Senior Policy Development Officer WCC621116

Job Details:

Salary range: £54,684 - £57,726 per annum
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: Temporary up to 12 months
Politically Restricted post: Yes
Closing date: 30 May 2025
Interview date: Week commencing 9 June 2025

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF DAPHNE’S INSIGHT 

Corporate Services in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where passionate and expert professionals go above and beyond for their colleagues every day. 

Daphne, our champion for people with learning difficulties, is a real beacon. She doesn’t just advocate for colleagues with these difficulties, she teaches managers how to identify and understand the conditions and support their teams at work. Daphne has an innate ability to see the human behind every situation, helping them capitalise on strengths and overcome challenges to be their very best. With her empathy and expertise, she’s a natural. But then, a lifetime of managing her own dyslexia and dyspraxia brings with it unique insight. Our people – and ultimately residents – benefit every day. 

Please view the extraordinary story of Daphne’s Insight here.

The Role:

As a Senior Policy Development Officer you can make a meaningful contribution to delivering for residents and businesses across Westminster. You’ll be joining us as maternity cover, stepping into portfolio areas with good leadership opportunities and an opportunity to make your own mark as you identify and progress the challenges where we need to use joined up thinking to establish a positive, consensus view. This is often complex work – for example considering policy changes within the system challenges around rough sleeping and temporary accommodation – and will involve broad horizon scanning and working with our subject matter experts to understand and respond to the changing landscape we’re operating in.

You’ll work closely with colleagues in the Media Team to promote our policy positions and respond to queries and enable more effective understanding and use of our partnerships and relationships with stakeholders to support the delivery of better outcomes. Creating ambitious but deliverable policy delivery plans, and advising your colleagues on the legislative process, you’ll also work to understand the relationships within Parliament and Whitehall departments.

But your work won’t stop here – you’ll be responsible for maintaining effective and strategic briefing notes for Councillors, advising on and updating our public policy priorities, and developing approved policy positions. Contributing to policy development across the team, we’ll also expect you to provide mentoring, coaching and support to colleagues, work that will include acting as a ‘buddy’ for new starters. Committed to improving our residents’ lives and opportunities, and always demonstrating respect and fairness, you should also be ready to support the handling of any reactive issues that occur.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

An open, collaborative and positive corporate leader, you’ll have well developed experience of cross-cutting policy, particularly working with or considering impacts on front-line services. You will bring an understanding of the challenges that come with these issues, and how to develop strong, supportive relationships with front-line practitioners. Capable of working well with senior officers and elected members, engaging them on challenging issues and enabling genuine debate through briefings and meetings, you’ll have practical knowledge of the workings of national and local politics, including government decision making processes, and civil service and ministerial relationships.

A highly motivated multi-tasker with excellent writing abilities and a strong commitment to due process, we’ll expect you to have a good understanding of the various levels of local government and the current political landscape for Local Authorities and how this fits into the national picture of devolution, HMG’s political priorities and other ongoing issues. Your superb interpersonal and communication skills will allow you to build a diverse range of internal and external relationships, and also enable you to analyse and interrogate data to draw out key messages for public affairs audiences.

Capable of suggesting creative solutions to any issues that arise, you’ll be ready to work effectively under pressure in a busy, fast-paced environment, juggling competing deadlines and shifting priorities at short notice. Adaptable, flexible and resilient when faced with uncertainty and change, you should also have a clear practical understanding and commitment to the principles of equity and diversity.

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority (GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (formally known as B.A.M.E , Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants,  we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster.

Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application , we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.