Policy Advisor

Are you a confident individual who can build strong working relationships with colleagues and a wide range of stakeholders?
Can you communicate concisely and accurately with sensitivity to confidentiality?
Do you have a keen interest in policy and law with a willingness to develop your knowledge further?
If so, we’d love to hear from you!, Policy professionals work at the heart of the Civil Service to design, develop and propose appropriate courses of action to help meet key government priorities and ministerial objectives.
You will work in a small, dynamic team on a range of high-profile tasks. These could include drafting briefings and ministerial correspondence, investigation, conducting research, identifying trends, and producing evidence-based advice and guidance in conjunction with subject matter experts.
You may have line manager responsibilities as part of your role.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
+ Providing initial draft responses to correspondence from customers, stakeholders and Ministerial and other official correspondence using agreed standard lines and precedents for task manager’s approval on policy area of responsibility within required deadlines.
+ Providing advice, guidance and briefing to operational and project colleagues and to support and assist task manager, providing first drafts of submissions, consultations and impact assessments.
+ Supporting pre-consultation data-gathering and research from a range of sources (stakeholders, customers, lawyers and operational colleagues) to help support the development and delivery of new, evidenced based policy initiatives as sanctioned by the Cabinet Office and Agency approvals processes or changes to existing policies.
+ Developing and maintaining appropriate knowledge within specialism, reviewing legislations and liaising with lawyers as necessary to help inform changes to existing policies or the introduction of new initiatives that align with Government Departmental or Agency strategy (with the focus on enabling digital services).
Additional information
Applications will be accepted from full time/part time/job sharers. Full time roles at DVLA consist of 37 hours per week. Part time and/or flexible working may also be available subject to the needs of the business. If you have a flexible or part time working requirement, you should contact the vacancy holder in advance of making an application to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your desired working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role. To contact the vacancy holder, please use the job contact details listed under ‘Contact point for applicants’., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Delivering at Pace
+ Working Together
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Making Effective Decisions, Interviews will be held from the week commencing 11th November 2024.
This interview will be conducted via a video interview. Further details of which will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.
We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.
If invited to interview, this may consist of a range of question types. These could include questions around Behaviours and how you would respond in any situation as well as specific examples of things you have done.
The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:
+ an interview.
The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.
For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website.
Please take note that DVLA does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application or used during interview is truthful and factually accurate. Applications may be rejected if plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or concepts generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Reasonable Adjustments
As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes., Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
+ UK nationals
+ nationals of the Republic of Ireland
+ nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

+ You will have a keen interest in law with an eagerness to develop your knowledge and keep up to date with changes in legislation.
+ You will possess excellent organisational skills and the ability to work autonomously, managing priorities to maximise productivity and meet deadlines. You will be highly resilient, with the ability to adapt your work in response to changes in law and government policy.
+ You are a confident and professional communicator with high regard to sensitivity and confidentiality. You are proficient at working with colleagues at all levels and can adapt your communication style to suit a variety of audiences.
+ You will be a team player with the ability to apply your initiative and work autonomously under pressure, while contributing positively to a supportive working environment.
+ This is an incredibly rewarding role. No two days are the same, you will always have an exciting and varied workload! Training and learning opportunities will be offered beyond your immediate duties and you will be encouraged to continuously develop, learn and get involved with constantly evolving challenges.
Due to the evolving nature of the business, vacancies can become available at any time. Therefore, this campaign may create a reserve list to fulfil demand if it arises which will be held for a period of 12 months., For your CV and Personal Statement, please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following essential criteria:
+ Working on your own initiative to solve a problem using research and evidence.
+ Developing and maintaining effective working relationships with stakeholders.
+ Using your excellent communication skills to produce draft correspondence and briefing to a quality standard.
+ Delivering quality work to tight deadlines, efficiently handling competing priorities, working flexibly to achieve objectives.

Alongside your salary of £28,119, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency contributes £8,146 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits.
+ Best in class learning and development tailored to your role.
+ An environment with flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.
+ Generous employer contribution of 28.97%, depending on chosen pension scheme.
+ 25 days holiday, increasing by one day each year up to 30 days pro rata.
+ Access to the staff discount portal.
+ 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
+ A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a minimum of 60% of their time in the office over a month, with flexibility dependent on balancing business and individual need. Remove if hybrid isn’t an option.
There are many more opportunities and great benefits of working at DVLA, visit our Careers website for further information.