Policy Adviser - Energy, Carbon and Overheating

Job summary

We are MHCLG

Do you have exceptional communication skills? Do you bring strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise your work?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Policy Adviser - Energy, Carbon and Overheating to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

This SEO policy role in the Energy, Carbon and Overheating (ECO) Standards team will be leading and supporting work to address the way in which the design and construction of buildings affect climate change, by working to improve their energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions.

40% of the UK's energy consumption and carbon emissions arise from the way buildings are lit, heated and used, and we must ensure that buildings are constructed to high standards of energy efficiency as part of our journey towards a cleaner, greener built environment.

MHCLG holds important policy and legislative levers that could be used to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings and reduce carbon emissions, including through the Building Regulations, which set standards for long term sustainability and energy efficiency.

The ECO Standards team, in the Buildings Design and Construction Directorate, is preparing to update the Building Regulations to improve the carbon emissions of new homes and buildings. These high-profile updates (known as the Future Homes and Buildings Standards) will ensure all new homes and buildings are net zero ready and are built with low-carbon technology such as heat pumps and solar panels.

In the upcoming year, the team will be focussed on making sure the Future Homes and Buildings Standards are implemented smoothly and will be considering a range of other building energy and carbon performance matters that may need future policy. This may include work on the “performance gap” (the gap between a building’s designed energy efficiency and its as-built performance), how energy efficiency standards are set for converted buildings, the effectiveness of standards that mitigate the risk of overheating, and how to measure and reduce the embodied carbon of new buildings.

Please note that this is a complicated and technical policy area, dealing with energy efficiency metrics, new technology and building physics. A willingness to engage with the detail of this kind of content is essential.

Job description

As the Policy Adviser - Energy, Carbon and Overheating your responsibilities will include:

• Lead distinct areas of evidence-based policymaking regarding the energy and carbon performance of new buildings.
• Support work to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Future Homes and Buildings Standards.
• Manage a programme of stakeholder engagement with the construction industry to assess implementation of the Future Homes and Buildings Standards.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with other policy teams across government, particularly in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and with external stakeholders.
• Lead and support the delivery of timely, high-quality advice to seniors and ministers – both verbally and in writing.
• Help manage and respond to the team’s correspondence, parliamentary questions and briefing requests.

Person specification

• Experience of policy work – having worked on some (if not all) elements of the policy cycle: e.g., development, consultations, legislative delivery, monitoring and evaluation.
• Excellent organisational skills to allow you to manage multiple pieces of work simultaneously and deliver at pace.
• Effective communication skills and the ability to distil and explain complicated and technical policy both verbally and in writing.
• This is a complicated and technical policy area, dealing with energy efficiency metrics, new technology and building physics. A willingness to engage with the detail of this kind of content is essential.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,890, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,135 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher 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

• Behaviour: Making Effective Decisions (Lead Behaviour)

• Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing

• Behaviour: Delivering at Pace

There is a 250-word limit per question.

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: Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace.

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

• 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 16th March 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 30th March 2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

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

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

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 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 : Sally Christmas
• Email : Sally.Christmas@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.