Salary: £50,574 Grade: PO4
Hours per Week: 36
Nature of Employment: Fixed-term Contract until 7th May 2026
DBS Required: None
Location: Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow, TW3 3EB
Job Reference: R0006783
About us at Hounslow
We’d love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow! Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be.
We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we’ve built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London’s most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before.
About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock.All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in “Harness the Mix”.It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer.
We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.
As part of this and under our commitments as a Disability Confident Employer, we make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. There’s space for you to tell us what you need within our application form.
Our Benefits
If you join us, you’ll have access to a range of employee benefits. Read more about these on our website.
About the Role
Are you looking for an interesting and challenging position? Would you thrive in a political environment, providing broad-ranging support to the Majority Labour Group of the Council? If so, this may be the job for you.
Working closely with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, Labour Group Officers, Chief Whip and other members, you will support the effective working of the Labour Group itself along with council officers and other stakeholders.
With a good understanding of the Labour Party and its ways of working, you will organise and support meetings of the Labour Group, undertake research and advise on the development of political strategy, policies and positions, and draft reports, briefings, speeches/ speaking notes, communications etc to help the Group to take these forward. You will also support engagement with the Labour Party nationally and at London level.
This role is a brilliant opportunity to develop your skills in the heart of the Council’s democratic and political arena.
About the Team You’ll Be Working In
The role is based in the Communities and Strategy Directorate and reports to the Head of Cabinet Office.
The team, and your position in it, plays a vital role in supporting the political life of the Local Authority and the Council decision making processes which affect every resident and visitor to Hounslow, a vibrant borough which covers a large amount of West London from Feltham in the West to Brentford and Chiswick in the East.
As Political Assistant to the Labour Group, you will be working with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, Cabinet Members, backbenchers, officers from across the Authority and various local stakeholders.
About You
Here are some of the things we’re looking for - if the points below resonate with you, we’d love you to put in an application:
You will be a member of the Labour Party and have good political judgement.
You will be able to demonstrate strong research skills and able to work closely with the Labour Group to provide policy support, researching, evaluating and analysing issues which are of interest, relevance and importance to the Group Leader and Members of the Group
You should ideally have practical experience of dealing with public bodies or political organisations together with a good knowledge of working within political structures and public affairs.
You will have strong research and policy support skills – and able to draft and compile documents and communications such as briefings, articles, speeches, newsletters, press releases and reports of a complex nature involving policy issues as required.
You will have brilliant communication skills – and able to act as first point of contact and ensuring effective communications between Group Members, and between the Group, the Party, the Council, and other stakeholders.
You will demonstrate strong administrative skills – and able to assist the Group with organisation and administration (including regular attendance at Group Meetings which are usually held in the evenings).
Qualifications:
The candidate must have current membership of the Labour Party
There are no specific qualifications needed, although good written and oral skills are essential.
There is a requirement to regularly attend evening meetings and undertake occasional weekend working (with consequent time off in lieu).
Read more about the work you’ll be doing in the Role Profile.
When Interviews Will Be Held and Who to Contact
The key information you need about the role should be in the role profile, but if you have any further questions about the role, please contact:
Email: Rob.Neville@hounslow.gov.uk
Telephone: 07773870826
Closing Date:5th February 2025
Interviews for this job will be held on Thursday 27th February.
