Job Title: Senior Secretariat Officers

Salary: The starting salary is £47,060 which includes allowances totalling £2,928.

The salary is broken down as £44,132 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £52,652 Plus, a location allowance of £1,928 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Westminster

The Strategic Secretariat team has a unique position of access and insight into the working business of the Met’s Management Board. We run the Met’s corporate board meetings, including the Commissioner’s Management Board, the Executive Committee and the Audit Risk and Assurance Committee (ARAC). We are the Met’s lead for corporate governance.

Strategy - Strategic Secretariat

The Senior Secretariat Officer will be one of two Band Cs who each manage a Band D Secretariat Officer and provide leadership and support to the Met’s corporate governance arrangements. They are a key part of the Strategy Directorate, line managed by a Band A Head of Governance and Secretariat, and countersigned by the Deputy Director of Reform, Policy and Governance.

The role is busy and requires someone with energy and enthusiasm to manage a high volume of work to tight deadlines. You will build trusting relationships with the private offices of the senior officers who attend each meeting. This is a great opportunity to see first-hand how decisions are made in one of the country’s most high-profile police services, and to contribute to the Met’s mission of More Trust, Less Crime, High Standards. The ideal candidate will be motivated, highly organised and have excellent writing skills

Purpose of the role:

The Senior Secretariat Officer will be responsible for ensuring the corporate board meetings within their responsibility are run effectively and efficiently with properly considered agendas, minutes and succinct strategic papers and/or reports, in line with our corporate delivery of the New Met for London (NMfL).

The posts will focus on managing the end-to-end governance cycle for key meetings, including agenda planning, commissioning papers, ensuring well organised meeting set-up, minute-taking and action tracking in order to support effective outcomes and decision-making. The post-holder will also be responsible for communicating the decisions that have been made within meetings and maintaining auditable records of these meetings.

You and your Band D will routinely manage a series of high-profile board meetings. On a daily basis you will influence and support senior stakeholders to understand and follow the corporate governance framework.

Key responsibilities:

The Senior Secretariat Officer will be responsible for the following:

• Ensuring consistently high quality and timely records of MPS meeting with minutes, actions and decisions at the most senior and strategic level.
• Planning agendas, tracking decisions and actions of MPS corporate boards and communicating outcomes to MPS staff, MOPAC and the public as appropriate, ensuring actions result in timely activity.
• Managing the reputational risk for the MPS regarding the accurate recording of discussions and decisions.
• Scrutinising all MPS reports that are submitted to corporate boards to ensure high standards are maintained, challenging reports that are not up to the required standard and supporting authors to improve the quality of their reports.
• Working with the Commissioner’s and Deputy Commissioner’s Private Office and Management Board members’ Private Offices as necessary to ensure a consistent approach to the management of board meetings and proactive engagement in relation to agenda items and the delivery of meeting actions.
• Maintaining an effective relationship with and knowledge of senior internal and external stakeholders, including MPS Non-Executive Directors, Joint Audit Committee members, DARA members, members of MOPAC, and of the Deputy Mayor’s decision making / audit and risk processes.
• Undertaking all relevant line management activities for your Band D including leadership, performance management, attendance management, coaching and learning and development advice and support to establish a high performing team.
• Delivering continuous improvement of the corporate governance framework to support the boards and improve the MPS’ end to end governance process.
• Maintaining an effective secretariat, ensuring the levels of demand, service provision and staffing are appropriate.

How to apply

To begin your career at the Met, please click the "apply now" button below. The application process requires a comprehensive CV, a Personal Statement, and an online application form. In your CV you should have a career history – highlighting evidence that you have experience and achievements relevant to the key responsibilities of this job. In your Personal Statement, (no more than 2 pages of A4) providing evidence of your suitability for the role - please focus this statement on the essential criteria of the job. Please note that you should not submit two copies of your CV and ensure that your documents are saved in either PDF or Word format, clearly labelled as CV and/or Personal Statement.

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 26th August 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 1 to 2 weeks after closing date

Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview. Interview dates will commence Approx 3-4 weeks after sift.

www.metpolicecareers.co.uk

Essential Criteria:

• Excellent strategic planning and organisational skills to support effective agenda planning, minute taking, identification of actions and decisions for all corporate boards.
• The ability to produce high quality, succinct and timely minutes.
• Excellent attention to detail for the purpose of accurate minute taking and action tracking.
• The ability to work under pressure to manage a high volume of work, often set against short timescales and on behalf of Management Boards.
• Knowledge and understanding of the New Met for London Plan and the associated recommendations from HMICFRS and DARA audits.
• Strong analytical and judgement skills to analyse information and extract key issues for agenda-setting, minute taking, consulting with senior leaders, and directing authors to prepare fit-for-purpose papers for the boards.
• Ability to build relationships and influence across the MPS, in particular with private offices/authors, and external stakeholders as required. Capable of being entrusted with confidential information and promote the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.
• Ability to identify and implement improvement opportunities to ensure that the secretariat provide the best service possible to colleagues across the organisation.
• Strong IT skills in the use of Microsoft products, in particular Word, Excel and Planner.

Desirable Criteria:

• A good understanding of the remits of the MPS corporate boards.
• Experience of working in corporate support functions in order to understand governance and decision-making processes.
• Have a detailed understanding of key challenges and issues in law enforcement and policing both in London and nationally.
• Knowledge of MOPAC and how it fulfils its oversight role.
• Have a thorough understanding of the Freedom of Information Act and be able to make decisions regarding what is appropriate for publication.