About the job

Job summary

As our Senior Policy official, you will contribute towards the management and delivery of a wide-ranging portfolio, including the core government relationship with navigation authorities such as the Canal & River Trust (the largest navigation authority in England and Wales, managing c. 2,000 miles of waterways) and access on waterways. This is an exciting policy area, which overlaps with many other cross-Whitehall responsibilities. You will be part of a small close knit team, working closely with key stakeholders to deliver government priorities. A key focus will be to ensure grant funding provided to the Canal & River Trust (currently worth £52.6m per year) is used effectively to deliver key outcomes and achieve value for money.  The role intersects with a wide range of government priorities including climate adaptation, access to the outdoors, and maintenance of historic and cultural assets.

The role sits within the Floods & Water Directorate (part of the Environment Group), with opportunities for collaborative and supportive working across different topics. The team is friendly, supportive and energetic; recent new starters in the wider team have felt welcome and at home straight away. You will use your strong people skills, strategic thinking, and rigorous focus on evidence to build strong relationships with your team and with external and x-Whitehall stakeholders, make the case for Defra’s priorities, and drive your policy area forward.

Job description

You will have the opportunity to lead on some elements of the following, and support on other areas of the team's work, depending on your experience and skill set and the team’s business needs.

This may include (but not limited to):

• Supporting the administration of £52.6m annual grant funding to the Canal and River Trust (C&RT) in line with Cabinet Office Functional Standards, HMT guidance, and departmental standards
• You will also contribute towards securing final agreements required for the new grant funding package beginning in 2027; key to this is a set of KPIs which meet financial, commercial and legal constraints while delivering against core priorities. This will require close working with financial, commercial and legal experts as well as with HMT and Cabinet Office and of course with the C&RT themselves

There will be opportunities to lead on regular submissions, on a range of topical and specialist subjects. This includes items such as navigation authority infrastructure disposals and canal transfers – some of which require legislative change.

You'll line manage one HEO within a branch with an Agile approach to resource – supporting quarterly planning to identify key requirements across the branch and supporting other teams / being supported as required.

There will also be opportunities to participate in horizon scanning/scenario planning. You will support senior leadership in developing forward looking plans for the Policy area as a whole and understanding where Inland waterways sits in ‘Future DEFRA’.

Your personal qualities will be as important as your professional experience; and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. If you believe you have the skills and qualities we are looking for, then we would like to hear from you. The Defra group is dedicated to having a diverse workforce which represents people in our communities and an inclusive culture where everyone feels they can be their authentic self at work, belong in the organisation and can speak up to challenge. We want everyone to be able to contribute to the success of our organisation, regardless of your background.

Person specification

You will receive support and championship to drive your own delivery. We are looking for candidates who enjoy the challenge of working through complexity, have a real drive to deliver and are comfortable getting stuck in.

• You will be working closely with policy teams across the department, as well as analysts, lawyers, and external stakeholders to understand and assess the impact of these options
• You will have excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to analyse large and complex volumes of data/information to provide succinct, high quality recommendations
• You will work closely with economic, commercial and financial experts, distilling their advice and factoring in wider strategic issues, in order to communicate issues clearly to seniors and Ministers
• You will have effective relationship building skills, with the ability to influence others, establish positive connections with stakeholders and communicate with confidence to a wide range of senior audiences across the sector.

 Essential criteria:

• Ability to understand data and represent clearly and concisely to a range of audiences
• Comfortable working as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to be adaptive and organised in a fast paced environment, maintaining sight of broader priorities whilst delivering outcomes to strict deadlines
• Utilise effective project/product management skills to drive robust delivery
• Ability to confidently lead on work strands independently, identifying emerging issues and priorities

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,439, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £10,648 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.

Application process

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

• Two Behaviour Statements on Communicating and Influencing and Seeing the Big Picture 
• A CV
• Personal Statement of no more than 750 words detailing how you meet the Essential Criteria and Person Specification. 

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

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Personal Statement and Lead Behaviour - Communication and Influencing. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Interview 
 
If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Experience, Behaviours and Strengths.

The Interview will be conducted via MS Teams.

A presentation or additional exercise may also be assessed.

Location 

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s)

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Reserve List

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

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Salary 

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Reasonable Adjustment

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 defrarecruitment.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. 

Accessibility

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

Criminal Record Check

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. 

Internal Fraud Database Check

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.

Childcare Vouchers 

Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Higher Security Clearance 

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.

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

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.