Project Support Officer
23 hours ago
Birmingham
What are the role responsibilities? • Establishing and maintaining project controls, keeping the project manager informed of the project status, • Preparing project performance reports, presenting statistics, and researching new information, • Monitoring, managing and updating project risks, escalating when appropriate, • Analysing data to identify trends, themes and reporting recommendations for action, • Contributing to the planning, development and tracking of delivery plans, supporting programmes to ensure successful delivery, • Managing and monitoring project compliance with departmental policies and procedures, • Working as part of a team, with colleagues from across the department to deliver customer focused solutions, • Building professional relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, • Undertaking activities to support the development of high-quality Business Cases and Benefit Realisation Plans, monitoring the impact, • Organising and coordinating key meetings, including preparing agendas, briefing materials and providing secretariat support, • Collaborating across the wider team and other government departments to share project delivery best practice DWP delivers vital services to some of the most vulnerable people in society. As part of the UKs biggest public service department, we make sure that millions of people receive their State Pension and working age, disability and ill health benefits each year. The newly formed Digital and Transformation Group brings together the engine room of transformation into one cohesive unit. The Group drives transformational change across DWP by integrating digital and transformation capabilities, recognising that successful transformation is increasingly underpinned by digital innovation and delivery. More information about the Change Portfolio can be found in the Candidate Information Pack attached. To deliver DWPs Major Change Portfolio, we operate a flexible Project Delivery Resource Pool of project delivery professionals. Successful applicants will be posted to the pool and will be assigned to a project in one of our major Change programmes. Assignments vary in length and at the end of your initial assignment you will be reassigned within the pool to another project. Development Opportunities The size and scale of DWP means that there are plenty of opportunities to develop, learn and progress throughout your career. We are committed to developing our people now and in the future. Our aim is for our colleagues to be appropriately skilled and qualified from the moment of entry up to becoming an experienced practitioner within their role. To support this aim you may be required to undertake a work-based qualification that relates to your job role, and which will support you in developing your knowledge and skills in both this role and your future career. Government Project Delivery Accreditation- The job holder will be supported to work towards achieving Government Project Delivery Accreditation where they do not already hold this. DWPs Change Portfolio currently consists of 15 Programmes. These programmes broadly focus on creating a more efficient and customer-focused welfare system, driving up labour market participation by removing barriers to work, reducing fraud and alleviating poverty, supporting people with health conditions and disabilities to improve their health outcomes and life chances, and transforming how and where we work as a department, to make our service offering and operating environment better for our customers and local communities and our people as well. Person specification The Essential Criteria for this role are: • Organisation Skills Demonstrates the ability to plan and organise effectively, adapt to challenges, manage multiple priorities, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment, • Collaborative Skills Establishes and develops productive relationships, bringing people together to achieve project and organisational goals, while effectively engaging with diverse stakeholders and balancing competing priorities, • Planning Skills Demonstrates strong planning and prioritisation skills to manage multiple tasks and ensures deadlines are met, • Communication Skills Shares information clearly, honestly, and in an engaging way. Adapts communication style to suit different audiences including those at a senior level ensuring maximum understanding. Values and respects the perspectives, needs, and responses of others to promote an inclusive working environment. Effective use of Microsoft Office tools (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, SharePoint) Location Due to the nature of this post, it requires the postholder to work out of one of the following DWP Change hubs: Birmingham Arena Central, Blackpool Peel Park, Glasgow Atlantic Quay, Leeds Quarry House, Manchester St Peters Square, Newcastle Benton Park View*, Sheffield Kings Court, Pontypridd Treforest Ty Taf. *Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, this role will be based at Benton Park View and then at 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027. Travel to other Hubs may be required. For jobs located in Wales, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable. You will be asked to complete a location preference as part of your application. Successful candidates will be posted in merit order based on your location preferences (within reasonable daily travelling distance) and the geographical requirements of the business. Dependent on your position on the merit list, if none of your location preferences remain at the point, we make a job offer DWP may offer you a role at an alternative advertised location. If we are unable to offer you a role in any of your preferred locations, and you are unable to accept a role at an alternative advertised location, we will add you to the reserve list if one is being held. Relocation costs for anyone voluntarily moving will not be reimbursed. Hybrid Working This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: • Delivering at Pace, • Working Together, • Communicating and Influencing, • Managing a Quality Service Benefits Alongside your salary of 38,772, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 11,232 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: • Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours., • Generous annual leave at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave., • Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme., • Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly)., • Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service., • Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes., • An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Work Strengths Test. Civil Service Jobs will check if you have an applicable banked test score. • If you do, you wont be invited to the test. Please complete the online test and written application as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended). The closing date for applications is 8 December 2025 at 23:55. If you fail to complete the online test and written application before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website. Please note: Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 1am and 5am on 29 November 2025. There will be up to 4 hours during this time where candidates will not be able to access tests. All online tests will be affected. If your test is interrupted during the scheduled downtime, it will automatically pause. You will be able to resume from where you left off once the downtime ends by reopening the test through your application centre. You will not be able to start any new tests during the downtime. If you experience issues, we recommend returning to complete your test after 5:00am on 29 November 2025. Application process As part of the application process, you will be asked to submit a personal statement of 1250 words. The written sift will be conducted using evidence from your personal statement which will be assessed against the essential criteria. When completing your personal statement, the layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criterion separately; however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several essential criteria. Please ensure you provide as much evidence as you can to allow us to assess your skills, knowledge and experience. Please note that when you make your application online you will be asked to complete Diversity Monitoring information. Feedback will not be provided at the sift stage. For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed. The Interview Interviews will take place remotely by an MS Teams video call. The interview will take approximately 45 minutes and further details and instructions will be provided closer to the scheduled interview. All applicants who progress to interview will be assessed against a mixture of behavioural and strength elements of Success Profiles. An indicative timeline for the sift and interview dates is available in the attached Candidate Information Pack. Please note that these dates are subject to change. Successful applicants will be assigned to a project in one of our major Change programmes. Assignments vary in length and at the end of your initial assignment you will be reassigned to another project and/or role. Information Session There will be an information session available for prospective candidates on Friday 28 November at 11:00 to 12:00. Please contact and we will send you the details via email. If you have accessibility requirements, please let us know. Further Information At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub . Reserve List A reserve list may be held for a period of 3months from which further appointments can be made. If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note: • If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual Part Time Working Pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health). If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. Reasonable Adjustments We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. Integrity, plagiarism, Civil Service Principles and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Examples of plagiarism can include: • Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Ch eck to Disclosure and Barring Service/Disclosure Scotland on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Re cruitment Service of your intention by emailing stating the job reference number in the subject heading. For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicants details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check will be carried out. Important New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks. Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWPs Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions. Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary. Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at the Childcare Choices Website. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security 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 the Civil 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. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window) . 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 : Change Resourcing Team Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DWP by email: . If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service Commission. Attachments Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1054kB) Candidate Information Pack - Welsh Opens in new window (pdf, 906kB) Success Profiles - Candidate Overview - English and Welsh (2) Opens in new window (pdf, 783kB) Terms and Conditions - English and Welsh (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 120kB)