Assistant Communications Officer

Are you an organised self-starter looking for a new challenge in 2024? If so, Mencap needs you to be our next Communications Assistant! We are looking for someone to join the Mencap Media team on a permanent basis.

With a new CEO joining in the summer and our ambitions to get media cut through for people with a learning disability higher than ever, this is a really exciting time for our next Assistant Communication Officer to be joining the team and contribute to the overall mission of Mencap.

We’re looking for a conscientious team player who is as comfortable drafting a social media post so we can jump on a trend, as they are interviewing case studies for our media work. You’ll have a great attention to detail for monitoring our media coverage and be comfortable working to deadlines to source a comment or case study for a journalist. The successful candidate will be part of a small but ambitious Media Team, happy to support the team with day-today admin, while also using their creative flair to write copy for press content.

Whilst this post is office based – we know that work is something you do not just a place you go.  At Mencap we give office-based colleagues and teams more flexibility about where the work is done. We would love to see you in our brand new London office once a week to connect with the team.  Although this is a full-time role, we are open to applicants looking for flexible or compressed working hours.

At Mencap, we value a diverse and inclusive workplace and we intentionally plan for the success of our colleagues in everything we do. We welcome applications from everyone, so come as you are and join us. Together we are Mencap!

Our new Assistant Communication Assistant will:

• Support the media team with day-to-day tasks across the team; writing and issuing the daily news summary, managing rotas, monitoring suppliers and assisting with compiling monthly reports.
• Take part in the team rota to be the first point of contact for media requests coming into the organisation – via press phone and media inbox – and triage responses.
• Monitor and log all relevant media coverage correctly.
• Support media team with campaign press – this may include writing press releases, creating social media content, pitching stories to journalists, setting up media interviews, writing briefing documents and creating media lists.
• Monitor the news agenda and social media for relevant stories/issues and opportunities, share with colleagues and/or develop into social media posts when appropriate.
• Assist Storytelling Lead with database admin, writing up story summaries and interviewing case studies and support with research and sourcing of strong case studies through Mencap’s network of services, projects and programmes.
• Work with colleagues with a learning disability to share their stories in media, and across Mencap’s media channels.
• Support social media team with reactive posting on social media, creating content and re-sharing media content.

This role will close on Monday 26th February and interviews will take place in person on Thursday 7th March. Please apply by providing an up-to-date CV that demonstrates your relevant skills and experience for this role.

As well as knowing that what we do is making a positive difference to people’s lives, you will receive fair pay and have access to a wide range of rewards and benefits as one of our employees.

• 24 days holiday (plus bank holidays) increasing with long service plus the ability to buy up to another 10 days via our HolidayPlus scheme
• Service related sick pay when 6 month probation is completed
• Eligibility to join Mencap Pension Plan where Mencap matches contributions up to 5% on a salary sacrifice basis meaning NI savings. If you don’t join the Plan you start, you will be auto-enrolled after three months with us.
• Membership of Mencap Pension Plan to include up to 3 times salary death in service live cover AND Income Protection of 50% salary to be triggered at 26 weeks of long term sickness
• Discounts and cashback from 3% to 30% at high street shops including major super markets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via Mencap Extras
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc.
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and supportent

*T&C’s apply based on contract

We work in partnership with people with a learning disability, and all our services support people to live life as they choose. Everyone wants a purposeful job – to do something meaningful. At Mencap, we can give you that. You will have opportunities to develop as a person, colleague, leader and activist. We want to make you feel inspired to reach your potential.

Our work includes;

• providing high-quality, flexible services that allow people to live as independently as possible in a place they choose
• providing advice through our help lines and web sites