Governance Officer, City of London

The City of London Corporation has a special role and a wide remit that goes beyond that of an ordinary local authority. We look after the City on behalf of everyone who lives, works and visits here, and are committed to promoting opportunity, diversity, innovation, heritage and so much more. We are currently looking for a Governance Officer to join us in the Guildhall.

In this important role you’ll support the Corporation by arranging, attending and establishing an accurate record of various committees and sub-committees, and take administrative action as required. Amongst your other responsibilities, we’ll expect you to:

• Develop effective working relationships with Chairs, Members and officers across the Corporation in order to advise and support them through the committee process, and be the first point of contact for all queries from them.
• Coordinate agendas for meetings, ensuring that these are presented to a high standard and in accordance with Local Government legislation.
• Ensure that decisions made are correctly recorded and all formal documentation is archived.
• Draft reports and briefing notes for Chairs, Members and officers, and undertake any necessary research activities.
• Monitor the Town Clerk’s complaints inbox and ensure that all emailed complaints are processed in accordance with defined procedure.
• Provide cover for the City Corporation’s Freedom of Information Officer in their absence.

Capable of understanding and applying committee processes to a high standard, and of interpreting this complex area in a simple way, you’ll have significant expertise when it comes to using your knowledge to run committee meetings and guide Chairpersons. You will have worked in a local authority environment or similar organisation within a Governance and Member Services context, and we’ll expect you to have experience of drafting reports, briefing papers and minutes.

Ready to work under pressure and build excellent working relationships with officers within departments, your ability to pay close attention to detail and maintain a high standard of work during busy times will be first-class. You should also demonstrate tact, discretion and diplomacy, have excellent knowledge of local authority functions, and a thorough understanding of committee administration processes. An excellent communicator and with a high level of proficiency in the use of IT and the Microsoft suite of software, you’ll also be ready to contribute to the development and review of policies and procedures.

If this role is advertised as a secondment, secondments are subject to the agreement of your department releasing you, therefore, you need to discuss this with your line manager prior to applying. The purpose of this will be to discuss what, if any, impact your secondment might have on the service and service delivery should your application be successful, and how this might be addressed.

The City of London Corporation is currently undergoing a programme to ensure that our pay and reward practices are competitive and equitable across the whole organisation, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in the work that we do.

The City of London Corporation is committed to Equal Opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Because our roles are so varied, we don’t have a ‘one size fits all’ policy for workplace attendance. How many days a week you’ll be required to attend your workplace will depend on the requirements of your role. It’s important that you understand the requirements before applying to ensure you are able to meet them. We are committed to considering requests to work flexibly and job share. Requests will be considered by the recruiting manager in line with our policies and business needs. We will be reviewing this policy and approach at regular intervals to ensure we’re meeting our attendance needs.