Press Officer

Job summary

We are looking for an experienced communications professional to join our fast-paced national press office, which sits at the heart of CPS’ HQ Communications team.

The press office exists to explain and promote the work of the Crown Prosecution Service by landing proactive, audience-led coverage that showcases our delivery of fair and independent prosecutions, and our progress as an organisation on vital issues such as rape and domestic abuse, terrorism, and organised crime.

Alongside our proactive media operation, our energetic Newsdesk deals with high-volume, fast-paced reactive media enquiries and defends the CPS’ reputation by responding to challenging or potentially critical media coverage.

Live criminal cases are the bedrock of our communications and each of our press officers has an important role in working with CPS prosecutors and the police to assist journalists covering trials, by making sure they have timely access to court materials in line with the CPS/police Joint Media Protocol.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• Managing multiple media enquiries at any given time; prioritising urgent deadlines and working across the CPS to craft and obtain clearance for accurate, accessible responses to requests for comment.
• Working with CPS lawyers and Area Communications Managers to prepare press releases, social media content and handling plans for upcoming trials.
• Providing a first-class media monitoring service: scanning print and broadcast news for relevant developments and quickly summarising key coverage themes for our morning and evening media monitoring updates.
• Giving timely, well-considered advice on matters of media and communications handling to CPS lawyers and senior leaders.
• Supporting our 24/7 news operation by being part of our out-of-hours duty rota on evenings and weekends, for which overtime can be claimed.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need to:

• Have demonstrable experience working in a fast-paced media or communications environment

The below is desirable experience:

• Demonstrate an ability to juggle multiple urgent tasks and prioritise effectively
• Show solid communications nous and good news judgement, and an ability to deploy this effectively to deliver results

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,615, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £10,897 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).

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose.

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact erin.morgan@cps.gov.uk

The Crown Prosecution Service has fixed rates for its Higher Executive Officer grade – a developing rate (the starting salary) and a spot rate (the maximum salary). Applicants typically join us on the developing rate and, after completing a 18-month development period, move to the spot rate – this is subject to your line manager confirming that you’re performing the role to a satisfactory standard.

If you’re joining the Crown Prosecution Service on a lateral transfer from another government department, you should contact us about the impact on your salary and the implications of any time you’ve already spent at that grade before applying or accepting an employment offer. Your salary may be adjusted if your location changes when you join us. This adjustment also takes into account any existing allowances that may have previously been consolidated into your basic pay – there’s no guarantee that you can retain these when you transfer.

We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We offer a hybrid working policy. You must spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period at court, in an office or another official workplace depending on business need and the kind of work you're doing.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Recruitment process

The recruitment process consists of an online application, interview and assessment. These are expected to take place on w/c 10th July 2026 on Microsoft Teams.

A member of our recruitment team will be in touch with guidance. If you have any queries about this, contact erin.morgan@cps.gov.uk

You should keep this week free or notify us if you're not available. We'll make every effort to accommodate your date preferences but we can't guarantee it.

Assessment

We ask you to complete an assessment as part of the recruitment process. This assessment will take place on the day of interviews.

Behaviours

You are asked to complete a statement of no more than 250 words for each of the following behaviours, setting out how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience match the specified behaviours and requirements:

1. Communicating and Influencing (Lead Behaviour)
2. Seeing the Bigger Picture
3. Delivering at pace

You also need to demonstrate the following experience required for this role:

• Experience working in a fast-paced media or communications environment

In addition, you need to demonstrate the Crown Prosecution Service or Civil Service values.

The panel has the right to assess the lead behaviour ‘Communicating and Influencing’ first. If the standard on this behaviour isn’t met, the other behaviours won’t be considered and your application won’t progress. The panel also has the right to raise the minimum standard pass mark. The panel may also refer to the lead behaviour at the interview stage to determine merit order.

Interview/ Assessment

We use behaviours to help us understand your experience, to see if you're a good fit for the role. You are assessed against (HEO) in the Civil Service success profiles behaviours framework. We are assessing two behaviours at interview stage:

1. Communicating & Influencing – interview
2. Delivering at Pace – interview

The following essential experience, will also be assessed at the interview stage -

• Experience working in a fast-paced media or communications environment

Please note the following will be tested at the assessment stage of the interview:

Government Communications Service professional competency framework.

• Insight – Promote and encourage the early integration of strategic communication and policy development - (interview stage)
• Ideas – Demonstrate robust knowledge of the industry, media and wider communication and marketing landscape. Draw on this expertise to deliver innovative campaign strategies and provide recommendations to senior leaders and policy colleagues - (interview stage)
• Implementation – Develop strong relationships with senior leaders, policy colleagues and key stakeholders. Build influential networks to enable communication teams to deliver quality solutions - (interview and assessment stage)
• Impact – Evaluate the effectiveness of communication against objectives. Review lessons learnt and compare the industry best practice to identify areas for improvement for future communication strategies - (interview stage)

CV

You’re not required to upload your CV. However, when submitting your application there is a ‘CV section’. You are required to provide information about your employment and/or academic history for the past three years. The CV section will be used as supporting evidence, it won’t be assessed.

It’s your responsibility to provide the specified information in the requested format to ensure that you're considered for the post.

If you're unable to cover three years through employment or academic history, you must provide a character reference for clearance purposes.

Strengths

Strengths are tested at interview stage - the strengths tested are not shared before the interview.

Other

This is a full-time post. We do consider requests for flexible, part-time working and job share, always considering the operational needs of the department.

Please note that the CPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship. Therefore, if you require visa sponsorship to work in the UK, you will not meet the eligibility criteria for this role. (If internal this is not required)

Clearance

If successful, you are required to securea Security Check clearance, for which you must have a current valid UK address.

If successfully appointed, we ask you to complete a character enquiry form, nationality and immigration questionnaire, and national security vetting form.

If you're a Crown Prosecution Service member of staff, you won’t need to do a Disclosure and Barring Service check as you already hold this clearance.

The job you’re applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act doesn’t apply.You’re required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions including spent convictions. Failing to make a full declaration will result in withdrawing your offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that haven’t been disclosed.

To be cleared to Security Checkclearance level, you have to be able to meet the residency requirement in the Cabinet Office guidance. For the Crown Prosecution Service, this is three years within the last five years.

Civil Service Commission

If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, please click on the following link to the Civil Service Commission complaints page Recruitment Complaints - Civil Service Commission

Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/

Details of the Civil Service Nationality Rules are located at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Candidates are subject to UK immigration requirements. For the most up-to-date information on the requirements of working in the UK, please go to the UK Visas and Immigration website at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

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 security 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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : Erin Morgan
• Email : erin.morgan@cps.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk

Attachments

CPS Terms and Conditions 2025 Opens in new window (docx, 255kB)NEW CPS Personal Statement Guidance 2023 Opens in new window (docx, 269kB)Press Officer Opens in new window (doc, 70kB)