Overview

Our aim is 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.

The creation at the start of 2022 of a new Faith & Public Life (F&PL) department for the National Church Institutions brings together for the first time, a number of outward-facing activities formerly divided between the Archbishops’ Council and the staff of the Archbishops.

Public policy and ethics, Parliamentary support for the Lords Spiritual and Second Church Estates Commissioner, Inter-faith relations, links to the Anglican Communion and Ecumenical relations, along with a number of project teams working on issues as diverse as modern-day slavery, freedom of religion and belief and social impact investment, all come together to form the new team, with opportunities to learn from one another and work effectively across specialisms.

Post Introduction

This post combines administrative support for the Parliamentary Unit and the Public Affairs Adviser to the Office of the Archbishops. The Parliamentary Unit manages the Church of England’s relationships with both Houses of Parliament, links with government and the civil service, and gives close support to the Lords Spiritual and the Second Church Estates Commissioner. The Public Affairs Adviser to the Office of the Archbishops  gives close support to the Archbishops in their public facing roles. As these two strands of work must work closely together, you will be an essential link, facilitating close cooperation and information sharing between them.

This is a key opportunity to be closely involved in both these major areas of work as the principal administrative and support resource, whilst playing a full role in the support of the Faith and Public Life team as a whole.

Your role will be interesting and varied, including opportunities to support budget management (including the SAP system), web page design and management, IT liaison and the general administration of a large and complex team. These tasks will be shared within the administrative team on the basis of need, capacity and the personal aptitudes, interests and experience of the team members.

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 Minority Ethnic Backgrounds. 

We are taking a flexible approach to work, with many colleagues opting for a hybrid approach to their working week, with a mixture of home and office-based working. Further details will be discussed at interview.

Interviews are expected to be held on the 9th June 2022 in person at Lambeth Palace.

In return we offer a unique environment with opportunities for continuous learning, generous annual leave for work life balance, season ticket loans and a range of benefits including discounted entry to attractions and what we feel is a market leading package when it comes to our pension scheme.

Role Responsibility

The Role

Relating to the Parliamentary Unit

• Daily monitoring of Hansard for bishops’ activity – speeches, questions, votes
• Updating our website on daily basis with the above.
• Basic research support for Church Commissioner Questions and correspondence
• minute taking
• Helping manage the PU diary
• Maintaining internal statistics on bishop and CC activity
• Dealing with the House of Lords over equipment for parliamentary offices
• Overseeing administration for Church Commissioner parliamentary passes

Relating to the Public Affairs Advisor to the Office of the Archbishops

• Logging correspondence and requests on the ABC/LP system and complying with record-keeping requirements for the archives
• Tracking correspondence and requests to make sure they are responded to appropriately in a timely manner, and sending standard responses where required 
• Co-ordinating mailshots and outgoing formal correspondence on behalf of ABC when it relates to public affairs
• Co-ordinating patronage log, including tracking when patronage agreements are due for renewal
• Supporting Public Affairs Adviser to compile patronage information pack for annual distribution (issued January each year)
• Managing File Notes of meetings and tracking progress towards agreed actions
• Managing diary requests process, working with Archbishops’ Private Office to submit requests and notify people of the outcome of their invitations
• Supporting the submission of ABC's Register of Interests for the House of Lords
• Planning logistics for travel for team members and for ABC's trips relating to public affairs
• Support with compiling guest lists for public affairs events hosted by ABC or where ABC is a major speaker
• Supporting team members writing Briefs and File Notes for ABC, to make sure they comply with all requirements
• Supporting team with event management, including major events eg Lord Mayor Dinner, including managing invitations, co-ordinating logistics and running order, etc.

Relating to both areas of support

• Maintaining contact lists and databases
• Filing and record management
• Diary management for external meetings or where large numbers or multiple teams/organisations represented (team members manage their own diary for straightforward meetings)
• Room bookings and support with hosting guests, including liaising with Gatehouse and Hospitality, welcoming guests on arrival etc
• Assisting with expense claims for team members and for external guests/consultants etc 
• Taking minutes of meetings as required
• Other duties in support of the Faith and Public Life team, as directed by the Head of Faith and Public Life Administration, in particular:
  • Raising Purchase Orders on the SAP system and drafting invoice requests, checking invoices and expenses claims and resolving queries as necessary
  • Coding income and expenditure against SAP General Ledger codes, Cost Centres and Internal Orders
  • Liaison with the Finance Department on queries associated with F&PL transactions and putting their advice into effect
  • Posting expenditure on SAP up to the value of £500.

The Ideal Candidate

The Requirements

Essential

Skills/Aptitudes:

• Excellent knowledge of MS Word, Outlook, Excel and the internet, as well as a networked computer system;
• Excellent word processing skills;
• Strong sense of responsibility that the work issued is of a consistently high standard, with fast response times;
• Highly discreet and diplomatic;
• Good judgement in understanding and dealing with urgent and complex matters across a wide range of issues and often on an international basis;
• Forward thinking with effective planning skills;
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written;
• Ability to draft and prepare accurate correspondence, briefs and other material as required;
• Highly organised and methodical, with the ability to cope with conflicting priorities;
• A self-starter, able to use initiative and good judgement;
• Ability to work calmly under pressure;
• Flexibility with the ability to adapt plans quickly in response to change;
• Strong team working skills and the ability easily to move between teams;
• Ability to create and implement new processes and systems to improve efficiency;
• Excellent attention to detail;
• The ability to command the confidence of colleagues and stakeholders.

Knowledge/Experience:

• Proven ability in managing diaries, correspondence and papers for a senior manager;
• Experience of dealing with a wide range of people in the course of work, including at senior level;
• Awareness of and interest in church and society at a national and international level;
• An interest in the world church and in global faith traditions.

Desirable

• Experience of organising events, including international residential events;
• First-hand knowledge of the Anglican Communion and the world church;
• Experience of using a financial software package such as SAP or equivalent.

Circumstances

• Whilst the NCIs are committed to wellbeing and work/life balance, a willingness and availability to work outside normal office hours including weekends is required, on occasion, as well as travel within England and overseas. Additional time worked will be given back in line with our TOIL policy.

About Us

We in the National Church Institutions support the mission and ministries of the Church all over England. We work with parishes, dioceses (regional offices), schools, other ministries and our partners at a national and international level.

Excellence, Respect, Integrity

We follow these three values in everything we do, whether we are of Christian faith, another faith or no faith. To learn more about working for National Church Institutions and our benefits, please click here

As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.

As a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, we welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and to ensuring that everyone, job applicants, customers and other people with whom we deal, are treated fairly and not subject to discrimination.  We will do whatever is necessary to provide genuine equality of opportunity. We continuously review our policies and processes to support our aim to create a workforce as diverse as the nation the Church of England serves.

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