Job summary
Employer heading
Policy Officer
NHS AfC: Band 7
Our Organisation
The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.
As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.
As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Job overview
As a policy officer in the Central Policy team, the successful candidate will work as part of a dynamic and versatile team that:
- leads the development and delivery of a range of national policy and legislation projects
- provides advice and support to other teams and helps to coordinate national health policy development across NHS England
- provides leadership to NHS England’s policy and strategy professional community and helps to build policy skills and capabilities across the organisation
- manages NHS England’s accountability to Government and Parliament, including select committee appearances and assurance against the Government’s mandate to NHS England.
The successful candidate will support colleagues across the Central Policy team to ensure that policy projects are planned and managed effectively and take a lead role in elements of their delivery.
The role offers opportunities for the successful candidate to develop new skills and gain experience, and for their role to evolve over time, including them being able to take on new and changed responsibilities.
We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace culture. We encourage applications even if you feel you don’t meet all requirements listed.
Main duties of the job
Supporting colleagues across the Central Policy team, the successful candidate will:
- be responsible for delivery of a clear and agreed portfolio of work
- engage and work effectively with colleagues across the team, the wider directorate and NHS England
- contribute to maintaining productive working relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders (both national and local), listening to and influencing people with different perspectives, on a range of issues
- provide effective project support to the development and implementation of Central Policy workstreams, and new areas of work as they arise
- provide secretariat support to senior-level meetings, including preparing agendas, taking accurate minutes, and ensuring meetings run smoothly and effectively
- analyse complex and sensitive policy issues, and present this information and any recommendations clearly and concisely to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
- support the development of policy proposals and guidance documents, and draft briefings, papers and documents to reflect agreed policy positions, providing clear advice and information to colleagues within NHS England, across the wider NHS and the public.
Working for our organisation
The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
NHS England hold a Sponsor Licence; this means that we may be able to sponsor you providing the Home Office requirements are met. To be eligible for sponsorship through the Skilled Worker route you’ll usually need to be paid the ‘standard’ salary rate of at least £38,700 per year, or the ‘going rate’ for your job, whichever is higher. You can find more information on the Government website.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the job description for a detailed description of the main responsibilities and person specification for this role.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to masters level or equivalent level of training/experience
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of stakeholder management and briefing – and building effective, cross-functional relationships to advance organisational goals.
Skills capabilities and attributes
Essential criteria
- Proven ability to manage and deliver projects in complex environments, working effectively across organisational boundaries.
- Clear and effective communicator with strong written and presentation skills, with the ability to draft briefing materials that convey complex ideas accurately to varied audiences.
- Skilled in analysing complex, conflicting information and developing solutions.
- Ability to manage and prioritise own workload to meet tight, shifting deadlines.
Values and behaviours
Essential criteria
- Committed to diversity, equality, and integrity, fostering positive, respectful, and collaborative relationships with all colleagues.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Csenge Gal
- Job title
- Senior Policy Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
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