Policy Adviser, Postal Policy

The post is based in the Consumer and Competition Policy (CCP) Directorate and the Competition, Markets and Regulatory Reform Group. We play a role in the Department’s vision by ensuring businesses improve their service offer and consumers get good deals. It drives business to invest and innovate and improves living standards through lower prices. This is an exciting time to be working in CCP! We are working on a number of high-profile, fast-paced policy areas. CCP is sociable and encouraging – our BETTER CCP programme strives to inspire everyone to ask questions and put forward ideas in a safe environment.  We also are strongly committed to personal development of everyone across the team. 

This is a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious colleague to develop their policy skills in a captivating and wide-ranging policy area. The UK postal service is highly valued by business, the public and politicians. It therefore attracts significant Ministerial and parliamentary attention. Royal Mail, fully privatised in 2015, serves a meaningful role for rural and vulnerable postal consumers, and for Government’s all-public communications. Post is important to the UK economy as an enabler of trade. Royal Mail is designated as the Universal Service Provider (USP) and is the only UK postal operator that has the network capability to deliver to all 30 million addresses in the UK. The service is regulated by The Office of Communications (Ofcom) under the Universal Service Obligation (USO). The postal service and Royal Mail’s network, by virtue of its delivery of a critical public service, is designated under the Government’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) regime.  

We aim to deliver a world-leading regulatory framework that:  

• Maintains a universal postal service serving users’ needs, now and in the future 
• Encourages competition and better user outcomes; and
• Minimises the regulatory burden on business

As a policy adviser you will:  

• collect and review information and data, including that provided by colleagues, Royal Mail, Ofcom and others to inform advice and support to colleagues to make accurate decisions and recommendations.  
• communicate effectively and authoritatively with colleagues, Ministers’ offices and wider collaborators.
• supervise progress against goals and targets and keep work on track. This will help develop your project management skills.  
• develop your own networks across government and industry to ensure you are kept aware of important developments and inform briefing.  

Key activities: 

• preparing briefings, speaking notes, PQs and returns to Ministerial correspondence and scrutinising them to ensure they are of consistently high quality.  
• supporting the SEO leads on policy projects including Critical National Infrastructure and international postal policy.  
• developing relationships with key collaborators including Royal Mail, Ofcom, other mail operators, The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), The Royal Household (Lord Chamberlain’s Office), and the Universal Postal Union.  
• supporting work on options for future development of domestic postal policy, as appropriate, engaging with the sector’s stakeholders.  
• maintaining a timely flow of information to senior managers, prioritising your and team activities and mitigating against delivery risks.

Essential Criteria 

1. Good written and verbal communication skills.
2. Interpersonal skills and ability to engage with a range of stakeholders.
3. Planning and organisational skills, including the ability to manage several competing priorities.
4. Attention to detail.

Desirable Criteria  

This is an opportunity to develop your policy skills. Experience of having worked in policy is desirable but not essential as we will support you in developing these skills. 

Personal Attributes & Skills 

Information about what the ideal candidate would be like in their character and what they would bring to your team.

• You will be highly organised, flexible and resilient, able to plan, organise and work well under pressure – managing conflicting demands and the multi-faceted elements of this role effectively.
• You will have effective and confident communication skills – an ability to liaise with staff and stakeholders at all levels effectively and communicate with clarity and confidence. 
• You are also able to learn quickly and take the initiative.  
• You have a strong interest in and focus on continuous learning for yourself and others, and be open to learning, keeping your knowledge and skills set current and evolving. 

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities. 

Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further information on our benefits. 

Job contact :

• Name : Linda Stephens
• Email : Linda.Stephens@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dbtrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk