on the justice system in clear and compelling ways to a range of audiences.

Speechwriter – the role

We are looking for someone with excellent written and communication skills to join the speechwriting team at the Ministry of Justice.

Sitting within the Parliamentary and Private Office Directorate, you will have a vital role supporting the department’s ministerial team. You will research and craft original, creative, high-quality, and personalised content – helping our ministers to find their voice as they seek to influence the MoJ’s broad set of stakeholders.

This will include various set-piece speeches and supporting colleagues across the MoJ, for example in drafting op-eds for national newspapers and editing policy documents.

Your work will be a shop window for the MoJ’s work and will cover a wide range of subjects, from the Rule of Law to the role of rehabilitation, policy announcement speeches, to ceremonial occasions of state.

In a challenging, fast-paced environment, you will be expected to meet multiple deadlines as well as co-ordinating the grid of speechwriting projects.

A natural collaborator, you will work closely with colleagues in the press office, private offices, policy teams, and with our team of Special Advisers.

You will work in a fast-paced and exciting environment where you will need to research and write about the cornerstones of our democracy and society, including the rule of law, delivering justice and protecting the public.

You will take the lead with officials in identifying suitable speech material, while carrying out primary research to uncover relevant and compelling content, adjusting your prose style to match the tone and approach of individual ministers and senior leaders.

Key Responsibilities

We are looking for a team player able to own their own speechwriting projects with determination and energy, one who can deploy language skilfully and shrewdly, with an ear for the most compelling narratives that will drive forward the MoJ’s objectives.

In this role you will:

Lead on multiple projects at any one time, ensuring that final written products reflect ministers’ policy objectives, style and individual voice.

Facilitate the MoJ junior ministers achieving their aims for each written product, working with Private Offices to understand and deliver what they want from a project.
Collaborate with policy teams to understand the context for each project, using their knowledge to inform the way narratives are shaped and ensure they are both compelling and accurate.
Produce products that tell a story about each policy area, so as to bring it to life for the public and the Ministry of Justice’s stakeholders.

Collaborate with colleagues across the communications team, ensuring a joined-up approach to messaging throughout the MoJ’s written communications products.

Work with press officers to understand the language being used by the media around individual policy areas, ensuring that speeches advance MoJ arguments and rebut any misleading claims.
Disseminate information to press officers to ensure they can brief journalists confidently and accurately about speech content and the implications of any policy announcements.
Work with press officer colleagues to ensure logistics around speaking events are organised to maximise media interest and interaction.
Work with the Digital Team to create content for the Ministry of Justice’s digital channels that maximises the reach of speeches.
Collaborate with the Campaigns Team to ensure that speech messaging not only aligns with campaign activity but, where possible, advances any campaign objectives.
Keep in regular contact with our Stakeholder Team to understand the thinking of the Ministry of Justice’s stakeholders at any given time and what impact this might have on speechwriting.
Organise and update the speechwriting grid and disseminate it out to colleagues across the Ministry of Justice.

Skills And Experience

Essential:

Ability to write with flair, making complex concepts accessible to a wide range of people and bringing cohesion to narratives with disparate policy content.
Excellent oral communication skills and an ability to collaborate with a range of colleagues across the department and outside it.
Ability to deliver at pace, capable of juggling multiple competing deadlines under pressure and in a fast-paced environment.
Highly efficient and organised; ability to think strategically, spot risks and opportunities and act on them.
Demonstrable experience of acting as an adviser to senior leaders.

Desirable:

Some speechwriting experience would be preferred but we are willing to consider any candidate who can demonstrate a clear ability to write with flair and to a brief – this is something we assess throughout the recruitment process.

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework .

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words, stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Behaviours

During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour (see Annex A for more information):

Communicating and influencing
Delivering at pace

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of communicating and influencing. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

If you are successful at the sift stage, you will be invited to a blended interview. You will be given a timed written exercise to complete (with briefing provided) which will then be discussed with the panel as part of your interview.

During the panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of. You will be assessed against the following behaviours:

Communicating and influencing
Delivering at pace

You will also be asked strengths-based questions to also explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role.

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details: Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Interviews are expected to take place in January 2025.

Contact information

If you want to speak to someone about what the role entails or what we are looking for from applicants, please call Emma Bowden-Wright, Deputy Chief Speechwriter, on 07816 123 432 or email emma.bowden-wright@justice.gov.uk if you would like an answer in writing.

Annex A - The STAR method

Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

Where are you?
Who was there with you?
What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

What was the task that you had to complete and why?
What did you have to achieve?

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.

What results did the actions produce?
What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.

Person specification

Please Refer To Job Description

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Communicating and Influencing
Delivering at Pace

Alongside your salary of £47,657, Ministry of Justice contributes £13,806 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Access to learning and development
A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Annual Leave
Public Holidays
Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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 security check (opens in a new window) . See our vetting charter (opens in a new window) .

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) (opens in a new window)
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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window) .

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.

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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window) .

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 : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. I you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/933?entityId=933

Ministry of Justice UK

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Speechwriter in the Private Office and Parliamentary Directorate (Ref:933)