Diary Manager

Job summary

We are MHCLG

Do you have excellent organisational and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage your workload autonomously?

Are you able to deliver at pace with agility and flexibility? Do you have excellent attention to detail and coordination skills?

If so, we have exciting opportunities for Diary Managers to join teams at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), working directly with Ministers and Senior Officials in the heart of government - and we'd love to hear from you!

We are looking for enthusiastic, driven candidates to join Private Office as a Diary Manager to Ministers and Director Generals. The role requires excellent organisation and coordination, sound judgement, attention to detail and the confidence to challenge where needed.

At application and interview stage you will be asked to share a preference to work in Ministerial or Director General Private Offices. There are four positions available – two will be working in Ministerial Private Office based in London, one will be working in a Director General Private Office based in London and one will be working in a Director General Private Office based in Leeds or London.

Job description

As the Diary Manager your responsibilities will include:

• Working closely with the Minister or Director General and understanding their needs and priorities and ensuring their time is used strategically, efficiently and in line with departmental and governmental priorities

• Supporting the smooth running of the diary, managing and prioritising conflicting requests for meetings.

• Compiling and organising daily briefings for meetings and events to support private secretaries, including external visits

• Managing invitations from external stakeholders, commissioning advice from policy officials as needed to help prioritise.

• Building excellent relationships with other Private Secretaries from Ministers, SpAds and Director General offices, and policy colleagues across the department.

• Organise any domestic and international travel arrangements, including flights, accommodation, transportation and itinerary planning.

• Coordinating meetings, including booking rooms, managing logistics and liaising with other Private Offices, senior officials and external stakeholders.

• Supporting further corporate and discrete pieces of office business as required.

Person specification

• Proven ability to manage logistics and operations in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.

• Excellent organisational skills with strong attention to detail.

• Sound judgement and ability to prioritise competing demands effectively, knowing when to escalate issues.

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with confidence dealing with senior stakeholders.

• High levels of discretion, integrity and professionalism.

• Ability to remain calm, flexible and responsive under pressure, including outside normal working hours when required.

• Strong team-working skills and a willingness to be flexible to meet business needs.

For Ministerial Office roles, a Private Secretary allowance is eligible.

Contact point for applicants
Name : Sara Ahmed (Director General Private Office) and Victoria Peace (Ministerial Private Office)
Email: sara.ahmed@communities.gov.uk ; victoria.peace@communities.gov.uk

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £31,402, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £9,097 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Application and Selection

The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours , Experience , Strengths

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)

Experience: In your CV and covering letter (of no more than 500 words), please include:
Which role you are interested in; Ministerial (London based), DG (London based) or DG (London or Leeds based).
· Why you are interested in the role.
· How you meet the essential skills and experience required

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

We do not consider CV applications sent directly to our inbox. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

Behaviours: Working Together, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace
Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 19/10/26.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 02/11/26 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

Private Secretary Allowance

Employees appointed to eligible Private Secretary roles (Assistant Private Secretaries, Private Secretaries and Principal Private Secretaries) within Ministerial or Permanent Secretary offices are eligible for a Private Secretary allowance.

The allowance is currently 15% of basic salary and is payable in recognition of the additional responsibilities and working patterns associated with Private Office roles.

Disability Confident Scheme (DCS)

We are a Disability Confident employer.

We apply a fair and proportionate interview process for all candidates. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to progress candidates who apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and meet the required minimum selection criteria.

However, where high application volumes are received, progression to interview may be limited to those who best meet the role criteria. In these circumstances, the benchmark required to proceed to interview may be raised for all candidates.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Internal Fraud Database

• Appeals and Complaints

• Fixed Term Appointments for:

• External Candidates

• Existing Civil Servants (Including Loans)

• Secondments

• MHCLG employees

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office:

London Office: + CTC

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Sara Ahmed
• Email : Sara.Ahmed@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk