Policy Support Officer

We are recruiting a Policy Support Officer to join our Early Year Regulatory Policy and Practice Team.

The postholder will provide administrative support to developing Ofsted’s Early Years policy for registering and regulating childcare. The person who holds this post must be a strong administrator who can demonstrate that they are highly motivated to support senior managers to develop regulatory and inspection policy and practice that best protects and promotes children and young people’s safety and welfare.

This is a fantastic opportunity to further your experience in Ofsted’s well-established team. The post holder will work with high-achieving professionals at all levels, surrounded by a friendly and supportive team. They will have access to amazing benefits, such as flexible working hours, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and 32.5 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. We offer a hybrid working model, so you may also choose to spend a proportion of time working from home.

Please note that we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the point of application and for the duration of employment.

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application and shortlisting:

The selection panel will assess your application based on your evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in the job specification.

Use the STAR model (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to present your evidence.

You will also be asked to provide information within the “Employer/Activity History” section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this may be used in the sifting process).

Please note:

If we receive a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted based on the following two lead criterions:

• Evidence of organisational skills and ability to meet objectives and deadlines with minimal supervision
• Evidence of producing high-quality advice, guidance or training materials for stakeholders

Following the initial sift, a full sift may be undertaken against all of the advertised criteria, if required.

Interview:

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlist stage will be invited to an interview where you will be assessed against a mixture of the Civil Service behaviours and on the technical/experience skills as detailed in the job specification.

Interviews will be held during the week commencing 30 November held remotely via Microsoft Teams.

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