About the job

Job summary

The Youth division is an innovative team that has responsibility for a range of cross cutting and high profile policy areas, including delivering the National Youth Guarantee, supporting youth sector workforce, engaging with the youth sector, and ensuring the impactful delivery of the National Citizen Service (NCS). We work across government to represent youth services and the involvement of young people in policy-making.

The Youth team is a driven, friendly unit with a vision to ensure the programmes we deliver and the engagements we lead have the greatest impact for young people and their communities. 

See the attached Candidate Information Pack (and accessible Word document version) at the bottom of the webpage.

Job description

This role is in an exciting and fast moving environment where you will be overseeing delivery for the Government’s out-of-school youth offer.  You will lead a small, high performing team of 2 x G7 and 3 x EO/HEOs/SEOs. The team is collectively responsible for:

• Overseeing the delivery and evaluation of a range of youth revenue programmes, including  the Uniformed Youth Fund, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Adventures Away from Home, Million Hours Fund, and Summer Jobs.
• Overseeing management of core grants to the National Youth Agency and George Williams College, as well as funding to Regional Youth Work Units. 
• Developing the performance management framework for the youth programmes (including programmes managed by others in the wider youth team).
• Delivering new revenue programmes, including working with others on their design and early set-up, such as the development of new grant agreements, performance management systems and governance.
• Developing an implementation strategy for driving up delivery quality beyond directly funded programmes, including in the local authority and voluntary sector.
• Responsibility for international links and programmes.

This is a great role for someone who likes a wide range of responsibilities, thrives on seeing direct results and is committed to improving our approach to programme and grant management. You will be the lead on our relationship with the central DCMS grants team.

You will work in a positive working environment, and get to work with a range of  stakeholders and have regular contact with Ministers. You will also be a leading member of the youth and directorate leadership teams, and play an active role in stakeholder management. 

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience:

Essential Requirements:

• An excellent leader, with the ability to set direction in often ambiguous circumstances and motivate teams.
• Able to deliver at pace, with evidence of managing a number of workstreams to deliver stretching outcomes.
• Managing a quality service to those receiving funding, achieving high standards in delivery and changing and improving the way we deliver.
• Working together with internal and external stakeholders, and working collaboratively with delivery partners.
• Communicating and influencing to achieve positive outcomes and feedback.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience of programme and/or grant management.
• Demonstrable interest in and experience of youth policy and public services and/or youth services. 

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Kirby Swales, and will take place on: 10.30-11.30am, 7th August 2024.

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this form and you will be sent an invitation. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,462, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £15,244 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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 and Experience.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than 23:55 PM 19th August 2024 via the CS Jobs portal:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the ‘Application and Interview Guidance’ document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths and include a presentation. 

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing

You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. 

As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. 

Your interview will take place remotely via Google Meets. Please note a young person may also join the recruitment panel, in line with our commitments to involving young people in decision-making.

Further Information

If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only., Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport 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   

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

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Information for Applicants’ document.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

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. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In order to request an adjustment, please:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on 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 a verbal test rather than a written one. 

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert.

Feedback

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) (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.