Communications planner

Closing date: 29th April 2024 at 11:55pm

Salary: £37,174 - £40,403 plus generous overtime payments for participation in the out-of-hours rota

Post type: Permanent

Location: 102 Petty France, London

Interview dates: Expected beginning week beginning 22nd April 2024

If you have experience in media relations, communications or journalism, and you enjoy the buzz from working in a busy environment – apply now to be a Ministry of Justice communications planner.

From supporting victims and creating new offences to protect women from violence, keeping drugs out of prisons and cutting crime, to overhauling sentencing laws – the Ministry of Justice is one of only a handful of Government departments that can truly dominate the news agenda.

And our Press Office, bursting with talent, is widely recognised as the gold standard within government for shaping stories and influencing news across print, broadcast, and online. With a diverse remit including, prisons and probation, family justice, victims support and modernising the courts system, no day is ever the same in this busy office. 

We are looking for a creative, hard-working, person to join our team, so if you’re looking for an exciting, challenging job, where you can develop with support from experienced communications professionals, keep reading. 

You will be working as part of our crucial planning and strategy team, liaising with the Prime Minister’s office, coordinating announcements and horizon scanning.

As the IO on the planning and strategy desk, you will lead on the gridding process and play a key role in the media planning function, working closely with colleagues across the department, ministerial private offices and Whitehall.

We want someone who can do the day-to-day planning of communications activity and see the bigger picture, using horizon scanning and insight to effectively sequence announcements. You will need to spot opportunities and risks and think strategically – ensuring long-term plans align with our comms priorities and wider Government narrative. 

You should be able to build effective relationships, use them to influence others and negotiate diplomatically. In addition, you’ll need to demonstrate you have the confidence and aptitude to deal with senior officials, Ministers and Special Advisers and deliver under pressure. 

Responsibilities

• The successful candidate will join a small team that plans and coordinates the department’s day-to-day and long-term announcements and will be a key player in developing and maintaining the press office relationship with Number 10 to negotiate the best possible grid slots. This will include representing the Department at weekly No.10 grid meetings and briefing No.10 on upcoming announcements.
• The effective relationship you will develop with the Prime Minister’s Office will ensure that Ministry of Justice announcements are given the prominence they deserve – considering the national news agenda and different communications priorities across government. 
• You will work with the Senior Communications Planner to ensure all the team’s products, including the departmental communications grids, which keep Ministers and colleagues informed of our communications activity, are produced to a high standard. You will lead on keeping the news grids, key documents for No.10 and the department, up to date.
• Developing and maintaining strong working relationships with Ministers, private offices, special advisers, senior officials, stakeholders and other government departments will be crucial.
• You will be part of the wider press office, also working closely with colleagues across the External Communications Directorate that encompasses External Affairs, Campaigns, Internal Communications and Digital.

Knowledge, skills and experience

• You will have a sharp news sense, excellent judgement, and communications skills gained from working in a communications environment.
• The ability to build effective relationships, influence others and negotiate diplomatically, is essential. You should have the confidence and ability to deal with senior officials, Ministers and special advisers and get them on board with our plans, so we can deliver the best comms results for the department.
• You will be organised, able to show attention to detail, manage competing demands and deliver under pressure.
• You will need competency on Microsoft Office programmes as you will be dealing with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint to help deliver key documents.

For more details and to apply please click the apply button.

If you would like to speak to someone about the job, please email Martha Lloyd-James: martha.lloyd-james@justice.gov.uk or Meg Deschamps: meg.deschamps@justice.gov.uk

The employer reserves the right to close the listing and stop accepting applications sooner than the original deadline. Therefore we strongly recommend applying at the earliest opportunity.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries. 

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.