Policy Advisor, Civil Society Impact Funding

The Civil Society and Youth (CSY) directorate aims to build a fairer society, in which government, civil society, and businesses are able to work together to tackle social challenges and build stronger communities. As stewards of Civil Society in government, we are responsible for a dynamic set of policy areas relating to young people, volunteers, charities and social enterprises.

The Civil Society Impact Funding Team (CSIFT) sits within CSY. We are a friendly, supportive and high-performing team of around 25 people focused on unlocking and growing non-government sources of money to deliver on this government s missions. Our work has successfully channelled £3.5 billion of non-government funding into some of the most pressing challenges of our society.

Ongoing and recent work in the team has included:

• Expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme that has unlocked £1 billion of non-governmental funding for innovative funding programmes in England;

• Leading cross-government work to expand philanthropic giving, ensuring funds reach the areas that need it most and strengthening the culture of giving across society;

• Improving public service delivery and outcomes for communities, ensuring that we maximise the impact of available funding;

• Generating significant amounts of private social investment finance to support charities and social enterprises build their resilience and grow., This role will drive efforts to ensure that hundreds of millions of pounds of dormant assets funding is being governed effectively, ensuring a strong pipeline of long-term, flexible funding for high-impact social and environmental programmes across the UK.

This exciting role offers a unique opportunity to work with senior stakeholders across the public, private, and civil society sectors and create a lasting positive impact. As there is a high degree of public and parliamentary interest in the effective operation of the Dormant Assets Scheme, you will need to engage effectively with and balance complex stakeholder interests, notably from financial services firms, civil society bodies, and parliamentarians., + Overseeing the development and implementation of a robust governance framework for the Scheme that aligns with stakeholders and the department s risk appetite. This work will involve considering scope, feasibility and approach; securing buy-in from relevant teams, and leading on one or more aspects of its delivery.

• Developing and maintaining effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior officials and external partners.

• Preparing advice to Ministers and seniors to seek their steers and approval for our objectives.

• Working flexibly across the responsibilities of the Dormant Assets team, stepping in to provide cover and support when required.

Philanthropy (11 month contract to cover a career break):

This is an exciting role, offering the opportunity to lead some of the team s work to connect, unlock and partner with philanthropic investment in the UK. You will work on a high profile programme of work with regular exposure to Ministers, Senior Officials and Special Advisers, and will be responsible for feeding into key fiscal events, such as the next Spending Review.

You will be working closely with colleagues across DCMS, officials in other government departments and external stakeholders to develop and deliver a set of policies to deliver on the government s ambitions in this area. This will require leadership in your work area, a proven history of strong policy development and stakeholder engagement skills, as well as being able to work on multiple work streams at pace.

Key responsibilities will likely include:

• Leading on the design and delivery of one or more of the philanthropy initiatives agreed with Ministers. You will be expected to work autonomously, taking leadership on work areas which may include Secretary of State s place based philanthropy strategy and / or putting proposals together for the upcoming Spending Review.

• Drafting multiple briefings and speeches for a range of audiences (including ministers and senior officials), keeping core lines up to date, and responding to Parliamentary Questions & correspondence.

• Leading key relationships, where you ll be looked upon to engage and influence stakeholders including senior officials, Ministers, Special Advisers and external partners.

• Working flexibly with a changing portfolio as the policy matures and in response to evolving wider priorities, which may include independent policy research on philanthropy to develop new policies and programmes and leading business case development., The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this Registration form by Monday 3rd February, 11:00 PM and you will be sent an invitation.

Please note that the session will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process – please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Communicating and Influencing

• Making Effective Decisions

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

To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents which will assessed against the experience success profile:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.

• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed however these will not be considered in the assessment of your application except in circumstances where there are a high number and calibre of candidates.

For the shortlist, we will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the Application and Interview Guidance document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths partly through a presentation which will be provided prior to interview.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Communicating and Influencing

• Making Effective Decisions

• Delivering at Pace

You will not be made aware of the behaviour questions and strengths being assessed prior to your interview.

As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, length of time, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview., If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only. Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

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

Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport 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

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the Candidate Information Pack attached.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In order to request an adjustment, please:

Complete the Assistance required section on the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or a verbal test rather than a written one.

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the ‘contact point for applicants’ section of the job advert.

Feedback

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 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)

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

• Ability to think strategically and understand the key drivers when developing policy options while aligning activities to support wider organisational priorities. Experience of working in partnership with other government departments and/or external partners to deliver shared objectives.

• Excellent written and presentation skills, with a proven track record of communicating complex information to senior stakeholders effectively and under pressure. Strong interpersonal skills and ability to motivate and influence teams, both internally and externally, to find collaborative solutions to complex problems.

• Make effective decisions by using a range of evidence and knowledge to provide accurate and expert advice to seniors. Consult with stakeholders, invite challenge, and demonstrate confidence when making difficult decisions.

• Experience at rapidly developing and delivering policy ideas against a backdrop of competing priorities. Ability to work flexibly with others in a constantly changing environment.

Desirable skills:

• Experience of working in environments where there are competing priorities, and fast-changing situations.

• Experience of working on governance and/or government spending policy/teams.

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Claire Etches and Katherine Palmer (vacancy holders), and will take place on

Alongside your salary of £39,365, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £11,404 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

DCMS values its staff and offers a wide range of benefits to everyone who works here. We re committed to developing talent, and supporting colleagues to have great careers in our department. To support with that, some of the benefits we offer include:

• Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working – DCMS staff work on a flexible basis with time spent in offices, and time spent working from home

• 26.5 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 31.5 days after 5 years service

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

• Access to the Edenred employee benefits system which offers discounts to popular retailers and access to various useful resources such as financial and savings advice

• 3 days of paid volunteering leave

• Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay + generous paternity and adoption leave

• Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year

• Occupational sick pay

• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice

• Active and engaged staff networks to join including the LGBT+, Ethnic Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Gender Equality Networks

• Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day to day work

• Season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme and much more!

Terms and conditions at SCS grades will vary. Those applying for SCS roles should refer to the candidate information pack for more information on terms and conditions.

• Name : Claire Etches and Katherine Pamer

• Email : katherine.palmer@dcms.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/civilservicerecruitmentcomplaints