Local Democracy Assistant

Reporting to the Senior Local Democracy Officer you will be joining a small professional team at the centre of the Council providing support to elected members and the democratic process. You will use your excellent written and oral communication skills to provide effective and proactive support to the team. The work is varied, but at its core is providing administrative support to Democratic Services and to lead on the administration around schools' admissions appeal hearings. Other duties will include undertaking research as required for scrutiny reviews and publishing agendas, supporting and minuting joint working and advisory bodies of the council, specifically the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) and the Twinning Advisory Group. You will need to be flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of the service and meetings are sometimes held outside core hours, so you must have the flexibility to work outside of usual office hours occasionally. Please read the job profile for the full details of this role. What you'll need to succeed You will use your personable but professional approach to communicate effectively to diverse audiences, whilst being politically sensitive and ensuring that the appropriate level of confidentiality is maintained. Your organisational skills will be required to set up meetings and to oversee the Council's petition scheme, FOI requests that the service receives and work around the annual councillor appointments to outside bodies. Your IT skills will be required to update the Council's Modern.Gov committee system database, along with the council's Appeals Pro software in respect of school admissions appeals. Your keen eye for detail and ability to work to deadlines will be required in supporting the schools' admissions appeal hearings process, the publication of meeting agendas and when writing minutes. You will also provide administrative support to scrutiny panels, in respect of undertaking research and arranging for witnesses to attend meetings where required.

Portsmouth is a great waterfront city and a vibrant place to live and work. It is an island city with an "inner city" feel, a seaside location packed with attractions and events, and the advantage of fantastic countryside on its doorstep. With fast road and rail links to London, Brighton and major airports, and ferry links to Europe, it is the perfect place to live and work. Portsmouth has a strong history of partnership working and has successfully integrated several local services. At Portsmouth City Council we're all about developing our staff, because we want to build a bigger and better city but we need the best employees to do so. With a little over 208,000 residents and 7,000 businesses throughout this city, this unitary authority's main goal is to ensure the best care and development of all those within the city. From customer service to multi-million pound projects, our residents are at the heart of everything we do. The Service Democratic Services are a small team of professional officers who work at the heart of the council and the council's decision-making process. As a service we take pride in our work by valuing others, focusing on what's important so that we make a real and positive difference. Our values are outlined in our Ways of Working and our Guiding Principles.

We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:

• Generous annual leave (27 days per year rising to 31, pro rata for part time hours) with the potential to purchase additional leave.
• A fantastic pension which allows you the opportunity to pay in more for that greater return.
• Flexible working options including hybrid working with a minimum of two days office based per week pro rata, giving you the flexibility to work up to three days at home every week. Hybrid working is dependent on the role and service needs, exact details will be discussed with you at interview.
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships.
• Extensive wellbeing support through the Employee Assistance Programme
• Discount on travel, travel loans and the bike loan scheme
• Discounts on a wide range of goods and services - access a range of discounts and offers from thousands of restaurants, shops and more.
Staff rewards: https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/working-for-the-council