Local Government Accountability and Improvement Policy Advisors

Roles:

• Local Government Workforce and Pay Policies: Strengthening our understanding of capacity and capability in local government and developing our response to issues, leading on pieces of work in areas such as cross cutting workforce issues, pay and implementation of employment reforms.
• Local Government Strategy and Universal Support: Informing our overall strategy – tying various offers together to form a vision for the Government’s approach to local government improvement, coordinating work and overseeing delivery. Including shaping future approaches to our universal sector support offer (currently delivered via grant to the Local Government Association).
• Local Government Leadership: Helping to develop and deliver a major new programme to strengthen leadership across local government and the wider system of place-based leadership. The role will bring together policy development, programme design and high-profile stakeholder engagement, working across government and with the sector to create a more coherent national offer for identifying, developing and supporting current and future leaders.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Developing and delivering policies and programmes to address capacity and capability challenges across local government, including workforce and pay reform, recruitment and retention, leadership development, and universal and targeted improvement support, to build a resilient, high-performing sector that is fit for the future.
• Lead and contribute to high-quality advice for senior leaders, the Permanent Secretary and Ministers, drawing from a wide range of sources, and carrying out analysis on the evidence to demonstrate excellent policy appraisal and development of options.
• Work with teams across MHCLG, government and external stakeholders to develop a clear set of priorities for local government and support the development of policy that reflects and supports the cross-cutting capacity and capability pressures facing the sector.
• Ensure positive engagement while building and maintaining trusting relationships across the directorate, the department and Private Offices.
• Support wider priorities within the Local Government Workforce and Capacity team as required – including working with legal colleagues to progress byelaws applications from local councils and provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of State.

Person Specification

For all five roles we are looking for the following essential criteria:

• Be able to use a variety of evidence, expert knowledge and stakeholder input to formulate balanced policy options
• Politically aware strategic thinker with high levels of attention to detail, sound judgment and the ability to solve problems independently
• Be able to form credible and effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders
• Have excellent organisational skills and strong written and verbal communication skills
• Fast learner with the ability to build subject matter expertise and ability to work flexibly, at pace, on a range of projects
• A strong interest in helping to create a supportive and inclusive team culture

Alongside your salary of £45,773, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £13,260 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Application and Selection

The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours, Strengths

Stage 1: Sift

Lead Behaviour: Making effective decisions
Behaviour: Seeing the big picture
Behaviour: Communicating and influencing
Behaviour: Delivering at pace

There is a 250-word limit per question.

When Writing Your Application, Remember:

• the assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially
• do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers
• if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

Behaviours: Seeing the big picture, Communicating and influencing, Delivering at pace, Making effective decisions
Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Candidates will be asked to complete a policy problem, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 28/09/26

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 12/10/26 and are currently being held remotely via videocall.

This could be subject to change.

Disability Confident Scheme (DCS)

We are a Disability Confident employer.

We apply a fair and proportionate interview process for all candidates. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to progress candidates who apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and meet the required minimum selection criteria.

However, where high application volumes are received, progression to interview may be limited to those who best meet the role criteria. In these circumstances, the benchmark required to proceed to interview may be raised for all candidates.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying
• Sifting
• Interview
• Interview Results & Feedback
• Reserve List
• Near Miss
• Civil Service Grades
• We are a Disability Confident Scheme, Redeployment Interview scheme & Great Place to Work for Veterans employer
• Reasonable Adjustments

How To Apply

Find out everything you need to know