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Job summary

Important - To apply for this role you will need to submit a CV and covering letter. These need to be merged 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. There are further details in the Selection Process section further below in this advert

This is an exciting springboard opportunity for an experienced campaigner and communications principal with a proven track record of steering strat comms, campaigns and marketing teams in political environments and across a range of policy areas.

The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is delivering for the people of the UK. Whether it’s levelling up the country, protecting tenants, housing families displaced by the conflict in Ukraine and restoring pride in our communities, or ending rough sleeping for good. We’re on the lookout for talented and confident professionals to help us make a difference and improve people’s lives.

Reporting directly to the Director of Communications, you will lead a wide-ranging team including campaigns and marketing, insight and strat comms, and resilience and community crisis communications. You will work closely with your counterparts in press, digital, external affairs, and visits as well as internal communications to bring expert horizon scanning, audience insight, evaluation, and campaigns advice into everything we do, driving the collective delivery of the department’s communications strategy launched earlier this year. 

The successful candidate will cover a period of parental leave of up to 12 months, with significant overlap either side, ideally starting in September 2023.

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work

Job description

Campaign delivery

• Ensure paid and non-paid campaigns are delivered on time and on budget, with high levels of buy-in and advocacy from internal and external stakeholders. Upcoming campaign priorities include Levelling Up, “Make Things Right” social housing, and Homes for Ukraine. 

• Ensure robust budget planning and delivery against a delegated budget of up to £10m. 

• Oversee contract management of insight, creative and content production agencies, as well as translation and print services. 

Strategic communications

• Oversee three strategic communications themes: supporting vulnerable people (safe and decent homes), building a better future for the UK (Levelling Up and strengthening the Union), and restoring pride in communities (rough sleeping, anti-social behaviour and community integration). 

• Ensure the Department’s top medium- and long-term communications risks are managed and mitigated. Overall responsibility for communications resilience and crisis communications response, including through the council communications network.

Branding

• Oversee the development and use of the Levelling Up campaign and corporate brands, empowering your team to work with other government departments and councils across the UK to ensure Levelling Up projects are correctly and adequately branded.  

Unit leadership 

• Drive a sense of customer service, self-assurance, and pride, with a commitment to timely, well-researched and rounded communications advice to stakeholders, with strong collaboration between teams.  

• As a member of the senior leadership team within DLUHC Communications, you will foster a strong sense of purpose, and a culture of performance and trust across the unit. 

• You will also direct two important corporate strands within the communications unit: learning and development, and purpose.  

This is a stretching, rich and rewarding role which provides the opportunity to work with a diverse range of stakeholders across a variety of priority policy areas.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Campaigns and strat comms experience is essential. The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent leadership skills and a clear ability to gain the credibility of ministers, advisers, and senior officials, as well as external stakeholders such as campaign groups, councils, and other interest groups.

Desirable criteria

The ideal candidate will: 

• Combine experience of delivering high profile paid-for campaigns with political nous and the ability to gain the confidence of senior colleagues by providing trusted and timely advice on a range of campaign, insight and strategic communications issues. 

• Demonstrate evidence of driving high levels of performance and engagement, ensuring clear deliverables and KPIs, with the appropriate structure and skills mix to deliver.

Benefits

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

We are for everyone 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role. 

We are for everyone 

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. 

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title

• educational institutions

• age

• gender

• email address

• postal address

• phone number

• nationality/immigration status

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 

Your cover letter should be no more than 1000 words, with specific reference to your motivation and suitability for the role, with specific reference to the role specification and person specification. You should evidence relevance experience with examples from your current or previous role(s). 

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

Behaviour 

Technical 

Strength 

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

Candidates will be invited to prepare a presentation responding to a campaign-related task set prior to the interview

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

Behaviours: (Seeing the big picture, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing)

Technical: Technical expertise will be assessed with a presentation task shared with candidates before the interview.

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. 

Grade 6 salary 

• The salary for this role is £58,946 (National) £64,965 (London). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. 

 
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 DLUHC 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 DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Wolverhampton

• London

• 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 W/C 21st August 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 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 recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance): 

Important note 

 
Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. 
 
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 DLUHC Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC). Thank you. 
 
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 DLUHC. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. 

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 DLUHC 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 DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC 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 

Fixed Term Details 

For external candidates – you will be offered a 12 month fixed term appointment with a possibility of permanency.  

For existing civil servants – you will be offered a 12 month loan opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your parent department to take up a loan appointment should you be successful. 

For Secondments - you will be offered a 12 month secondment opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your employer to take up a secondment opportunity should you be successful. 

For DLUHC employees - you will retain your existing contract.  

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 Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland

• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)

• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service

• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service

• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

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.

Apply and further information

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

Job contact :

• Name :Claire Powers

• Email :claire.powers@levellingup.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email :recruitment@communities.gov.uk