Policy Officer

Natspec is the membership organisation for specialist further education colleges. Our role is to improve FE for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, through influencing government policy, programmes and funding in England and Wales, and providing a range of support to improve the quality of provision in colleges.

We are seeking a dynamic Policy Officer to join our policy team, to support our lobbying and advocacy work, raise the profile of specialist FE with parliamentarians and represent the views of members. The work is varied, including monitoring parliamentary activity, undertaking research, meeting with members, helping to prepare consultation responses and analysing government proposals and published policies. The postholder will also take a lead in communicating Natspec’s policy positions to members and other stakeholders.

The main duties of the role include:

• Monitoring parliamentary and media activity to alert the Natspec team to relevant issues
• Maintaining and developing Natspec’s parliamentary database, increasing links with MPs and ministers
• Undertaking research to support Natspec’s policy work
• Preparing news stories, press releases and social media content, and identifying media opportunities to promote Natspec’s work and policy positions
• Working with Natspec member colleges, supporting them in their local lobbying work, and establishing network meetings
• Supporting the Senior Policy Manager and Senior Policy Officer with consultation responses, reports, publications, articles and data analysis.

We are looking for a self-motivated, innovative, dynamic and enthusiastic individual with good written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to develop strong working relationships. You don’t need to have a background in learning difficulties or disabilities or further education, although a demonstrable interest in these areas would be welcome. You should, however, have some prior experience of policy work, including undertaking research and analysis, understand parliamentary processes, and be able to quickly develop your understanding of education and funding policy relevant to specialist FE.

While you will be home-based, you will be in frequent contact with your colleagues both online and in-person and there will be plenty of opportunities to work outside of the home, attending meetings and visiting colleges. You will need to travel to London on a regular basis. You must be able to work flexibly, sometimes under pressure, and thrive on the unpredictability of policy work.