Hate Crime and Religious Hatred Policy Adviser

We are MHCLG

The Hate Crime and Religious Hatred team in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a fast-paced, high-performing team which is part of the governments wider approach to improving social cohesion. We work across government and with stakeholders to combat all forms of religious hate, including antisemitism and anti-Muslim hostility. This includes designing policy interventions such as the new, landmark definition of anti-Muslim hostility, delivering funding programmes, briefing ministers and engaging with stakeholders.

The team works closely with other teams in MHCLG to coordinate engagement with faith communities, and respond to unrest and hate incidents. This HEO Policy Adviser would support work to combat anti-Muslim hostility, coordinate correspondence and briefing, and provide administrative support to the wider team. There would also be an expectation that the role holder would work on other workstreams like tackling antisemitism in busy periods.

The successful candidate can expect to:

Support delivery of policy priorities, including implementation of the anti-Muslim hostility definition across sectors. This would involve providing clear advice to support effective application of the definition in different contexts, leading on coordination and logistics, and working with teams across MHCLG and other government departments.

Provide secretariat support to the incoming Special Representative on anti-Muslim hostility, including drafting briefings and coordinating engagement.

Lead on ministerial briefing and correspondence related to combatting religious hatred, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, timely advice to Ministers and senior officials.

Support for the teams work to fund delivery partners to tackle religious hatred, including pre-market engagement exercises for grant competitions.

Provide surge support at busy periods across the team, particularly in response to unrest and hate incidents.

The ideal candidate for this role will be an ambitious policy adviser with a keen interest in supporting communities at a vulnerable time.

As this is a high-profile and fast-paced policy area, you would need to be calm under pressure, and able to expertly manage competing priorities and deadlines. This would include keeping on top of rolling administrative tasks at busy times.

The nature of this work can be difficult, especially when responding to hate incidents or wider community tensions. The ideal candidate will be resilient, and sensitive to the needs of stakeholders at emotionally challenging times.

You will also need to be collaborative, and happy to support others in the team where needed, even if the task does not sit within the formal remit of your role.

Essential Criteria:

Excellent communication skills, particularly when drafting (advice, briefing, and correspondence) and working with stakeholders, notably at times of unrest.

Highly organised with the ability to work proactively and independently, managing a busy workload of competing priorities, and effectively project managing long-term and short-term asks.

The ability to work flexibly within a small team and support others as needed to respond to pinch points and pressures across our broader portfolio.