National Police Chiefs' Council - Private Secretary

Job Title: Private Secretary 

Salary: Band B. The starting salary is £59,839, which includes allowances totalling £2,928. 

The salary is broken down as £56,911 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £69,342. Plus, a location allowance of £1,928 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000. 

Location: Remote working nationally within UK. NPCC is currently based in close proximity to St James’ Park Underground Station, London and therefore regular travel will be required to this premise and other Police locations across the UK. We encourage applications from candidates living across the UK. Further details on flexible arrangements will be discussed at interview stage. 

Contract – Fixed Term Contract until 31/03/2027 (with the potential for further extension subject to funding and performance). 

THE NATIONAL POLICE CHIEFS’ COUNCIL (NPCC) 

Policing is operating in a time of global change and uncertainty, the public and our staff need a service which is responsive, able to tackle future challenges and embrace opportunity.  

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) brings UK police leaders together to set direction in policing and drive progress for the public.  

We achieve this through: 

• Coordination – by joining up the operational response to critical national policing issues to deliver policing today and shape the future. 

• Collaboration – by working in partnership as part of the whole policing system and beyond to improve public safety. 

• Communication – by sharing the collective expertise, views and action of UK police chiefs. 

THE ROLE 

The Private Secretary to the NPCC Chair provides comprehensive policy, research and administrative support, leading the coordination on a variety of matters on behalf of NPCC including legal requests, judicial reviews, super complaints, and national honours.  The role will be expected to deliver a first-class executive support function and service to the NPCC Chair to ensure there is a professional, highly regarded, effective and timely response to all matters and that the Chair is suitably briefed and prepared. The Private Secretary has direct line management responsibility for the NPCC Executive Assistant and will work closely with the NPCC Chair’s Staff Officer and the Strategic Hub leadership.  

It is a role that requires outstanding leadership, organisational and stakeholder handling skills, alongside exceptional writing skills for drafting correspondence to the most senior members of governments.  

Skills, knowledge and experience the successful candidate would need to have include: 

• Experience working with senior executives/officers, Ministers or Chief Executive Officers for a major public service organisation. 

• Ability to gather, analyse and organise complex information from a wide range of sources and extract crucial information and draw conclusions. Competence to present these findings effectively to senior leaders to enable strategic and tactical decision-making. 

• Exceptional organisational skills, including the ability to plan and manage multiple work- streams and competing priorities; evaluating, analysing and swiftly summarising information; numerate with a keen eye for detail and a passion for accuracy in written reports. 

• Experience and understanding of working in a confidential, and politically sensitive environment. 

• Highly effective negotiation skills: ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with a broad range of senior colleagues, peers, stakeholders, and partners on behalf of a large organisation. 

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS - If you join and work for us, you will get access to: 

• A competitive salary with yearly increments. 

• Support networks, free Employees’ Assistance Programme, Occupational Health and Wellbeing Services. 

• Flexitime with the ability to undertake your hours flexibly and in line with business needs.

• Hybrid working, with the ability to work remotely dependent on role. 

• Competitive pension scheme. 

• Company sick pay. 

• Job related equipment supplied  

• Specialist equipment supplied, under Occupational Health referral 

• Access to the Blue Light Card Scheme for discounts and services (requires a one-off payment of £5). 

• Development, coaching and mentoring opportunities available. 

• Supportive and flexible onboarding plan, including regular check-ins throughout your initial period of joining us to ensure you are up to speed with the role and getting the support you need. 

VETTING  

Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo NPPV3 / MV and SC level before taking up the post. 

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS 

Please provide a CV and evidence against the following competencies, (350 words maximum per competency) which are based on the knowledge, skills and experience set out in the job description and the competencies in the Competency and Values Framework (CVF).  Please note, CV’s will not be assessed within the initial application, answers to the CVF questions alone determine next steps. Once candidates identified for interview has been confirmed, CV’s will then be shared with the appropriate Hiring Manager.   

• We are collaborative, Level 3 - Please give an example in which you have demonstrated your abilities to work with and support senior leaders and stakeholders to deliver an effective and efficient outcome, in the face of competing priorities and opinions? 

• We analyse critically, Level 3 - Please give an example where you have collected, collated, summarised and presented information from multiple different sources, what steps did you take to ensure accuracy, high quality and clarity? 

• We take ownership, Level 3 - Please provide an example of where you have taken ownership of a particular problem or issue. What did you do to resolve it and on reflection what you would have done differently if faced with the same problem again? 

Should you want to know more about the role, we would strongly encourage you contact hr-recruitment@npcc.police.uk   to arrange an informal conversation. 

REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS 

With all recruitment processes, we support reasonable adjustments. This aligns with the Equality Act 2010 and reflects best practice in inclusive recruitment. Please let us know in advance so we can support you appropriately. See the following examples of adjustments recommended by Optima Medical Team for prior candidates.  

• Assistive technology e.g. transcription software 

• Advance access to interview questions 

• Extra time for assessments and interviews 

 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

Occasional national travel may be required. Travel expenses will be paid if location allowance is not being received, or when travel falls outside of the home to work journey. NPCC will pay for overnight accommodation if required. 

The Metropolitan Police manage HR for NPCC recruitment. 

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 4th November 2025. 

Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager. The application review for this vacancy will commence from 5th November. 

Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview. Interview dates will commence from 24th November. 

This role is open to external candidates as a fixed term contract, anyone who is an existing Met employee will be processed as a secondee. 

Please note that if you are applying as a secondee from another national police force or government organisation, please contact HR-Recruitment@npcc.police.uk, do not apply online via Oleeo. Online applications will only be accepted for external candidates, or existing Met employees. 

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