Print and Despatch Operator

Job summary

Are you a reliable, detail‑focused team player who enjoys delivering a high‑quality service? Join the Office for National Statistics as a Print & Despatch Operator and play a vital role in supporting the delivery of essential UK statistics.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

Business Data Operations Division (BDOD) is a large and diverse area of around 400 staff, collecting economic statistics from several million businesses a year. It is the foundation for most of the ONS’ core economic outputs, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The primary role for the division is the data collection, editing and validation of survey data.

The Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the largest profession in the Civil Service. ODP’s 200,000+ members work in a wide range of operational delivery roles across government, providing essential services that support and protect UK citizens at home and overseas. They help to make ONS a great place to work.

As a member, ODP supports you by providing learning and development opportunities, career pathways, tools and resources to help develop your skills and progress your career. This is an exciting opportunity to join a modern, innovative and inclusive Civil Service profession that sits at the heart of public service delivery.

Job description

As a Print & Despatch Officer your primary role will be to manage the accurate and timely print/despatch service of ONS business questionnaires flyers etc to customer requirements which requires the operation of various machinery.

This area currently prints survey questionnaires and letters together with other internal ONS printing to meet schedules. You will be responsible for enveloping and despatching business surveys as well as ad hoc customer printing requirements.

This role is not suitable for hybrid working and is based 100% onsite at the Newport office.

Responsibilities

• Ability to understand the operational requirements for various machinery and experience of stringent quality control processes of all outputs with a keen eye for detail.
• Working with your manager to understand the priorities, goals, objectives and timescales.
• Work to agreed schedules, ensuring customer requirements are met taking forward ad hoc requests for new work with accurate booking in/out of batches of work using appropriate tools and updating spreadsheets/tables with despatch information.
• Support the manager in paper and envelope supplies ensuring optimal amount held.
• Work collaboratively across teams working to meet scheduled and priority deadlines as required.
• Identify any constraints that are impacting the work and take ownership in leading the improvement initiatives, liaising with sections within SPC, business areas and suppliers to resolve issues.
• In the absence of the EO collaborate with suppliers to ensure high service delivery and point of contact for quick problem resolution.
• A positive change agent, with a real drive and passion for learning and development.
• Identify and address own capability/ development requirements and request coaching / mentor / guidance to aid development. Continually seek and act on feedback to evaluate and improve own performance.
• UK mail cover on a rota basis.
• 8x8 Secure data collection (SDC) late cover, handling technical calls and assisting contributors to enable the completion of online surveys.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Strong team player, able to work effectively with others and use own initiative.
• Ability to learn and safely operate machinery, following strict guidelines and quality control procedures.
• Clear and confident communicator, able to engage constructively with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels. Confidently challenge ideas in a constructive way, using evidence to clearly articulate views and support effective decision making.
• Good organisational and time‑management skills, with the ability to prioritise and adapt to changing demands.
• Proactive problem‑solver, making timely decisions with attention to detail and escalating issues when needed.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,501, Office for National Statistics contributes £7,387 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

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 and Experience.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 3 stage process

Stage 1: Civil Service Judgement Test

Stage 2 : Application

Stage 3: Interview

Stage 1 – Civil Service Judgement Test

Civil Service Online Tests

Upon submission of Part 1 your application form you will be sent an invitation to complete Civil Service Judgement online tests.

There will be full instructions on how to complete each test including an opportunity to practice before undertaking the actual test. These tests are not time limited.

If you pass a test, you will then receive a further invite to complete each subsequent test if there is more than one for this vacancy. If you fail a test your application will not proceed to the next stage.

If you pass all tests for this vacancy, you will be invited to complete the final stage of your application, this is where you will provide information such as your work history. Skills and experience and Personal Statement.

Stage 2 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.

Interviews will be in person at the Newport office. Please note - travel expenses will not be reimbursed. Candidates are required to bring valid photographic identification to the interview.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates:

The closing date for the role is 05/05/2026 at 23:55. Please note, both the Civil Service Judgement Test and written application (work history, skills, experience and personal statement) will need to be completed by this deadline.

The Sift will be conducted from 11/05/2026

Interviews will be conducted from 02/06/2026

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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 : Recruitment Operations
• Email : Recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

ONS_Vacancy_Terms(Permanent) Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)