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Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester, Wolverhampton
Are you looking to develop strong policy-making skills in a critical and high-profile sector?
If so, this is an exciting time to join the Elections Directorate!
The Elections Directorate is responsible for a challenging and dynamic policy landscape, always in the public eye, covering electoral policy and law. This includes how elections are run, who can participate and how elections and campaigning are regulated.
The Directorate delivers changes that realise the Government Manifesto Commitments and other Ministerial priorities (e.g. introduction of Votes for 16 and 17-year-olds, improvements to elector registration, revised list of Voter Identification that electors produce at polling stations, etc.).
We are recruiting for two HEO policy roles within our Electoral Administration and Registration and Franchise teams. Both teams are close-knit, friendly, versatile, and inclusive, with a broad portfolio of work across complementary policy areas. Both teams’ work is high-profile, with significant senior and ministerial interest, including in No.10.
The Electoral Administration team has a range of policy interests which set out and support how the electorate chooses the elected representatives that populate our major democratic institutions – such as the UK Parliament and English Local Authorities.
Their primary focus is supporting the delivery of elections, working with Returning Officers and key stakeholders such as the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators, as well as suppliers in the sector such as printers and Royal Mail.
The team has a number of specific responsibilities relating to the running of elections and plays an important role in the lead up to local and UK Parliamentary General Elections.
The Registration and Franchise team is responsible for a number of high-profile government manifesto priorities, including policy on lowering the voting age to 16 and improving voter registration.
It is also responsible for ensuring that the policy and legislative framework for electoral registration and the electoral franchise is clear and fit for purpose. which involves working with a range of Government departments, the Electoral Commission, the devolved administrations, as well as the wider electoral community and external stakeholders such as political parties and civil society groups.
These roles offer a rare opportunity to engage with Ministers, administrators and electors and be part of introducing democratic change from policy through to delivery.
The post holder will have a role that includes an interesting mix of exposure to legislative, policy and operational issues.
This list is not exhaustive, and the post holder needs to be flexible and adapt their responsibilities to meet business demands.
The post holder will have a role that includes an interesting mix of exposure to legislative, policy and operational issues.
This list is not exhaustive, and the post holder needs to be flexible and adapt their responsibilities to meet business demands.
Person specification
Elections and Registration policy is governed by a highly complex set of legislation and processes. We are therefore particularly interested in candidates with experience working in fields involving complexity, precision and/or legislation.
Essential Criteria
Alongside your salary of £33,787, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £9,788 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Selection process details
As part of our pre-employment checking process, we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process.
CV and Cover Letter Declaration
We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment.
You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter .
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.
At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:
Experience
Please Provide a Covering Letter of up to 750 words setting out your interest in the roles and explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential and desirable criteria listed above.
In your CV - setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour: Seeing The Bigger Picture, Making Effective Decisions.
Ability - Yes
Candidates will be asked to prepare a short presentation, further details on this will be sent along with the interview invitation.
In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Experience: Yes
Behaviours: Yes
Ability: Yes
Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.
We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs.
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
HEO salary
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.
Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 : Any move to MHCLG 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 further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
Location
There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.
At present, a minimum of 60% of your working time will be spent in your contractual office location. Requirements to attend other office locations or off-site meetings will be counted towards this. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process.
Sift and Interview dates
We will be sifting applicants as we go – so please don’t wait until the deadline to submit your application. Interview dates will be confirmed at a later stage, all interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
We will perform a sift to assess and score the evidence provided in the CV and covering letter. Applicants achieving the pass mark will be offered an interview on a rolling basis. We will be sifting and interviewing applicants as we go – so please don’t wait until the deadline to submit your application. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this.
Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact to be removed from the reserve list.
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC).
Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office.
In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.
Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned.
The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service.
The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register
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.
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
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.
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.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Recruitment team
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Salary: GBP 28000 - 37000 per year
Experience: 3 years required
Verified Listing
This role has been verified for authenticity, market-rate compensation, and remote eligibility.