National Public Policy Adviser

Summary

WE ARE HIRING!

About the Department/Role

The Public Policy team is part of Faith and Public Life which leads the church's national work on ethics, public policy and relationships beyond the Church of England, including with government and Parliament, civil society, other Christian churches and other faiths.

This is a senior role, working as part of a small multi-disciplinary team to support and advise the Church of England on matters of public policy and ethics. With fellow members of the Public Policy team, the post holder will give authoritative, timely and well-researched advice to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York; and to the Lords Spiritual in their Parliamentary role (working through the Parliamentary team within Faith & Public Life), to the General Synod, the Archbishops' Council and other national Church of England bodies, on all matters of public ethics.

The post holder will play a full part in the Public Policy team. You will bring to the team knowledge and experience in fields such as beginning and end-of-life ethics, gene therapies, public health policy and practice, NHS services (including chaplaincy services), technological advances in healthcare and social care provision and development. You will be committed to developing knowledge and experience in these and other related fields. You will have a keen understanding of the role of Christian ethics in public life.

What you'll be doing

The purpose of this role is to offer effective and authoritative advice. You are required to be proactive in researching up-to-date thought in your field(s), developing good working relationships with acknowledged experts who will, in turn, advise you, and initiating pieces of work (short projects, seminars, campaigns etc.) which will equip the church to understand the issues better or help the church to get its views across to Government, Whitehall, parliament and the wider public. The ability to work closely and collaboratively with the church's communications specialists is essential.

Core Responsibilities:

• Advising and supporting on subject matters of public policy.
• Representing the Church of England as required on partnership bodies.
• Preparing briefing papers and reports for senior staff, bishops, archbishops and member bodies.
• Maintaining and developing a strong network of contacts.
• Participating as required in the Governance bodies of the church, and promoting good working relationships with staff across the NCIs.
• Acting as a point of contact, information and support for Diocesan Officers.
• Participating regularly in meetings of the Faith and Public Life team and ensuring the Director of the Faith and Public Life team is fully briefed on the Public Policy Team's activities.

Key role requirements:

• Hybrid working arrangements and must be able to work within the office - Lambeth Palace at least 2 days per week.
• Willingness and ability to travel within the UK and abroad, including overnight trips.

About You

The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course, we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to recruiting disabled people. We offer interviews to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information about the role and person specification.

What we offer

Your Salary

A salary of £66,186, plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of your salary.

Your Benefits:

• 30 days annual leave plus eight bank holidays three additional days (pro-rated if working part-time).
• We welcome all flexible working arrangement requests. This is looked at in a case-by-case scenario and if this fits within the department's needs. We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
• We offer many services and initiatives under our Family Friendly Programme, some of these include enhanced Maternity Leave initiative, Adoption Leave, Paternity Leave, & Shared Parental Leave.
• Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships.
• Automatic enrolment and access to Medicash (one of the UK's leading health cash plan providers), providing you with many services including reimbursements of routine dental treatment, optical, specialist consultations, and therapy treatments.
• Unlimited access to virtual GP & Private prescription service and health & Stress related helplines.
• Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme Access to the Department of Education Restaurant and Westminster Abby with a plus-one guest.
• Apply for eligibility for an Eyecare voucher.
• Opportunity to the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies.

ABOUT NATIONAL CHURCH INSTITUTIONS

The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.

We Include. You Belong.

Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

Living out our values in all that we do, we:

• Strive for Excellence
• Show Compassion
• Respect others
• Collaborate
• Act with Integrity

We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward.

The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we're looking for then we would like to hear from you.

Please note: You must have the right to work in the UK to be considered for the role.

Vacancy closing date - 03 February 2025.