AddressIn DHSC, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.
We are committed to creating a great place to work for our colleagues that reflects the society we serve. Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills to perform these roles.
The Vaccines Team’s mission is to deliver effective policy, in collaboration with partners, to enable timely and equitable deployment of COVID and Flu vaccines and maximise health outcomes across the nation. In delivering this mission, we work closely with key stakeholders across the vaccines landscape, including NHS England, the UK Health Security Agency (which also covers the COVID Vaccine Unit and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Devolved Governments and other governmental departments, to ensure that our health and social care systems are able to successfully provide COVID-19 and Flu vaccines to those eligible.
The team is responsible for developing policy to support ongoing delivery of seasonal vaccination campaigns, monitoring uptake of COVID and Flu vaccination – working with partners to promote vaccination across all groups and ensuring that delivery of COVID-19 and Flu vaccination programmes as much as possible aligned across the Devolved Governments, Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
Job description
The COVID-19 and flu vaccines team develops policy to protect those vulnerable to COVID-19 and flu via a programme of highly impactful seasonal vaccination campaigns. Our work is guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and we work in close in collaboration with partners (including NHSE and UKHSA), as well as the Devolved Administrations. The post holder would work in the flu policy team, alongside colleagues focussing on the COVID-19 vaccine, but the postholder would be expected to develop a working knowledge of vaccination policy generally.
Person specification
Role responsibilities
This role will involve extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders from DHSC, arms-length bodies and other government departments. The main responsibilities of the role include:
- Day-to-day management of the policy area, which includes monitoring uptake data and updating senior officials and Ministers on progress
- Drafting advice to Ministers and senior leaders on policy issues
- Building and maintaining good relationships with stakeholders in the Department and across government
- Communicating information clearly and concisely, both in writing and verbally, to a range of partners
- Working with your team to develop a broader understanding of your policy area and of vaccine policy more generally, and the challenges and opportunities associated with it
- Helping develop public facing communications for the programme, including guidance for patients and preparation for Parliamentary debates.
Key skills and experience required for the role
The essential criteria for the post are:
- Strong communication skills, both written and oral, with an ability to tailor your messages to meet the needs of different audiences
- The ability to grasp complex issues readily, and to build on that to help develop policy
- The ability to collaborate with a range of policy colleagues and stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes
- The ability to deliver high quality work in a timely fashion.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £32,188, Department of Health and Social Care contributes £8,690 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 25th February 2024
