Communications and Engagement Lead

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK's largest producer of official statistics, employing over 5,000 colleagues who deliver the trusted data that informs decisions at every level of society. From measuring economic growth and understanding population change to shaping policies on housing, healthcare, education and public services, our work helps government, businesses and communities make informed decisions that affect millions of lives.

We have an opportunity for two talented communications and engagement professionals to join us as Communications and Engagement Leads, supporting two priority areas for the Office:

Population, Census and Social Statistics (PCSS): PCSS brings together our core demographic, migration and social statistics and the delivery of Census 2031 for England and Wales. Population and social statistics are a vital input into decision-making by public, private, and voluntary sector bodies and they help all of us understand better the evolving society within which we live.

Surveys and Economic Statistics (SES): SES is the largest group in ONS, and produces some of our highest profile statistics, including GDP. It leads on the ONS' key improvement plans to boost the quality of our economic statistics, with innovations including the introduction of scanner data into consumer prices, further improving responses to our household and business surveys, and laying the groundwork to adhere to the highest tier of statistical dissemination standards.

We are looking for Communications and Engagement Leads who will be at the heart of coordinating activity both tactically and strategically for each area, bringing people together from across the Communications and Digital Publishing (CDP) team within ONS to deliver on significant projects, and to coordinate a longer-term forward look of activity to help plan and develop creative ideas for telling our story to our diverse audiences.

The PCSS role will work closely with another PCSS Communications and Engagement Lead in the team.

Key Responsibilities:

Ensure all Communications and Engagement activities for PCSS / SES are responsive, professional, and coordinated effectively.

To include:

• Develop deep understanding of the area’s priorities, milestones, opportunities and challenges, including horizon scanning. This may include board attendance, bilats with key leaders, reviewing readouts and papers.
• Identify where there are handling risks and promotion opportunities for PCSS/SES and proactively insert CDP into the right conversations. This will include managing expectations (e.g. around resource, timescales or approaches) and using clear escalation routes to surface and resolve tensions.
• Translate PCSS/SES objectives into clear briefs and oversee the development of strategic communications and engagement solutions, working through specialist teams across CDP to coordinate cohesive and strategic responses to any commissions, opportunities or to mitigate risks.
• Maintain oversight of PCSS/SES activity, gripping CDP-wide plans to ensure activity is planned, delivered, robustly evaluated and lessons learned are captured – for both new commissions and BAU activities.
• Influence senior leadership teams (DDs and above) to engage CDP early and maintain best practice across comms and digital publishing.
• Provide insight and expertise to support CDP to deliver solutions that suit the needs of each directorate across PCSS/SES while remaining anchored to wider CDP strategic plans.
• Develop strong relationships with the key G7 leads in the central Communications and Digital Publishing team across media, external affairs, internal comms, content and publishing, leading in coordination, cohesion and business area intelligence while respecting and championing their specialism expertise.

A relevant qualification in communications, PR, Marketing or Journalism, or relevant experience in one of these fields.

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.

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.

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

ONS may be able to provide visa sponsorship where the role meets ONS sponsorship criteria and all relevant Home Office requirements. Applicants must hold, or be eligible to obtain, the right to work in the UK before employment commences.

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.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV (of no more than 2 pages), 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 1000 words, 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.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

Stage 2 – 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.

You will be asked to complete an in-tray exercise which will be provided on the day of the interview and candidates will be allocated time to prepare. This in-tray exercise will assess candidates against the Success Profiles Behaviour - Making Effective Decisions.

Interviews will be held in person at our Newport & Titchfield (Fareham) offices. You will be asked to confirm your interview location preference in one of the questions when completing your application.

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 w/c 21st September

Interviews will be conducted w/c 12th October

Our Newport office location is: Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, Duffryn, Newport NP10 8XG.

Our Titchfield (Fareham) office location is: Segensworth Road, Titchfield, Fareham PO15 5RR.

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.