Policy and Public Affairs Officer

Policy and Public Affairs Officer

AdviceUK

London/Hybrid, home based with regular attendance in the office (Aldgate, London) and in London for meetings

Salary £32,000 including London weighing

Permanent

Full time, 35 hours per week

Excellent benefits including 20 days of annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year (to a maximum of 5 additional days) plus 3 days leave between Christmas and New Year, 6% pension contribution plan, two days volunteering days per year, season ticket and bicycle loan scheme

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to join a truly impactful charity? Do you have experience of working in policy and public affairs and are you looking to develop and grow your career?

Charity People are delighted to be partnering with AdviceUK, a small charity which improves the lives of people in need of advice through support to its members, to recruit a Policy and Public Affairs Officer.

AdviceUK makes a big impact. Its stakeholder, policy and advocacy work is across devolved nations as well as the UK. They support members, so it is easier for them to help their clients, and by directly influencing policy-makers, decision-makers and funders. There are currently 700 AdviceUK members and 1.7m people were offered free advice by members on a diverse range of issues including debt, housing, benefits and immigration problems.

This is an exciting time to join AdviceUK's growing team as they launch a new three-year strategy. The organisation will be making a significant investment in capacity, new support services and innovation to deliver the support and advice that members, the wider advice sector and their communities need.

The Policy and Public Affairs Officer will support policy and public affairs activities, ensuring AdviceUK's has a strong voice and messages are heard at a national and regional level across England, Scotland, and Wales, so AdviceUK can secure policy, funding and system change to benefit people seeking advice and the communities served by our members. The postholder will collaborate with colleagues to ensure their advocacy and campaigns are robust, challenging and independent and to raise AdviceUK's profile and reputation.

Key responsibilities

• Policy Support & Monitoring: Collaborate with stakeholders to inform policy efforts, develop policy materials, monitor political and regulatory developments, and keep stakeholders updated on activities.
• Stakeholder Management & Public Affairs: Maintain stakeholder engagement, manage parliamentary contacts, align stakeholder mapping with policy objectives, and engage members in advocacy work.
• Media Relations: Create compelling stories for media, manage media communications, build relationships with journalists, and develop a press office function.
• Data Analysis & Reporting: Provide data analysis to support decision-making, maintain data accuracy, and ensure alignment with KPIs through quality reporting.

The Policy and Public Affairs Officer will have at least two years' experience working in policy and public affairs. The successful candidate will have experience and/or an understanding of the social welfare advice sector and the issues faced by advice providers and the communities they serve. You will have excellent knowledge of local and national government structures, the UK and devolved parliaments within a policy context, with experience of political and media mapping, working within the Parliamentary/Whitehall landscape and experience of 1:1 briefing of MPs, civil servants and the media. You will have worked in partnership on campaigns, and you will be able to build strong relationships with colleagues, partners and suppliers. You will be able to demonstrate strong communication skills and excellent analytical and decision-making skills to translate data and evidence into actionable insights to inform decision-making. You will have strong organisational skills and the ability to prioritise your workload and competing demands. You will also be skilled in using video content to communicate policy objectives and public affairs work.

This role is home-based. You will need to regular attend meetings/events in London and there will be some travel across the UK. AdviceUK have an office in London (Aldgate). There may be out of hours work for which TOIL is granted. There will be a £600 home working allowance.

If you are self-motivated and hard-working, with the skills and experience to thrive in this role, we would be delighted to hear from you.

How to apply:

The application process is CV and Supporting Statement. In the first instance, please send your up-to-date CV to Jen D'Souza or contact Jen at Charity People for an informal confidential chat about the role and for further details about next steps. The closing date is 5pm on Wednesday 25 September. Interviews will take place in person in Aldgate on Tuesday 8 October.

Charity People actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. We match charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the charities we work with.