Planning Policy Support Officer

Job summary

We are MHCLG

This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast-paced team at the heart of the department’s high-profile planning reforms. Planning is a key Ministerial priority to unlock growth and deliver the homes, infrastructure and environmental outcomes communities need.

The planning system has a critical role in supporting climate mitigation and adaptation, enabling renewable and low carbon energy, managing flood risk and water infrastructure pressures, and ensuring development contributes to sustainable growth.

The role sits within the Environment and Sustainability Planning team in the Planning Policy Division. The successful candidate will work closely with policy teams across the Planning Directorate, playing an important role in supporting the smooth running of the team’s work.

The role will focus primarily on secretariat and coordination functions, including managing correspondence, supporting briefing for Ministers and senior officials, keeping standard lines up to date, and working across the department to coordinate high-quality returns to commissions.

There will also be opportunities to support policy development, including by helping to gather evidence, understanding stakeholder views and contribute to policy products. We are a friendly, supportive and collaborative team made up of a mix of professional planners and generalist civil servants.

This role provides an excellent opportunity to develop strong drafting, coordination, briefing and stakeholder engagement skills while building an understanding of planning policy in an area of growing national importance.

Job description

The role will involve:

• Support the team’s correspondence and briefing functions, including helping to draft responses to ministerial, parliamentary and stakeholder correspondence, preparing briefing material, and ensuring standard lines are accurate, consistent and up to date.
• Coordinate returns to commissions that come into the team, working with colleagues across the Planning Directorate, the department and wider Whitehall to gather input, track deadlines and help ensure replies are clear, accurate and delivered to a high standard.
• Help the team maintain a clear and consistent handling position on key issues by updating lines to take, drawing together background material and ensuring briefing products reflect the latest agreed policy position.
• Support engagement with teams across government and, where appropriate, external stakeholders by coordinating comments, summarising views and helping ensure relevant evidence and issues are reflected in advice and correspondence.
• Provide flexible support across the team as priorities evolve, including helping colleagues manage trackers, commissions and other coordination tasks that support effective delivery.
• Support policy development including by helping to collate evidence, review existing material, summarise stakeholder views and contribute to updates to planning documents such as Planning Practice Guidance.
• Develop an understanding of how planning policy is interpreted and applied, while building practical experience in drafting, coordination, stakeholder engagement and working across government

Person specification

We are looking for candidates with the following skills:

• An ability to communicate complex information clearly and concisely to a range of audiences.
• Strong drafting skills, including the ability to produce high-quality written material at pace.
• Strong team working skills and the ability to maintain good working relationships with a wide range of teams.
• Good organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Self-motivation, resilience and the ability to adapt quickly in a fast-paced environment.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office applications including Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• An interest in planning, climate change and sustainable development, and a willingness to develop expertise in these areas.

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 , Strengths

Stage 1: Sift

• Behaviour (Lead Behaviour): Delivering at Pace
• Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing
• Behaviour: Making Effective Decisions

There is a 250-word limit per question. Please use the STAR method when writing your responses.

When writing your application, remember:

• the assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially

• do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers

• if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

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: Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Working Together

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 5th October 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 19th October 2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

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 Disability Confident Scheme, Redeployment Interview scheme & Great Place to Work for Veterans 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 : Joshua Lawson
• Email : Joshua.Lawson@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk