About the job

Job summary

The Civil Society and Youth directorate aims to build a fairer society, in which government, civil society, and businesses are able to work together to tackle social challenges and build stronger communities. 

This role will drive efforts to ensure that hundreds of millions of pounds of dormant assets funding is being governed effectively, ensuring a strong pipeline of long-term, flexible funding for high-impact social and environmental programmes across the UK. As dormant assets are not Exchequer funding, the team plays a vital role in enabling innovative, impactful interventions that Government would not otherwise fund. This exciting role offers a unique opportunity to work with senior stakeholders across the public, private, and civil society sectors and create a lasting positive impact.

As there is a high degree of public and parliamentary interest in Dormant Assets, you will need to engage effectively with and balance complex stakeholder interests, notably from financial services firms, civil society bodies, and parliamentarians. To do this, you will need to build and manage strong relationships with senior representatives. 

You will be working as part of a dynamic and creative team to deliver a long-term, transformational programme which will enable £1 billion over time to be unlocked for the people and communities who need it most.

Job description

Responsibilities will likely include: 

• Securing Ministerial agreement and implementing the findings of an internal review of the governance of the funding in England, working with senior stakeholders across the Scheme’s ecosystem to ensure buy-in to the proposals.
• The design and delivery of a statutory review of the Dormant Assets Scheme, due to be laid before Parliament in 2025. Close collaboration with the expansion side of the Dormant Assets Team will be required for this, with some travel to London at key points expected.
• Leading on aspects of how the funding is distributed in England, notably the Community Wealth Fund as the newest cause for dormant assets funding in England, working in close collaboration with DLUHC and other members of the Dormant Assets Team.

The postholder will need to be agile and responsive to Ministers’ preferences and changing policy priorities as this work develops.

Person specification

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

Essential Requirements:

• Seeing the Big Picture: Understand the strategic drivers for your work and be proactive in developing your and the team’s knowledge, aligning with other priorities where possible.
• Communicating and Influencing: Build strong relationships of trust with an array of senior stakeholders – both internally and externally. Communicate purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm. Take complex information and explain it a way that is easy to understand. 
• Delivering at Pace: Rapidly develop and deliver policy ideas, remaining flexible to shifting requirements. Collaborate as part of a team in a changing environment, taking responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive.
• Making Effective Decisions: Understand own level of responsibility and empower others to make decisions where appropriate. Consult stakeholders, invite challenge, and display confidence when making difficult decisions. 

Desirable Skills:

• Experience of working in partnership with other government departments and/or external partners to deliver shared objectives. 
• Experience working on governance issues and/or Parliamentary reviews

We are offering applicants to join a virtual information session on 10:00 – 11:00 Friday 23 February 2024 hosted by the vacancy holder: taryn.cornell@dcms.gov.uk 
Please note this information session will cover two roles that are open in the Dormant Assets Team.

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 here and you will be sent an invitation. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,095, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £8,935 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 09:00 Monday 4 March 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 3 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.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with: dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

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

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

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

As part of your interview, you may 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 GoogleMeets.

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

Further Information

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

Any move to DCMS 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

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.

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 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.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

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. 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.