HEO Cabinet Office Honours Secretary London, England
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Location
About the job
Job summary
This is an exciting and rare opportunity to join the Honours and Appointment’s Secretariat based in the heart of government as our new Cabinet Office Honours Secretary.
You will be responsible for leading and managing the internal Cabinet Office’s Honours process - working right across the department to help deliver a diverse list of exceptional Cabinet Office employees and stakeholders for consideration in The King’s Birthday and New Years honours lists. The postholder will have a significant degree of autonomy and will have the opportunity to engage with important stakeholders from across the department, manage honours champion networks, lead internal communication campaigns and develop new initiatives to ensure that we are leading the way as a department to recognising the fantastic achievements of our colleagues. While the work is often fast paced, it is an incredibly rewarding role.
You will be part of a small, friendly and supportive team, with a strong focus on personal development. There will occasionally be opportunities to engage with the other interesting work areas within the team, for example by supporting our independent honours committee members during meetings or helping out at our twice a year honours press conference.
We are looking for someone with excellent administration, communication and stakeholder management skills. You will also be a self-starter who can bring an abundance of energy and enthusiasm to the role. In return, this post will give you an excellent overview of several Cabinet Office policy areas, great exposure to senior civil servants and Ministers and the opportunity to make a positive difference by recognising exceptional colleagues for prestigious awards.
Job description
The post holder will be responsible for:
Coordinating and leading all processes relating to Honours for Cabinet Office staff and key stakeholders (i.e. the internal departmental list).
This includes, but is not limited to:
- Coordinating nominations
- Drafting citations and briefings for the Permanent Secretary and other senior colleagues
- Liaising with the Secretary of State's office and the ministerial team to ensure departmental priorities are reflected in the departmental strategy
- Managing the honours champion network across the department and ensuring regional representation
- Building and managing relationships with important stakeholders from across the department
- Drafting high quality content for internal communications purposes and delivering regular talks and workshops on the honours system
- Processing forfeiture cases for Cabinet Office recipients
- Responding to any other ad hoc queries/briefing requests from cross departmental colleagues and stakeholders
- Managing the cross-Whitehall and Devolved Administration network of Honours Secretaries, including drafting a monthly newsletter, online meeting and training sessions
- Managing the departmental list for the annual Royal Garden Party invitations
- Delivering the pipeline strategy agreed by the State Committee
- Analysing the diversity data of honours recipients and ensuring steps are taken to increase nominations in underrepresented groups
- Any other ad hoc task as required to help support wider delivery of the honours process and or work of the Honours Policy Team
Person specification
You will need to demonstrate your skills and experience against the following criteria:
Essential requirements
- Excellent stakeholder management skills and ability to build trusted relationships within the Cabinet Office and across government
- Manage competing priorities and deliver them at pace and to a high standard
- Ability to plan, organise and manage your time and activities and apply project and risk management approaches to support delivery of objectives
- Highly effective oral and written communication skills, and the ability to manage senior stakeholder relationships diplomatically
- Proactively seek to improve processes and helping to embed these across the team
- Ability to identify and analyse large amounts of information / data, to make informed and robust decisions, ensuring confidentially, handling data in line with overarching data protection practices
- Work flexibly and collaboratively across a small team to achieve wider team and departmental objectives
Desirable:
- A good understanding of how the honours system operates
- Experience of working on diversity or outreach projects
- Experience delivering workshops/presentations/talks
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Communicating and Influencing
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role.
- An environment with flexible working options.
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
- A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Application process
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, Statement of Suitability (500 word max) and evidence on the following behaviour: Communicating and Influencing (250 word max).
Your Statement of Suitability should be aligned to your relevant skills and experience, referencing the role responsibilities outlined in the advert.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the Lead Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Selection process
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess both Behaviours and Strengths. The following behaviours will be assessed during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality service
Expected timeline (subject to change)
Applications closing date - 20th September
Expected sift date – w/c 25th September
Expected interview date/s – w/c 2nd October
Interview location - Online Video Interview
Further information
Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to Cabinet Office 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
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 [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
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 note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.
Reasonable adjustments
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in 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 if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team
Further information
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at [email protected]. For further information on the Recruitment Principles. and bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk
