News Planner
| Posting date: | 23 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £34,233 to £38,289 per year |
| Additional salary information: | National Salary - £34,233 London Salary - £38,289 |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 11 August 2025 |
| Location: | Leeds |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 417263/2 |
Summary
If so, we'd love to hear from you!
The Department for Transport's news planning team sits at the heart of the press office, working with colleagues across the department and beyond to coordinate high impact media strategies.
The team coordinates all the department's public announcements and media activities, managing dozens of announcements each week. We work with teams across DfT and beyond to ensure our communications land at the right time and with maximum impact.
As the department's main link with No10’s planning team, we attend weekly cross-government meetings where we pitch our most important stories and align with the government's overall communications strategy.
Our strategic approach means we don't just schedule announcements - we help shape them. We spot opportunities to amplify our messages, identify potential clashes before they happen, and advise ministers and senior officials on how to time announcements for greatest effect.
Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:
- Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
- 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
- Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.
Read more in the Benefits section below!
Find out more about what it's like working at Department for Transport Central - Department for Transport Careers
As a News Planner, you will report to a Senior News Planner. Your primary responsibilities will include:
- Maintaining a four-week schedule and longer-term forward look by attending weekly communications meetings with high profile stakeholders, tracking what's happening in Parliament, monitoring government activity, keeping an eye on upcoming statistics releases, and watching for potential issues on the horizon.
- Being the main contact with No10's planning team, representing the department at weekly meetings at No10, making sure our announcements are reflected and prominent within wider Government plans.
- Giving strategic advice to Special Advisors, Ministers and teams across the department to ensure our public communications work well together and achieve what we want them to.
- Working with colleagues across the department and our arm’s-length bodies to improve their planning, supporting them to provide accurate, detailed information about their plans, making sure the department stays on track to deliver on the Secretary of State’s priorities.
- Support longer-term planning, mapping major departmental announcements and campaigns and providing strategic advice to shape them.
For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.
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