Business Support Manager

This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled individual to play a key role in supporting senior leadership, driving effective business operations, and improving directorate ways of working.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

As a Business Support Manager, you will work collaboratively with colleagues within the Directorate Business Support team in delivering highly effective business support activities to the director, senior leadership team and wider directorate. How your work is spread across the directorate will depend on its size and structure, and the complexity of some of the key tasks.

There will be an opportunity to join business support communities of practice, working collaboratively with business support colleague across ONS to develop and share best practice, solve operational issues, and improve processes.

The Business Support Manager plays a key role in supporting senior leadership, enabling effective directorate operations and improving ways of working. The post holder will provide high-quality business support to the Director, Senior Leadership Team and wider directorate, working collaboratively with colleagues and enabling functions across ONS.

There are 6 roles avaliable as part of this campaign across 5 different business areas:

Office of the National Statistician

This role sits within the National Statistician’s Office (NSO), which supports the National Statistician in providing leadership across the UK statistical system. NSO works across government and internationally to promote high-quality statistics, support analytical excellence, strengthen statistical standards and drive collaboration across the wider statistical community. NSO is structured into three divisions: the National Statistician’s Analysis Unit, the International Division, and the GSS and Analysis Function Support and Standards Division.

Macroeconomic and Environmental Statistics (two posts avaliable)

This role within the Macroeconomic and Environment Statistics and Analysis (MESA) Directorate is responsible for managing the business support function across two divisions: Economic and Microdata Insights (EMI) and Environmental Economy. The role includes leading and supporting the Personal Assistant function, overseeing divisional mailboxes, coordinating responses to enquiries, and ensuring the timely delivery of key business support activities, including corporate reporting, divisional events and away days, communications, and management information. It also involves supporting divisional recruitment, capability development, and financial processes, while ensuring delivery to agreed timescales and quality standards.

Population Statistics

Working collaboratively across the Population Statistics Directorate and wider ONS, you will support the Business Manager to provide high-quality business support to the Director, Senior Leadership Team and wider directorate. Your responsibilities will vary depending on business needs, priorities and the complexity of the work.

You will also contribute to business support communities of practice across ONS, sharing best practice, resolving operational issues and improving processes.

Methodology and Quality

The Directorate Support Unit provides high-quality business and executive support across the Methodology and Quality Directorate. The team works closely with senior leaders and colleagues across the Directorate, providing support across recruitment, finance, corporate planning and reporting, communications and wider business management activities to help the Directorate deliver its priorities effectively.

Economic Statistics Production Analysis

ESPA teams produce a wide range of UK economic statistics, including:

• Labour Market
• The National Accounts (which includes Gross Domestic Product)
• Monthly output of the service, production, construction and retail sectors
• Quarterly household expenditure and household income estimates
• Sub-national estimates of GDP, household income and household expenditure
• Real Time Indicators, including the Business Insight & Conditions Survey
• Data on the UK financial services industry

The Directorate is also responsible for the large structural surveys conducted by ONS, which include the Annual Business Survey, Annual Purchases Survey, Prodcom and the Annual Survey of Goods and Services.

This role will sit in Economic Statistics Production and Analysis Directorate within the business support team, providing Business Support to the Labour Market division. The Business Support team is made up of 11 colleagues providing support across 5 divisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and matrix manage SCS Personal Assistants and business support officers, providing guidance to ensure senior leaders are fully supported.
• Build and maintain effective stakeholder relationships across the directorate, group, wider ONS and external partners.
• Coordinate corporate planning, reporting, management information and senior briefings.
• Draft and cascade key communications on behalf of the Senior Leadership Team.
• Maintain corporate registers and ensure outputs are delivered to agreed timescales and quality standards.
• Provide secretariat and coordination support for key directorate meetings, boards, briefings, workshops and resource panels.
• Oversee team inboxes, ensuring requests and enquiries are managed promptly and escalated where needed.
• Support delivery tasks and small projects under the direction of the Senior Business Support Manager or other senior managers.
• Contribute to business support communities of practice, sharing best practice and improving operational processes.

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Visa Sponsorship:

ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, it must have at least 18 months remaining at the point of application.

Right to Work and Nationality Requirements:

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Security Clearance:

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Applicant Support

Number of Stages: 3 stage process

Stage 1: Civil Service Judgement Test

Stage 2: Application

Stage 3: Interview

Stage 1 – Civil Service Judgement Test

Upon submission of Part 1 your application form you will be sent an invitation to complete Civil Service Judgement online tests.

There will be full instructions on how to complete each test including an opportunity to practice before undertaking the actual test. These tests are not time limited.

If you pass a test, you will then receive a further invite to complete each subsequent test if there is more than one for this vacancy. If you fail a test your application will not proceed to the next stage.

If you pass all tests for this vacancy, you will be invited to complete the final stage of your application, this is where you will provide information such as your work history. Skills and experience and Personal Statement.

Stage 2 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 3 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.

Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams.

Our main locations are Newport (South Wales), Titchfield.

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

Important Dates:

The Sift will be conducted from Monday 2nd November

Interviews will be conducted from Wednesday 18th November

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.