Policy Advisor

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the Kings birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DVLA:

DVLA roles: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - Department for Transport Careers

In this role you will be responsible for providing high‑quality, evidence‑based policy advice and supporting the development, review and introduction of policies within your specialist area. You will draft accurate correspondence, briefings and submissions for senior leaders, ensuring all outputs meet required standards and deadlines. Working collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders, you will gather insight, contribute to research and assist with consultation activity, helping to shape effective, deliverable policy across the organisation.

Your responsibilities will include, but arent limited to:

1. To manage the day to day running of the team inbox, ensuring that correspondence, requests for advice etc are prioritised, recorded, allocated and tracked according to required standards.
2. Provide advice, guidance, and briefings to operational, service management and project colleagues and to support and assist task manager.
3. Develop and maintain appropriate knowledge within specialism, reviewing legislation and liaising with lawyers as necessary to help inform changes to existing policies or the introduction of new initiatives that align with Government Departmental or Agency strategy (with the focus on enabling digital services).
4. To provide support to the Ministerial Team when required, drafting responses in relation to correspondence from customers, stakeholders and ministerial and other official correspondence using agreed standard lines and precedents for task managers approval on policy area of responsibility within required deadlines.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile.Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Required experience:

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Ability to draft clear, accurate correspondence, briefings and submissions for senior leaders, using agreed standards and meeting tight deadlines.
• The ability to gather and evaluate evidence to deliver robust, well‑reasoned policy advice, guidance, and support to colleagues, grounded in legislation and best practice.
• Experience gathering data from multiple sources, contributing to consultations and supporting the development of evidence‑based policy proposals.
• Ability to work effectively with internal and external stakeholders, identifying issues, sharing insight and supporting informed decision‑making.
• Competence in organising meetings, managing shared inboxes, tracking actions and maintaining accurate records, ensuring smooth delivery of policy activity.

Additional Information

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 35 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

Frequent travel will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.