About the job

Job summary

The Home Office has one of the most challenging and critical jobs in Whitehall: to keep Britain safe and secure. We operate at the heart of the Government's agenda, leading on immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime policy, counter-extremism and counter-terrorism and work to ensure visible, responsive and accountable policing in the UK. The challenges the Department faces are significant and can change rapidly in the global environment in which we operate, making this one of the most exciting and stimulating Government Departments in which to work.

A Minister is directly accountable for decisions made by government, and effective Ministerial communication – whether in Parliament, to the press, or through correspondence – is crucial to how the government communicates decisions and policies.

We receive high volumes of correspondence from MPs, members of the public, international partners and interested third parties. The HO Strategy Group have recruited a small team of Correspondence Managers to support Junior Ministers in their external communication, and an opportunity has now arisen here.

As a Ministerial Correspondence Manager, you will be based within the central correspondence unit but work directly with the Minister to understand their communication style and preferences. You will manage the flow of correspondence, using your judgement skills to prioritise urgent responses. You will work with policy teams, operational teams, and central correspondence unit colleagues, to coordinate timely, accurate responses to correspondence.

Job description

As part of a team of three correspondence managers, you will work closely with Ministers’ Private Office teams, although will report to a correspondence unit manager. Although you will be designated particular Ministers, we expect all correspondence managers to work flexibly and support each other to ensure the best service is provided to all Ministers.

Working with Private Office is an exciting opportunity at the heart of government, providing a real insight into how Parliament, Ministers and Government works. It provides exposure to and experience of a wide range of policy and operational areas within the Department and across Government. You will work to protect and further improve the Home Office’s relationship with Parliament and to achieve Ministerial priorities. The production of timely and high-quality responses to ministerial correspondence is a crucial part of fostering this relationship and promoting ministerial priorities, and your role will be key to this work. Roles working within, or closely with, Private Office are great for your personal development.

The role would suit a highly motivated individual with excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills. You will need the ability to deliver calmly under pressure, manage multiple and competing priorities, write clearly to engage and inform senior decision-makers and liaise effectively with a range of cross-governmental stakeholders.

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

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Person specification

Key responsibilities will include:

• Building a trusted working relationship with the Minister(s) to understand their communication style and tone, and work with the Department to ensure correspondence reflects this.
• Managing and evaluating the flow of work (advice cases, Ministerial correspondence and ad hoc correspondence) between the Department and Ministers, prioritising urgent and compassionate cases.
• Building and maintaining effective relationships between Department, the Direct Communications Unit, the Parliamentary team, and MP’s offices.
• Providing consistent quality assurance reviews on Ministerial correspondence.
• The role is rich, diverse and provides a unique opportunity for a highly motivated professional with appropriate communication, teamwork, leadership and decision-making skills to support the Minister and the wider team.

Essential Criteria

We are looking for motivated individuals who can demonstrate:

• Excellent organisation and communication skills (both written and oral).
• The ability to handle a heavy workload and prioritise effectively.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working directly with senior officials or managers in high paced, fast-moving environment.

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 and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

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

• a CV detailing job history
• a statement of suitability (maximum 250 words)
• provide evidence of the behaviours: Managing a Quality Service, Seeing the Bigger Picture, Communicating & Influencing, Delivering at Pace, (250 words maximum each)

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

The statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

The sift will be held on the behaviours and the statement of suitability. The CV is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

However, if a large number of applications are received, an initial sift will be conducted on the lead behaviour Managing a Quality Service. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift which will consist of all the behaviours listed and statement of suitability.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a mixture of experience and behaviour-based questions, on all behaviours listed in the advert. Those invited will also be expected to successfully complete a timed drafting and quality assurance test. Full details will be provided prior to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sift is expected to take place from 20th March 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place from 11th April 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.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting.

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position. 

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

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.