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.

Lambeth Palace is a unique building of significant historical and global provenance. It is, first and foremost, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury and his family, as well as home to a wider, diverse and thriving residential community. It is also an office and the epicentre of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ministry to the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion. It is a Grade I listed building comprising various listed buildings dating from the 12th to the 20th centuries, set within 10 acres of beautiful, landscaped gardens. Fundamentally, the Palace seeks to be a place of contribution to the life of a 21st century church.

In support of the Archbishop’s ministry, the Office of the Archbishops at Lambeth Palace is made up of several interconnected teams providing pivotal, interdependent and essential support to the Archbishop to enable the effective delivery of the ministry to which he has been called by God.                                               

Lambeth Palace is an exciting and vibrant ‘community of communities'. Working here provides an excellent opportunity to contribute to the ministry of an internationally significant religious leader in a friendly, busy, fast-paced and dynamic office. The team at Lambeth Palace works collaboratively with colleagues throughout the National Church Institutions (NCIs) and beyond and supports each other at busy periods, with flexibility and good humour.

Post Introduction

This role represents a unique opportunity as you will be providing high quality support and administrative assistance to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As Personal Assistant, Archbishop of Canterbury’s Private Office, you will also provide PA support to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Personal Private Secretary and to the wider team.

You will be based at Lambeth Palace. You may occasionally be able to work remotely, however because of the nature of the role, please expect to work from Lambeth Palace for the majority of the time.

To arrange an informal discussion about the role, please contact helen.harris@lambethpalace.org.uk

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 25 January 2023.

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 and people with disabilities.

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

Provide administrative support to the Archbishop of Canterbury as follows:

• Transcribe the Archbishop’s dictated correspondence, reports, speeches, and other documents, and draft correspondence on the Archbishop’s behalf when required.
• Organise refreshments and receive guests when required on behalf of the Archbishop or the Personal Private Secretary.
• File and retrieve the Archbishop’s personal correspondence and assist with his more general filing. 
• Assist colleagues when they are producing correspondence for the Archbishop to sign, including helping them with templates, formatting etc.
• Process the Archbishop’s expense claims in time to meet deadlines.
• Ensure that incoming gifts and books are logged and receive timely responses, in liaison with other teams as necessary.
• Source outgoing gifts for the Archbishop and Mrs Welby, in liaison with other teams.
• In liaison with the Diary Manager, commission and receive briefing for the Archbishop’s meetings and events, ensuring that it is submitted on time and complete.
• In liaison with the Diary Manager, liaise with the Met Police on the Archbishop’s whereabouts.
• In liaison with the Diary Manager, assist with ensuring timely, efficient and courteous handling of correspondence associated with requests for the Archbishop’s time.
• In liaison with the Diary Manager, use internal software to record incoming requests for the Archbishop’s time.
• Assist with any other ad hoc tasks, for example ordering books which the Archbishop requires, arranging greetings cards to sign, setting up Zoom meetings and so on. 
• Maintain regular contact with people of all levels in the many areas of the Archbishop’s ministry, including by telephone and email, whilst ensuring a high degree of confidentiality.

Provide PA support to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Personal Private Secretary as follows:

• In consultation with the Personal Private Secretary, assist with managing their diary, including booking rooms and hospitality where appropriate.
• Circulate the agenda and take the minutes of any meetings for the Personal Private Secretary, when required.
• Organise meetings, prepare briefings and papers when required, make travel arrangements and submit expense forms.
• Provide cover for other roles in the Private Office within agreed limits as and when required.
• General support to the Private Office and other Lambeth Palace Teams as required.  This may occasionally result in the post-holder working unsocial hours.

All staff working at Lambeth Palace share responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture with regard to children and vulnerable adults, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities.

The Ideal Candidate

The Requirements

Essential

Skills/Aptitudes:

• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality.
• Good interpersonal and diplomatic skills, with the ability to deal with people of all levels with confidence and respect and to work well as a member of a team.
• Excellent prioritisation skills.
• Efficient and quick at dealing with requests.
• Well organised, methodical attention to detail, and the ability to cope with conflicting priorities.
• Able to work flexibly, both in terms of time and responsibilities.
• Proactive and able to use initiative.
• Innovative with the ability to identify and implement new ways of working.
• Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Word and Outlook (calendar and email), excellent word processing skills with fast and accurate typing.
• Well-presented work with a keen eye for detail.

Knowledge/Experience:

• Evidence of working in a proactive way, taking the initiative.
• A sympathy with and interest in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ministry and their role in public, national and international life.

Education:

• Educated to A level (or have equivalent professional experience), with good written and verbal communication skills, including accurate spelling and punctuation and a good telephone manner.

Personal Attributes:

• Ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality and good judgement in dealing with a wide range of issues.
• Ability to work calmly under pressure, and to adapt plans quickly in response to change.
• Emotionally resilient, with the ability to remain calm under pressure.

Desirable

Knowledge/Experience:

• Knowledge of the Church of England.
• Ability to draft and prepare correspondence, briefs and other material as required.

About Us

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.  

Find out more about working for the National Church Institutions at Careers | The Church of England

Our emerging values

• We strive for excellence 
• We collaborate 
• We act with integrity 
• We show compassion 
• We respect others 

We welcome everyone and we accept and value people for who they are and what they contribute, treating others in the way we would wish to be treated ourselves. We actively listen to and include others, encouraging and enabling everyone’s voice to be heard in discussions and decisions. When we disagree, we aim to disagree well with respect and kindness.  

We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people. 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. If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org.

• As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.  
• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.