Private Office: Ministerial Assistant Private Secretary

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is recruiting for an Assistant Private Secretary.

The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for social security, labour market, pensions, and child maintenance policy. As the UK’s biggest public service department, we administer the State Pension and a range of working age, disability, and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. What we do matters to millions of people every day.

Private Office is crucial to providing effective support and advice to Ministers and Special Advisers across all aspects of Departmental business, acting as the key interface between the Department and Ministers to deliver DWP’s critical agenda.

The Private Office is a high-performing, dynamic, supportive and inclusive team. This is a demanding but rewarding role for someone interested in working closely with the Ministerial Head of Office, Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials.

We have several exciting opportunities coming up, offering the chance to work with Ministers daily, helping to address challenges that affect the lives of people across the country. These roles provide an opportunity to see how Ministers, Special Advisers and the Civil Service operate in a way that is rarely matched in other roles of the same grade. The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring high quality and timely advice across the portfolio is provided and will be the interface between the Department and Ministerial Team.

These are fast paced, stretching and a great platform for your future career in the Civil Service. We are looking for candidates who will enjoy and thrive in this unique and interesting environment at the heart of Government.

This post will either report to the Deputy Private Secretary or Head of Office.

In this role you will:

• Advise and work directly with the Deputy Private Secretary, Head of Office, Minister and wider Ministerial Team to support them in delivering their priorities
• Work with senior stakeholders across the Department, including policy and operations, as well as across Whitehall, to provide the Ministerial Team with high quality and timely advice
• Support the Minister in a wide range of internal and Cross-Government meetings and engagements
• Support the Minister or Special Adviser during meetings, responsible for providing an accurate readout, capturing actions and ensuring progress
• Accompany and support the Minister on relevant events and visits, working with the visits team to ensure logistics are properly arranged and acting as an ambassador for your Minister and DWP when meeting high profile
• Play a proactive role in the wider corporate effort within the Private Office

We offer successful candidates:

• The opportunity to work closely with Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials
• An exciting, fast-paced and challenging work environment that involves dealing with complex policy and operational issues
• The chance to be part of a supportive team with plenty of opportunities to learn and develop new skills
• The opportunity to broaden understanding of DWP policy, parliamentary business and cross-government functions

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