63 Flexible Jobs in County Durham

Job summary

We're offering two Business Support opportunities within high-profile areas of the Office for National Statistics. While each role has a different focus, both provide the opportunity to build strong networks, work closely with senior stakeholders, and play a key role in enabling business areas to deliver their priorities.

Whether your interests lie in supporting strategic leadership, directorate operations, governance, recruitment, finance, or contract management, these roles will provide a varied and rewarding experience with excellent opportunities for professional development and exposure across ONS.

Opportunity 1: Methodology & Quality Directorate Support Unit

The Directorate Support Unit (DSU) sits at the heart of the Methodology & Quality Directorate (MQD), providing vital support to senior leaders and colleagues across the directorate. This varied role offers the opportunity to work across a broad range of activities, including executive support, recruitment, finance, governance, planning and stakeholder engagement. Working closely with senior colleagues and teams across ONS, you'll play a key role in ensuring the directorate operates effectively, helping to deliver strategic priorities while gaining valuable insight into the workings of a large and diverse business area.

Opportunity 2: Governance Team, Digital Services Directorate

The Governance Team sits at the heart of the Digital Services Directorate, ensuring governance activities are delivered accurately, on time, and within financial and resource constraints. Working closely with colleagues across the directorate and wider ONS, the team supports governance, recruitment, resourcing, contract management and supplier-related activities, helping to drive efficiency and effective business delivery. This varied role offers the opportunity to build strong organisational networks, contribute to continuous improvement, and collaborate with business support communities to share best practice and support positive change across the organisation.

What Both Roles Offer

Both opportunities provide:

• Exposure to senior stakeholders and key decision-making processes.
• The chance to build a broad network across ONS.
• Opportunities to develop skills in business support, governance, planning and organisational coordination.
• A collaborative and supportive working environment.
• The opportunity to make a tangible impact on how ONS delivers its priorities and services.

These roles are ideal for proactive and organised individuals looking to broaden their experience, develop professionally, and contribute to the success of high-profile business areas.

Job description

The Business Support team plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth and effective operation of the directorate. Working closely with colleagues across a range of enabling functions, including Finance, HR, Communications, Programme Management, and Risk & Assurance, the team provides high-quality support that enables leaders and colleagues to focus on delivering organisational priorities.

In this role, you will work collaboratively with colleagues across the Business Support function and the wider organisation to support the delivery of a broad range of business support activities. You will help provide effective support to the Director, Senior Leadership Team and colleagues across the directorate, contributing to the successful delivery of key operational and strategic priorities.

No two days are the same. You'll have the opportunity to work across a varied portfolio of activities, build strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels, and gain valuable insight into how ONS operates. The exact focus of your work will vary depending on the needs, structure and priorities of the directorate, providing a breadth of experience and development opportunities.

You'll also have the opportunity to join Business Support communities of practice across ONS, collaborating with colleagues to share best practice, solve operational challenges, drive continuous improvement, and help shape the future of business support across the organisation.

Responsibilities

Stakeholder relationships

• Build and maintain excellent working relationships across the DSU and wider directorate, working collaboratively and flexibly to achieve organisational priorities.

Directorate support

• Operating in a matrix management environment, undertake a broad range of business support activities under the guidance of a Business Support Manager, ensuring these are delivered within defined timescales and to agreed quality standards, including but not limited to: -corporate planning activities -collating MI -cascading key corporate and directorate information using appropriate media -cross-divisional functional support of key business activities as required.

Secretariat and key management meeting support

• Assist with the organisation of key divisional and directorate meetings, which add value, including preparing and circulating the agenda, undertaking a secretariat or other facilitator role where necessary, writing minutes and records of actions from the meeting / workshop, obtaining updates on previous action points and chasing outstanding papers.

Team administration

• Manage the team inbox(es) effectively, ensuring that emails are dealt with appropriately in a timely manner, drafting responses to queries as required, seeking advice and guidance from the Business Support Manager as necessary Team-specific task.
• Where appropriate, carry out delivery tasks and/or support the delivery of small projects under the direction of the Business Support Manager, or other senior managers

Recruitment and Capability support

Support enabling function spoke teams that sit within the DG group and / or directorate, including but not limited to:

• Recruitment: supporting recruitment activity logistics by providing secretariat function for resource panels ensuring recruiting managers provide all relevant information ahead of the panel; setting up interviews, liaising with recruitment managers and spoke teams to ensure panel members’ availability; maintaining divisional/ directorate workforce plan entries accurately.
• Capability: support capability teams with the logistics for learning events, that are focussed on professional and technical skills development.

Finance support

• Finance: coordinate divisional responses to central and (where applicable) programme financial commissions; raising requisitions and receipting purchase orders as necessary; review financial transaction issues (e.g.. gaps between values receipted and invoices), liaising with senior managers as required to resolve.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior colleagues, adapting communication style to suit different audiences.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise, coordinate and manage multiple tasks and competing priorities effectively, including delegating work where appropriate to achieve high-quality outcomes.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure, delivering accurate and high-quality results to tight deadlines while responding promptly and positively to changing priorities and business needs.
• Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively, demonstrating flexibility, initiative and sound judgement, while seeking advice and guidance when appropriate.
• Ability to contribute to and support high-performing teams, taking ownership of objectives, leading or supporting others where required, and ensuring the successful delivery of key tasks and business outcomes.

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,138, Office for National Statistics contributes £8,151 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).

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.

Visa Sponsorship:

ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least 18 months.

To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements (where applicable).

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Security Clearance:

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this linkor contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Application Process

Number of Stages: 3 stage process

Stage 1: Civil Service Skills test

Stage 2 : Application

Stage 3: Interview

Stage 1 – Civil Service Customer Service Skills test

Civil Service Online Tests

Upon submission of Part 1 your application form you will be sent an invitation to complete Customer Service Skills 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.

For your personal statement you are required to answer the questions below using up to 250 words on each answer. As these responses to the questions are scored, we would recommend that you give clear examples for each including the impact of your actions.

1. Stakeholder Management, Communication and Organisation: Please provide an example of a time when you had to coordinate multiple tasks or activities while working with a range of stakeholders. How did you prioritise your workload, adapt your communication to different audiences, and ensure a successful outcome?
2. Delivering Under Pressure and Responding to Change : Describe a situation where priorities changed unexpectedly and you were required to deliver results within a tight timescale. How did you manage the situation, maintain quality, and ensure key objectives were achieved?
3. Independent Working, Teamwork and Ownership : Please provide an example of a time when you took ownership of a piece of work or project that required you to work independently while also collaborating with others. How did you balance these responsibilities, seek support when needed, and contribute to the success of the wider team?

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.

Interviews will be conducted via Ms Teams

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 10/08/2026 at 23:55. Please note, both the Customer Service Skills 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 11/08/2026

Interviews will be conducted from 01/09/2026

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.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 : 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)Role1_Standard_Requirements (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 76kB)