General Information
Salary
£37,238 - £44,520
Working Pattern
Full Time
Vacancy Approach
Cross Government
Location
Birmingham, Burton-upon-Trent, Cannock, Coventry, Dudley, Hereford, Kidderminster, Leamington Spa, Nuneaton, Redditch, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Tamworth, Telford, Walsall, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Worcester
Region
West Midlands
Closing Date
10-Aug-2026
Business Unit
NPS West Midlands Corporate Services (2021)
Post Type
Fixed Term
Civil Service Grade
Other
Number of jobs available
1
Reserve List
12 Months
Job ID
20045
Descriptions & requirements
Job description
12 month fixed term appointment with the possibility of being made permanent.
Overview of the job
Responsible for leading the region to deliver high quality, effective and consistent staff engagement and communications, both internally and externally with stakeholders.
Managing staff engagement and communications plans for the region through a wide range of methods, as well as providing staff engagement support to the regional senior leadership team. Responsibility for regional communication with external stakeholders, to promote the work of the Probation Service, and manage some media/press handling activities.
The role will involve contributing towards strategy, policy and practice development in the key areas of communication and staff engagement, ensuring continuity with National strategy, and implementation and review of those policies and practices.
This is a regional role, line managed by the Head of Corporate Services.
Summary
This is a critical component in helping to deliver key aims of protecting the public, supporting victims and reducing reoffending.
By embedding effective employee engagement throughout the NPS, the aim is to ensure staff are valued, committed, satisfied, motivated and able to do the best job they can in an environment and culture that unlocks potential, energy and innovation and promotes wellbeing.
Internal communication ensures a consistency of messaging across the region, whilst external facing communication with stakeholders promotes the work of the service within communities.
Responsibilities, Activities & Duties
The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:
Overarching responsibilities
- Develop and lead on delivering the region's staff engagement and communication strategies and practice.
- Compile reports of communication and staff engagement activity and outcomes for the Head of Corporate Service and wider SLT, and present information to a wide range of staff, including senior leaders.
- Ensure communication is inclusive and takes account of diversity needs.
Staff Engagement responsibilities
- Ensure the region has the right structures and practices in place to promote staff engagement, including chairing the Staff Engagement Committee.
- Identify and implement continuous improvements to deliver new and innovative ways to engage and empower staff, and evaluate activity making suggestions for improvements.
- Design, implement and analyse results of staff surveys, using outcomes to help drive organisational improvement.
- Liaise with National Communications Team and relevant stakeholders to ensure; strategic alignment with the national position; consistent NPS staff engagement approaches; regional delivery supports national staff engagement and service design initiatives.
- Organise, promote and deliver events and workshops, including planning the schedule/ programme and facilitating/ running on the day.
- Lead on, or support, and promote, staff wellbeing initiatives and regional staff recognition schemes across the region.
Internal communication responsibilities
- Lead on developing and reviewing effective internal communication tools and materials.
- Manage a mix of regional engagement channels, keeping them up-to-date, relevant and fresh, complying with information assurance requirements and ensuring they are a reliable source of information.
- Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of communication tools.
- Write and distribute effective internal communications messages to convey corporate, operational and policy messages, using a variety of interactive methods to appeal to all learning styles.
- Proactively liaise regularly with other internal functions to ensure communication messages from all parts of the business are kept up to date and disseminated across the whole staffing group.
External communication responsibilities
- Develop communication tools for external stakeholders to promote and showcase the work of the region.
- Ensure messages to inform stakeholders about the service's work are visible and disseminated out to all relevant stakeholders.
- Organise, provide material for, and help deliver events and other liaison activity with external stakeholders to support local staff in promoting their work.
- Supporting media and press handling activity, in line with National guidelines.
Behaviours
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
- Managing a quality service
- Delivering at pace
Essential Experience
- Experience of liaising and working with a diverse set of stakeholders, including senior members of staff.
- Good interpersonal, written and oral communication skills.
- Confident presentation style and ability to present to a wide range of staff, including senior management team, and external stakeholders.
- Effective leadership, interpersonal and communication skills.
- Good IT skills and an interest in innovation and new technology.
- Writing and editing experience, including using plain English to produce accessible and engaging copy for multiple channels and audiences.
- Experience in using design software.
- Events management experience.
- Press and media handling experience.
- Experience and/or knowledge of the Criminal Justice System.
Technical requirements
NVQ Level 5 or equivalent in a relevant subject (qualification in communications, such as CIPR Specialist Certificate - Internal Communications or equivalent)
Proven proficiency in MS Office and confident in using IT packages used for communications such CMS (digital Content Management Systems) and Adobe Suite (including InDesign...