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Would you like to be part of a busy team, working on issues that affect peoples’ everyday lives, including housing, spreading opportunity around the country and creating communities where we are proud to live?

If so, we can offer you an exciting opportunity to join the fast-paced and welcoming correspondence team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

Citizens are at the heart of MHCLG’s agenda, which attracts strong interest from across Parliament, the corporate and third sector and the public. We are looking for one Correspondence Officer, based in Bristol to handle enquiries from Parliamentarians and the public, or correspondence transfers. We have ambitions to become the best-performing and most innovative correspondence team in Government. The successful candidate will play a vital role in helping us achieve our target of responding to more than 80% of correspondence within 20 working days. This will require rapid commissioning of information from policy teams and drafting fast and concisely written replies.   

The ideal candidate will pride themselves on their writing and case management capabilities: an interest in policy development, as well as attention to detail and keen organisation skills are all useful qualities. A role in correspondence is an excellent base for developing detailed knowledge of the Department’s work, and a great entry-level opportunity for individuals who want to develop their career in the Civil Service.

Responsibilities will include: 

· Ensuring that casework is accurately logged, processed, and tracked via our casework management systems

· Timely management of correspondence transfers, contribution and No.10 requests

· Supporting the wider objectives of the correspondence operations branch, providing assistance on digital and process transformation projects

· Managing and prioritising casework so that replies to correspondence are sent within 20 working days 

· Drafting replies to correspondence from Parliamentarians and the public

Successful candidates will be: 

· Confident in building positive working relationships with a wide range of teams and other Government departments

· Organised and able to role model exceptional operational delivery

· Proactive and able to manage their time effectively 

· Able to manage multiple competing priorities 

· Interested in policy developments across Government, current affairs and how Parliament works 

· Experienced users of Office365, and willing to learn how to use our case management systems

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,788, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £8,050 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

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. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions, for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  

• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  

• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

At sift, we will be assessing 

Behaviour 1 (lead behaviour) - Managing a quality service

Behaviour 2 - Delivering at Pace

Experience 1 - Please outline the skills and experience you would bring to this role?

Experience 2 - Please outline your motivation for applying for an operational delivery focussed role?

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour – Managing a quality service, Delivering at pace, Communicating and influencing

Ability/Experience - Candidates will be expected to complete a written assessment at interview stage, more details on this will be sent on invitation to interview. 

Strength - The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Behaviours: Managing a quality service, Delivering at pace, Communicating and influencing

Experience/Ability: Yes at interview through a written assessment. 

Strengths: Yes

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – 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. 

EO salary 

• The salary for this role is £27,788 (National). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

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.   

BENEFITS: 

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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 

For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Bristol

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. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place from 20/11/24 with interview dates to be confirmed. 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 in 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 recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

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 

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.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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)

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 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).