About the job

Job summary

The first duty of government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure. The Home Office has been at the frontline of this effort since 1782 and plays a fundamental role in the security and economic prosperity of the UK.

As a member of the Communications Directorate, you’ll be supporting our mission to deliver outstanding public services that work for everyone.

You will join a multi-disciplinary team with colleagues based across the UK, working together to deliver the Home Office’s communications strategy.

We believe a positive, open and supportive culture is essential to help everyone deliver their best work. We value diversity and provide an inclusive and encouraging environment for our team members. We nurture our talent and offer a broad range of learning and development opportunities to help you fulfil your potential.

Job description

Benefits

Successful candidates will be given a Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA) of £3,800, which will be added to the base salary e.g. £41,600 + £3,800, totalling £45,400 (national) or £49,400 (London).

Please note that successful external candidates joining the Home Office will be on the minimum salary figure.

 All Home Office employees are eligible to join the Civil Service pension scheme, which contributes on average 27% of your salary to a defined benefit pension.

You will also be entitled to benefits, including 25 days of annual leave a year, which increases by one day every year to a maximum of 30, as well the cycle to work scheme and a season ticket travel loan.

Information about the role

We are seeking talented senior media managers with the flair and passion to work in one of Whitehall’s most high-profile departments. 

Posts available include our news desk and several policy desks and responsibilities will vary depending on the exact position but will include: 

Working closely with ministers and senior policy advisors to develop and deliver insight-driven proactive and imaginative media campaigns aligned to the Home Secretary’s priorities - writing all necessary material, briefing journalists, attending visits, facilitating media interviews. 

Responding to major breaking news stories and media queries from political, home affairs and other key national journalists, confidently briefing them on sensitive issues and ensure the rapid turnaround of responses. 

We are looking for someone with a strong news sense and political awareness who can develop positive relationships with journalists and have the confidence and credibility to become a trusted adviser to Ministers and senior policy colleagues. 

Producing detailed handling plans ahead of the publication of relevant statistics and reports on complex and high-profile issues. 

Working closely with the media monitoring team to identify inaccuracies and unfounded criticism across print, online, social and broadcast media and ensure it is addressed in the most appropriate way. 

Some roles will involve line managing comms officers, setting priorities, and managing workflows.

Providing leadership and guidance to colleagues, supporting their day-to-day work and helping them to develop over time. 

Using a full range of insight and evaluation tools to target communications and assess their impact, using the information to continuously improve. 

You will also be required to join the out of hours press office duty rota and contribute approximately one to two shifts a month. In-depth training and over-time pay are provided.  

Due to the nature of the role, this post is available on a full-time basis only.

Although largely media-based, the role-holder will be expected to work across all comms disciplines to support colleagues as and when necessary. 

Please note there may be shift work involved in this role. 

The successful candidate will need a flexible approach and the ability to stay calm while responding to fast-paced breaking news stories as well as the ability to plan targeted and innovative media strategies and campaigns. 

We are looking for a great teammate, who can lead and inspire people and is prepared to work hard to support colleagues achieve shared goals. 

This role will be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. The role holder will be expected to spend 60% of their working time in an office. This is a non-contractual arrangement.

Person specification

Successful applicants will be a highly motivated, adaptable, innovative, dependable and collaborative communications professional, prepared to work on some of the most challenging, high profile and interesting issues in government.

Essential Criteria:

• Consistent track record in a fast-paced news or press office environment.
• Strong written and oral communications skills.
• Excellent management and organisational skills.
• Detailed understanding of media trends and both traditional and digital media channels.
• Understanding of insight and evaluation tools. 

Desirable Criteria:

• Familiarity with public sector communications, either in local or central government.
• Line-management experience. 

Benefits

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• a CV detailing job history/qualifications/skills
• a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• provide evidence of the behaviour Seeing the Big Picture (250 words maximum)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The statement of suitability should concisely explain your motivation for applying to this role and offer evidence of how you meet the essential criteria listed on the Job Specification.

Please do not provide any personal details (including your name) in your CV or statement of suitability. We are unable to interview candidates who provide that information in these sections of their application.

The sift will be held on the behaviour Seeing the Big Picture and the statement of suitability (personal statement). 

The CV will not be scored.

The lead behaviour Seeing the Big Picture will be scored first for all candidates. Those who achieve the minimum pass score for the lead behaviour, will progress to a full sift where the statement of suitability (personal statement) will be scored. These candidates will therefore receive a sift score for both elements.

Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the lead behaviour will not have their statement of suitability (personal statement) scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the lead behaviour Seeing the Big Picture.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a blended approach of technical-based questions and behaviour-based questions. 

The Technical questions will be centred around Government Communication Professional Competency Framework. Please refer to: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Government-Communications-Professional-Competency-Framework.pdf

You will also be required to complete a written exercise during the interview process; no advance preparation for this is required and further details will be given during the interview.

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place from 5th January 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 22nd January 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change. 

Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Microsoft Teams

PLEASE NOTE: Due to time constraints we may not be able to offer alternative interview date(s). It is therefore expected that candidates who are successful at sift stage will make themselves available during the above time frame given.

Further Information:

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

If you are currently an agency member of staff or a contractor working within the Home Office, you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the interview stage.

Visa sponsorship    

We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License. 

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office 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

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

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

Security

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. 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.