Citizens UK is a people-powered alliance of diverse local communities working together for the common good. Our mission is to develop leaders, strengthen civic organisations and make change. Our 550 member communities are deeply rooted in their local areas and connect every day to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Through the method of community organising we enable people experiencing powerlessness to develop their leadership and come together with the power and strategy to make change. 

This leads to hundreds of neighbourhood improvements - from zebra crossings outside primary schools to renovated public toilets in cemeteries. And it leads to some of the biggest campaign impacts in the UK, such as winning over £1.5 billion of wages through the UK Living Wage campaign, securing a legal cap on the cost of credit to control exploitative lending, and ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. We enable local campaigns to grow into large-scale social change projects such as the Living Wage Foundation, Parents and Communities Together (PACT), Sponsor Refugees, and Refugees for Justice, that form an integral part of our theory of change. The most prominent of these is the rapidly growing Living Wage Foundation with a network of nearly 10,000 accredited Living Wage Employers across the UK. 

PURPOSE - We have a rich history of teams in our projects and campaigns successfully engaging with senior politicians - be that through developing longstanding relationships with local MPs or future City Mayors and Prime Ministers publicly committing to community-designed pledges. As a non-partisan organisation, engaging with politicians and decision-makers of all political colours is integral to the success of our leader-led campaigning. Much of our political engagement is driven by the institutions and the volunteer community leaders within them. All of CUK’s successes started there, in the powerbase of the community. Other aspects of our political engagement comes through our project-specific work; for example around the real Living Wage or our refugee and migration work.

Part of a busy team of communications and campaigns specialists in a growing department, this is an exciting opportunity to shape our first public affairs role. A key part of your role will be to support teams to connect stakeholder relationships that are held across the organisation whilst also supporting chapters to develop their strategies, build capacity in public affairs and engage locally. As CUK has grown, we want to be more strategic and use broader tactics to engage with decision-makers. You will play a critical role in shaping our public affairs work through monitoring, bringing together intelligence, supporting digital tactics, drafting policy papers and research as well as advising on the best course of action to engage with decision makers and win key campaigns.

The ideal candidate will be someone who is excited by maintaining our commitment to being led by the community and our local alliances and maximising their ability to win change. You’ll be a strong and patient communicator with the ability to build meaningful relationships internally and externally, with brilliant instincts for how to take complex issues and translate them into engaging tactics. You’ll be politically savvy with a detailed knowledge of the workings of government and parliamentary procedure as well as a working knowledge of the devolved administrations. You’ll ideally already have experience working as part of a team to deliver campaign results on a national and local level and be excited by the breadth of work that Citizens UK does.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES - Working as the Public Affairs Adviser for Citizens UK, your main responsibilities will include:

Situational Awareness and Research

• Play a key role in developing Citizens UK’s influencing stakeholder contact programme and identifying opportunities and strategies to improve engagement.

• Monitor the shifting policy and political landscape, advising colleagues on opportunities and risks for Citizens UK

• Work with key sector stakeholders and internal teams to support a broad public affairs plan.

• Help to shape campaign plans and mobilise the public and our campaign supporters and volunteers

Strategy Development

• Lead on the design and implementation of a focused and effective influencing strategy, working closely with project and campaign leads and supporting leaders.

• Shape public affairs strategy at a project level, ensuring that plans deliver against the influencing goals of the project; evaluating effectiveness of the strategy and adjusting as required.

• Participate in development of the wider communications strategy, contributing tactical and creative ideas around implementation of public affairs plans.

• Help to secure high level meetings, brief key staff and action team members in advance, attend as appropriate and ensure follow up actions are completed

• Ensure that the delivery of the public affairs strategy is aligned with Community Organising principles.

Materials Development and Dissemination

• Create regular policy briefing materials on key thematic areas such as migration, asylum and refugees, employment, social care etc

• Keep good records of our relationships with stakeholders

• Monitor and respond to parliamentary activity that is relevant to our projects, campaigns and chapters

• Support colleagues and community leaders to draft consultation responses where relevant

• Produce high quality briefing materials that adheres to the brand guidelines and work with colleagues to support their capacity, understanding and use of public affairs assets.

Reputational and Risk Management

• Awareness of potential reputational risks and proactively develops appropriate protocol \ messages.

• Able to effectively represent the organisation according to the plan.

Digital

• Grow digital campaigns that are linked to public affairs opportunities, building our reach and engagement with key audiences

• Ensure all content is produced to support accessibility

• Support on email campaigns – data management, copy and creative execution, testing strategy for optimisation.

• Analyse and report on campaign response and ensure learnings are applied for future campaigns.

External Relationships (incl. press and media)

• Support community leaders in their engagement with politicians through training and advice.

• Support others to build effective relationships with other organisations, parliamentarians and civil servants across local authorities, both Houses and relevant Government departments.

Internal Comms and Knowledge Management

• Work with members and other stakeholders to continually test, learn and improve on our public affairs approach

• Ensure final output is created in the most appropriate formats

• Maintain a brand centre for photos, video and other digital assets.

• Update key public affairs files and assets; ensuring GDPR compliance and that informed consent is obtained if required.

• Contribute to the maintenance of the Editorial Calendar

• Act as a brand ambassador for the whole organisation.

Internal Relationships

• Demonstrate ability to coordinate and advise on the public affairs work of colleagues across the organisation and work with external suppliers and providers.

• Provide training to key members of staff to upskill colleagues

PERSON SPECIFICATION

(E) = Essential, (D) = Desirable

EXPERIENCE

• Experience in working with parliamentarians of all political backgrounds (E)

• Experience working with multiple internal project teams (E)

• Experience developing evidence-based policy positions to influence policy at local and national levels (E)

• Experience of managing a stakeholder engagement campaign (E)

• Experience of utilising digital tactics to enhance public affairs strategies

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

• A clear and demonstrable understanding of parliamentary processes and procedures with in-depth understanding of the way that decisions are made within policy and parliamentary processes (E)

• Ability to support others in their influencing strategies (E)

• Excellent influencing skills (E)

• Strong understanding of integrated campaigning tactics (E)

• Scanning the political horizon to identify areas of relevant policy and report timely monitoring to key team members (E)

• Ability to interpret data and research to utilise in lobbying tactics (E)

• Excellent written and verbal communication and ability to tell stories (E)

• Ability to map, evaluate and implement national policy(E)

• Ability to work independently and prioritise effectively (E)

• Excellent time and project management skills (E)

• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines (E)

• A flexible and adaptable approach to work (E)

• A passion for social justice and communities (E)

• Strong political instincts and strategic awareness (E)

• Good understanding of local and regional government (D)

• Comfortable working with diverse people of all faiths and none (E)

PERSONAL QUALITIES AND VALUES

• Inclusive (E)

• Self-motivated (E)

• Adaptable and innovative (E)

• Creative and curious (E)

• A willingness to learn about and embed the practice of Community Organising (E)

• A strong team player (E)

• Accountable (E)

The successful applicant will be required to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check. DBS checks are renewed on a 3-year cycle.

If you have any questions about this role please get in touch via the candidate application portal.