About the job

Summary

Have you got the qualities that we are looking for?

• Are you outgoing and confident?

• Are you independent and like managing your own work?

• Do you enjoy meeting and talking to people?

• Are you interested in finding out about people’s lives?

• Are you a good listener as well as a good communicator?

• Are you self-motivated and organised?

By joining the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as a Civil Servant carrying out official surveys you will be helping to inform Parliament about the state of the nation.

ONS is the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and the recognised national statistical institute of the UK.

We are responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national and local levels. Our range of economic, social and population statistics are published in over 600 releases a year.

The data you collect will be invaluable to so many people in our country including the government and its agencies, citizens, charities, businesses, scholars and students.

Charities, for example, use ONS statistics to gather background information to enable them to improve the lives of people by understanding how they need to target and tailor their services.

We are accountable through the UK Statistics Authority to Parliament and the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are therefore independent of Government Ministers.

Job description

Please note that due to Covid-19 currently the majority of our interviewing since March 2020 has been by telephone. So our interviewers are travelling to addresses to secure a telephone number to then carry out a telephone interview from their home or for some addresses contacting addresses with an already provided phone number. We are currently in the process of re-introducing in home interviewing through a pilot programme and expect the number of in-home interviews to increase over the coming months.

When visiting addresses your work will be allocated within approximately a 40 mile radius of the advertised location.

All selected addresses receive a letter in advance from ONS so you will not be cold calling.

You will:

• Organise your own work.

• Visit / contact randomly selected addresses.

• Encourage people to take part in ONS surveys and make appointments, ask survey questions and record the answers on a laptop computer.

• Act as an ambassador for ONS and a guest at the respondent’s home. You must have the ability to conduct survey interviews (of variable length) where access to the address is difficult, for example in a block of flats and to perhaps travel long distances to reach addresses. This is a mandatory requirement of the position.

The contract on offer is for an Annualised Hours contract of 1144 hours per annum.

Your salary is paid monthly. The full-time equivalent (37 hours per week/1924 hours per annum) starting salary rate is £19,863

The actual salary is paid pro-rata; for this job it is £11,810 per annum.

In addition, there is a generous mileage allowance of up to 45 pence per mile.

Responsibilities

Person Specification

Essential requirements:

• You will need to be flexible in your working hours to meet the needs of the public.

• You will need to be available to work varying hours at different times depending on workloads, including in the evening and on Saturdays when necessary.

• A car and a current valid UK Driving licence (inclusive of the rights of EU Nationals) are required for this role.

• A broadband internet connection at your home address is an operational requirement for this role. If you do not currently have a broadband connection at your home address, you must be prepared to have one installed prior to taking up an offer of employment.

• You will need to be proficient in the use of a computer and a smartphone, as you will be issued with a laptop and smartphone to help you manage your work.

• If your application is successful, you will need to apply for a Basic Disclosure Criminal Record Certificate and in addition we will carry out a 3 year employment history check.

Licences

A Full valid UK Driving License (inclusive of the rights of EU Nationals) is required for this post.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing