Location

Leeds, Manchester, Wolverhampton

About The Job

Job summary

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 commitments set out by the new 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

We are looking for a Head of Communications & Engagement to design and deliver stakeholder engagement and external communications; crafting a narrative, getting the right input from practitioners, academia, civil society and the electorate and landing the resulting reforms in Parliament and the sector. 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

The Elections Directorate works with a range of stakeholders including local government elections teams, the Electoral Commission, ministers, parliamentarians, the devolved administrations, civil society organisations and other government departments.

The Head of Communications & Engagement will:

Design and deliver the overarching strategy for stakeholder engagement across the Directorate’s work, across policy development, digital service design and delivery, and operational implementation of the reforms by local authority election teams
Work closely with the elections sector, managing the stakeholder governance framework and ensuring the necessary strategic and detailed input from the sector to support policy and planning
As the work moves into delivery, design and deliver the change programme, working across each project to identify the sector requirements to support change delivery (such as training, funding, etc) and managing delivery against plan
Lead on external communications and handling, including with press office and on Parliamentary and wider publications
Manage the Directorate’s presence at external events and conferences, including Ministerial speeches and interventions, to drive engagement
Manage the cross-Directorate briefing and correspondence function, including Ministerial briefing for stakeholder engagement. Ensure consistency of message as well as timely responses to correspondence and PQs
Lead and manage the high-performing team of around 10-12 FTE

Person specification

Proven leadership and management skills, ability to set the agenda and prioritise for a busy engagement team, and quality assure briefings and communications
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience of translating complex messages into quality written products for a range of audiences, and the ability to write succinct, clear advice and briefings
Significant experience of stakeholder management and/or communications
Strong planning and project management skills, including in delivering products and announcements at pace in a sensitive environment
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
Experience and confidence in working with ministers or senior leaders, specifically in communications in government
Experience in working with digital services and/or teams

Behaviours

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

Leadership
Working Together
Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,599, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £17,845 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

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

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

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.

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 750 words. In your CV and covering letter, please include:

why you are interested in the role;
how you meet the essential skills and experience required

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

Behaviour: Leadership, Working Together, Delivering at Pace

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

Ability

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

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

Behaviour: Leadership, Working Together, Delivering at Pace

Strength

Ability

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

Grade 6 salary

The salary for this role is £61,599 (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

Leeds
Manchester
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.

Sift and Interview dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 21 October 2024 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.

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance) :

Important note

Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building 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.

Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this 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 1 st 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.

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 (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.

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

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) 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 : Becca Crosier
Email : becca.crosier@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government jobs

Head of Communications & Engagement