Private Office: Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions


Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Salary:	£63,075 - £74,005
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	SW1H 9DA
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	25 Aug 2026
Closing date:	2 Sept 2026

Apply for this job

Summary

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is recruiting for the role of Private Secretary to the Secretary of State.

The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for social security, labour market, pensions, and child maintenance policy. As the UK’s biggest public service department, we administer the State Pension and a range of working age, disability, and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. What we do matters to millions of people every day.

Private Office is crucial to providing effective support and advice to Ministers and Special Advisers across all aspects of Departmental business, acting as the key interface between the Department and Ministers to deliver DWP’s critical agenda.

The Private Office is a high-performing, dynamic, supportive and inclusive team. This is a demanding but rewarding role for someone interested in working closely with Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials.

This post reports to the Deputy Principal Private Secretary. In this role you will:

Advise and work directly with the Secretary of State, his Special Advisers and the wider Ministerial Team to support them in delivering their priorities;
Work with senior stakeholders across the Department, including policy, comms and operations, as well as across Whitehall, to provide the Ministerial Team with high quality and timely advice;
Support the Secretary of State in a wide range of internal and cross-Government meetings and external engagements;
Be an active member of the Private Office Senior Management Team.

We offer successful candidates:

An exciting, fast-paced and challenging work environment that involves dealing with complex policy and operational issues
The opportunity to work closely with the Secretary of State, Special Advisers and senior officials on priority pieces of work
The opportunity to broaden understanding of DWP policy, parliamentary business and cross-government functions
The chance to be part of a supportive team with plenty of opportunities to learn and develop new skills

Apply for this job

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident

Disability Confident is a government scheme. It encourages employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term health conditions.