A day in the life of our welfare and work advocacy
We’re recruiting for a Principal Policy Manager, to help lead our welfare and work advocacy and manage our Families, Welfare and Work policy team. Benefits advice is the number 1 reason people turn to Citizens Advice, making it a huge responsibility for our advocacy work.
It’s always hard to know what a workplace is like before you join it. We asked 4 colleagues to tell us what their work is like.
For more information, read the ad and job pack.
Elizabeth Miller, Policy Researcher
What my day looks like: My current research is exploring how people moving from other benefits feel they’ll adjust to claiming Universal Credit. I work on a social media pack for local offices to promote the survey so we can get some great data.
After lunch I chat to advisers to understand how the people we help have been affected by a change to who can apply for Universal Credit. Their insights are invaluable and I finish the conversations with a much greater grasp of the problem and full of admiration for the way our frontline advisers help people every day.
What I’m proudest of: I’m still quite new to the team but I’m proud of feeding into my colleagues’ excellent Roadblock to Recovery report. I’m also excited to work with advisers this summer to find out why disability benefit assessment decisions are often initially wrong and what policy solutions could improve this.
Matt Byrne, Senior Campaign and Public Affairs Officer
What my day looks like: It’s Universal Credit report launch day so the first thing I do is read through a summary from the press team of all the amazing coverage of our research that’s come through overnight.
It’s my job to get the report out to our target list of MPs so — with a coffee in hand — I get to work sending my emails. Before breaking for lunch, I lead a 30 minute stand up with the team to see how we’re getting on.
After lunch, I get on the phone, calling target MPs to see whether they’re interested in a meeting. To my surprise, an influential backbencher wants to speak that afternoon — they’ve been asked to comment on a news piece that our report’s relevant to. I work with the policy team to prepare toplines from the report to make sure our evidence and argument shine through.
We give the MP a new perspective on Universal Credit from our data and they highlight our research. I finish the day with a quick roundup email to the team to highlight an incredible day’s work.
What I’m proudest of: Leading our local office-led #KeepTheLifeline campaign. We engaged over half of MPs in England and Wales and helped secure a 6 month extension to the Universal Credit uplift, worth over £3bn to our clients.
Oliver Crunden, Policy Researcher
What my day looks like: A typical day involves gathering evidence on the issues that are affecting our clients who receive Universal Credit, and trying to convince the government to act.
I’m writing a blog about how the rules in Universal Credit can make it more difficult for people to enter work. Later, I help develop plans for how we’ll work with clients to understand the changes needed to ensure that Universal Credit provides the right support to everyone seeking work.
Our Universal Credit work takes up most of my week. On a Friday afternoon, I enjoy checking in with the team to hear about how people plan to spend their weekend. We usually kick off the weekend by sharing a ‘fact of the week’ — a great way to wind down with colleagues!
What I’m proudest of: Being part of a coalition that helped secure a 6-month extension of the Universal Credit uplift. It is a significant boost to the incomes of so many people.
Ruth Moore, Senior Press Officer
What my day looks like: On a typical day I start by scanning the headlines. Today there’s a story about benefit deductions which has made one of the national papers.
A journalist rings about the story — they want a comment for their piece. I work with our principal policy manager on a statement and pull together data on how many people Citizens Advice helps with deductions.
I then lead a session for colleagues on framing our policy asks. We talk about how we can make our complex arguments come to life and what language would work well.
Later on, I draft a template press release for our network of local Citizens Advice. I end the day meeting one of our policy researchers to discuss newsworthy research ideas for our next Universal Credit campaign.
What I’m proudest of: I love making our stories demonstrate the real life impact of the issues we’re campaigning on. One recent highlight was working on a TV package about the impact of a potential £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit. The story ran on news bulletins throughout the day.
Applying for the role
All the information you need is in this job pack. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the role, please don’t hesitate to contact Morgan Wild at morgan.wild@citizensadvice.org.uk.
We are always happy to consider flexible working, which may include arrangements such as part-time working, formalised flexitime, fixed (non-standard) working hours, working from home and job-sharing.
We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented throughout Citizens Advice. We are a member of the race equality campaign at Business in the Community, the Prince’s responsible business network and are committed to improving employment opportunities for ethnic minorities across the UK. We also welcome applications from LGB and Trans and non binary candidates.
We have made a positive commitment to employing disabled people and guarantee to interview all disabled candidates who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role as set out in role profiles.
When assessing applications, we make decisions based on the quality and relevance of the examples and evidence you provide for how you meet the person specification. You can read more guidance on how to complete our application form. You may wish to use the S.T.A.R. method when outlining how you meet our requirements:
- Specific — give a specific example
- Task — briefly describe the task/objective/problem
- Action — tell us what you did
- Results — describe what results were achieved
