Press Officer

Location: Blended between office and home (England and Wales). Time in office negotiable

Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Citizens Advice is looking for an experienced media relations specialist or journalist to join our award-winning national news team. As a Press Officer you will help deliver high-impact media coverage on our key policy priorities as well as handling reactive media enquiries.

You’ll be working on our consumer brief, exploring how social tariffs across essential services like mobile and broadband can help people save vital money during the cost-of-living crisis.

You’ll be an excellent communicator, able to identify and shape a story, and keen to spot fresh ways of achieving our goals. You will relish the challenge of pitching to journalists and producers across all major national channels and platforms. You’ll have a good understanding of the media landscape, including how people get their news from social media.

This is a great opportunity to thrive in a friendly and supportive team working together to make things better for people.

If you are interested in applying please demonstrate the following in your cv and covering letter:

• A proven track record as a journalist or press officer, or equivalent experience
• Demonstrable ability to be creative, show initiative and work under pressure.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, using appropriate styles, methods and timing to maximise understanding and impact.

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives from debt to evictions to trouble at work and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service.

Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector - people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people. We follow the social model of disability. We will offer an interview to disabled candidates who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident Interview Commitment where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.

We’re a flexible employer, so this role may suit anyone who’d prefer a flexible arrangement to help their work/life balance, many of our colleagues spend most of their time working remotely. Whilst we prefer a blended approach between a local office, if one is near you, and home we’re open to being flexible on location, occasionally a role may require you to be based in a certain location if that's the case it will be detailed in the advert or job description. This can be discussed in more detail during your interview.

The National Citizens Advice operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales.

Our commitment to colleague wellbeing is reflected in us being awarded Gold in the Health & Wellbeing category, as well as Overall Winners, at the Employee Experience Awards 2022.

Please be aware that Citizens Advice is not a sponsoring organisation. Therefore the successful applicant must already possess the right to work in the UK or be able to secure the right to work in the UK independently.

Citizens Advice seeks to redeploy internal staff who are at risk or under notice of redundancy and will prioritise them in the recruitment process where necessary. If you have been confirmed as at risk or under notice of redundancy please ensure you indicate this in the at-risk box in your application.

In the event of a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the application early.

This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date.

For more information about the organisation, our values and benefits please see the following link - Information, values and benefits

Need help with your application, see our useful how to guides on the following page - Guidance notes for applicants