Personal Assistant to Head of Service - Portsmouth

At Portsmouth City Council, we believe every child and young person deserves a healthy, happy and safe childhood, with the best possible start in life. Our Children and Families Services play a vital role in supporting and protecting the city’s most vulnerable children and young people, acting as corporate parent for our Children We Care For.

We are looking for a highly organised and proactive Personal Assistant to provide high-level support to the Heads of Children and Families Services. Working as part of a small PA team supporting the Senior Management Team, you will help ensure the smooth and efficient running of day-to-day operations. This is a varied and responsible role, requiring excellent organisational skills, discretion, and the ability to work confidently with sensitive and confidential information.

As Personal Assistant to the Heads of Children and Families Services, you will provide high-level, confidential administrative and organisational support to ensure the effective day-to-day running of the Senior Management Team. You will proactively manage multiple senior managers’ diaries, email inboxes and correspondence, responding appropriately where agreed, particularly during periods of annual leave, and ensuring all communications are promptly directed to the correct individuals. You will draft and type letters, prepare documents, and maintain accurate electronic and paper filing systems. You will act as a first point of contact for telephone enquiries from both internal and external stakeholders, handling calls professionally and sensitively.

Regular liaison with Councillors and external partner agencies will be required, often involving highly confidential and sensitive information. You will also coordinate responses to complaints and enquiries from service users, Councillors, and partner organisations, ensuring statutory deadlines are consistently met. Financial responsibilities include raising purchase orders and supporting the timely processing of invoices. In addition, you will assist senior managers with recruitment activity and induction arrangements for new staff.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience providing high-quality PA or secretarial support to a Head of Service or senior manager
• Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Strong literacy and numeracy skills (GCSE English and Maths or equivalent)
• Proven experience of accurate minute-taking in complex and sensitive meetings
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confidence engaging with senior stakeholders and the public
• Outstanding organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and meet tight deadlines
• A professional, discreet approach and a strong understanding of confidentiality, data protection and safeguarding
• A proactive, solution-focused mindset and high attention to detail
• Emotional resilience and professionalism when dealing with challenging and sensitive information
• A strong customer-focused approach
• Experience within Children’s Services or Young People’s Services is desirable.

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention to the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

Hybrid working arrangements: Please note that this role is initially office-based 5 days per week.

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act. We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focused. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals.

Our Recruitment process: We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. If you apply without a detailed personal statement, it is unlikely that you will be successful. You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal.

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career's portal homepage.

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact or call the recruitment team.