About the job

Job summary

The Honours and Appointments Secretariat (HAS) is looking for an energetic, engaging and enthusiastic person to join our busy team, which is part of the Propriety and Constitution Group within the Cabinet Office. This is a great opportunity to work in a high-profile, fast-paced and prestigious area of the Cabinet Office. 

The UK honours system provides national recognition of people giving service to the UK. Two honours lists are produced annually and the independent Honours and Appointments Secretariat is responsible for coordinating this process and managing the public nomination process. The Secretariat coordinates civilian gallantry lists, recognising acts of bravery, and is responsible for all areas of policy relating to honours and medals. The Secretariat also supports the work of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, an independent advisory body which was was established to make nominations for membership of the House of Lords to the independent cross benches and is also responsible for the vetting for propriety of all nominations to the House, including candidates for party political membership.

This is an exciting time for the honours system as we seek to strengthen the operation of the honours system and shape and respond to developing priorities and to ensure it reflects all aspects of modern British society.

Job description

Job description & Key account-abilities

You will be joining the Honours Policy team, a small team within the Honours and Appointments Secretariat.  You will primarily be responsible for all aspects of civilian and military medals policy and operational responsibility for the civilian gallantry system.

The team is small and therefore there will also be a requirement to draft FOIs, PQs and correspondence in other areas of policy work, depending on individual workloads.  

It is also worth noting that due to work that will be finalised in other areas of the team in early 2024, there will be a review of the division of responsibilities early next year - whilst the main remit of this role will not change dramatically, there might be other responsibilities that might need to be picked up or shared depending on workload.  

We are looking for someone with excellent administration, communication and stakeholder management skills. This post will give you an excellent overview of Cabinet Office policy areas and the opportunity to work with senior colleagues both in the Cabinet Office and externally, working for the chair of the George Cross Committee, who is a senior Permanent Secretary.

The post holder will be responsible for: 

Honours policy

• Support the secretariat to the HD Committee; advise on the introduction of new medals and amendments to existing medals in line with the PM’s strategic objectives for the honours system.
• Develop and advise on medallic procedures and precedents, liaise with (esp) No. 10, FCDO, MOD and Cabinet Secretary’s office to ensure government-wide alignment of policy.
• Draft policy papers as required, having in mind current policy, anticipate political developments and any appetite for options for change. 
• Draft PQ and FOI answers within timescales given. Answer public correspondence within 15 working days.
• Represent the Secretariat and the HD committee at the independent Advisory Military Sub-Committee, working closely with external and MOD colleagues and providing advice to the Committee on wider policy as appropriate.
• Responsibility for advising on the use of the Humanitarian Medal, and leading the delivery of the medal should an incident occur.

The King’s Medals Review

• Carry out a review of The King’s medals and present recommendations to the HD Committee.

Secretariat to the George Cross Committee

• Leading on Civilian Gallantry, including processing nominations, liaising with relevant departments and being the key point of contact within the team in this area. 
• Management of the public gallantry inbox.
• Provide secretariat support to the George Cross Committee meetings (up to 4 times a year), including drafting papers, the chair’s brief and citations. 
• Drafting submissions for PM and HMK on recommendations post Committee. 
• Leading on the publication of gallantry lists, including coordinating probity checks and working with comms to finalise the announcements (drafting press notice/Q&A etc). 
• Ensure departments are organising local presentations for King’s Commendation for Bravery recipients, and liaise with HM Lord-Lieutenants to inform them of the award. 
• Recruitment of George Cross Committee members.
• Adhoc policy development.

There is also potentially the opportunity to line manage 1 x EO member of staff (to be confirmed following wider team review).

Any other ad hoc task as required to help support wider delivery of the honours process and or work of the Honours Policy Team. 

Person specification

Essential requirements

• Excellent stakeholder management skills and ability to build trusted relationships within the Cabinet Office and across government;
• Manage competing priorities and deliver them at pace and to a high standard;
• Ability to plan, organise and manage your time and activities and apply project and risk management approaches to support delivery of objectives;
• Highly effective oral and written communication skills, and the ability to manage senior stakeholder relationships diplomatically;
• Proactively seek to improve processes and helping to embed these across the team; 
• Ability to identify and analyse large amounts of information / data, to make informed and robust decisions, ensuring confidentially, handling data in line with overarching data protection practices; and, 
• Work flexibly and collaboratively across a small team to achieve wider team and departmental objectives. 

Desirable:

• A good understanding of how the honours system operates; and/or, 
•  Experience of working on diversity or outreach projects.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,250, Cabinet Office contributes £10,327 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 and Strengths.

Application process

The following behaviours will be assessed during the selection process- and you will be required to submit a 250 word statement for each behaviour:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality service
• Delivering at Pace

The following strengths will be assessed during the selection process:

• Organiser
• Relationship builder

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the lead Behaviour, Making Effective Decisions. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Selection process

At the interview stage, applicants will be assessed on the four behaviours and relevant strengths.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – [w/c 15th January]
Expected interview date/s – [w/c 25th January]
Interview location - Online

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put 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 cabinetofficerecruitment.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. 

Further information

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

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to Cabinet 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

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 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.