What's involved with this role: Temporary News & Communications Officer Reference no: Merseyside BL 361762 Pay Rate: £19.44 per hour PAYE 36.50 Monday – Friday, normal working hours This opening assignment is for 2 months City: LIVERPOOL NPPV2 Vetting NB: Police Vacancy - only for candidates with a minimum of 5 years continuous UK address history. Please note that this vacancy is subject to a strict security vetting procedure. Provide a professional operational news service for the force, on a 24-hour basis, with the aim of increasing public confidence, reducing the fear of crime, helping communities understand the work of the Police and helping the force deliver its strategy and objectives. Key responsibilities: Manage, under the direction of the News Team Leader, the media management of serious crimes and incidents countywide and issues which will expose the force to international, national or regional media attention in order to maintain public confidence. The post-holder must react quickly and manage potentially damaging issues, producing communications plans. Identify newsworthy items to promote the force at a local, regional and national level, then produce plans to ensure their effective communication to the public via traditional, social and digital media. This will also include scanning national and regional issues to ensure the force is effectively positioned on emerging issues. Maintain a good, professional working relationship with all members of the media, proactively creating opportunities for effective liaison between the media and Chief Officers, PR & Campaigns Officers and senior managers. Support in managing the media during serious/critical/major incidents and act as an advisor to police officers and staff Develop and implement communication plans for large-scale events. This will include acting as lead news officer in a multi-agency situation and coordinating the communications plan and response on behalf of partners, including emergency services, local authorities, government departments and health services. Act as a force spokesperson on behalf of Merseyside Police or take responsibility for the provision of a suitable spokesperson. This will involve the development of briefing papers and a communications plan in order to position the spokesperson and force effectively. Liaise with key stakeholders including the Home Office, NPCC, Independent Office for Police Complaints, Independent Press Standards Office, Crown Prosecution Service, Local Authorities, Court Services and other Emergency Services, when necessary to manage relevant media inquiries. Work closely with colleagues across the News and Communications team to maximise the potential of all news activity, through effective teamwork, including the areas of internal communications, PR and campaigns and digital. Identify news opportunities and create content using words, images and video to tell effective stories on behalf of the Police, via traditional and social media and through new and emerging channels, embedding creativity and innovation in our approach. Input into force training courses, providing an overview of the News and Communications Office operations and guidelines on effective communication techniques. Support the creation and delivery of effective media training within the force Assist with all forms of media liaison including call handling, arranging and facilitating press briefings, as well as arranging and advising on interview opportunities and logging all media contact. Plan, supervise and organise media filming schedules ensuring legal compliance and risk mitigation at all times. Qualifications: A full driving licence to travel around the Force area to meet the demands of the role - desirable Knowledge: Knowledge of Police procedures basic law - desirable Experience: Demonstrable experience of working in a busy press office environment for a large organisation Proven experience of planning and delivering news activity to protect and enhance an organisation’s image Experience of sourcing, researching and distributing quality news content using press releases, images and video to effectively tell stories Experience of and an understanding of working to media and publishing laws Skills & Abilities: Good written and oral communication skills, interpersonal and presentation skills in order to effectively represent the force to the media and other stakeholders Ability to work under pressure and possess qualities of tact, diplomacy and resilience as the working environment is challenging with work often having to be delivered to tight deadlines Must be able to work effectively in an environment where confidentiality is paramount and discretion essential. Computer literate with a wide knowledge of different packages. Please quote the Job Title & Vacancy Reference No. in your application, or we will be unable to match your CV to the role being applied for. Qualification details and any other experience/skills relevant to the role to help support your application (and help us to help you) – please give full details within your CV document. Clients are generally looking for candidates who are local to, or who can commute easily to the place of work. It will help your application if your CV states, in broad terms, where you reside – there is no need for a full address. To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would ask that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, not as a PDF. If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension, you will be working at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than umbrella pay terms. We do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity. Due to the number of CVs being sent to us under current market conditions, unfortunately we cannot respond to all applications. If you have not heard from us within 3 working days, please assume that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. We will, however, be very happy to receive future applications from you for other roles. ALD Please note that clients invariably ask us to strip out contact details from CVs before we submit them for consideration. This is always quicker and easier to do if you send your CV to us in Word format, rather than as a PDF please