Personal Assistant to Deputy Director and Head of Service for Children and Families Services

We are seeking a highly organised and professional Personal Assistant to provide dedicated support to senior leaders within our Children and Families Services team.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of a service that is committed to improving outcomes for children, young people, and families across Portsmouth.

About the Service

Children and Families Services is dedicated to helping children and young people enjoy safe, healthy, and happy childhoods. The service supports and protects vulnerable children, young people, and families while acting as the corporate parent for Portsmouth's Children We Care For.

About the Role

As Personal Assistant to the Deputy Director and Head of Service, you will provide high-level executive support within a busy and fast-paced environment. Working as part of a small team of Personal Assistants, you will manage complex diaries, coordinate meetings, oversee correspondence, and ensure senior leaders are fully supported in their day-to-day responsibilities.

You will proactively manage emails, telephone calls, and meeting requests, organise both virtual and face-to-face meetings, and maintain electronic filing systems using SharePoint. You will work closely with internal and external stakeholders, including council members, partner agencies, schools, and other local authorities.

The role also includes taking accurate minutes at board meetings, partnership meetings, and complex strategy meetings, often involving sensitive and confidential matters. You will coordinate responses to complaints and councillor enquiries, support preparations for Ofsted inspections, and help ensure statutory reports are submitted within required deadlines. You'll also play an important role in organising workshops, events, and service-wide activities that support frontline social care practice.

The ideal candidate

You will be an experienced Personal Assistant with a proven track record of providing high-quality support to senior managers, directors, or equivalent senior leaders within a busy and demanding environment. Experience of working within Children's Services or services supporting children and young people would be advantageous.

You will have excellent organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities, complex diaries, and competing deadlines while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail. Confident using Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

You will possess outstanding written and verbal communication skills, enabling you to build effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including elected members, schools, partner agencies, other local authorities, and members of the public. Your strong interpersonal skills will allow you to maintain a professional and approachable manner while representing the service at all times.

You will understand the importance of confidentiality, safeguarding, and data protection, and be able to handle sensitive information with discretion and professionalism.

You will demonstrate professionalism when dealing with complex and sensitive information and will have a genuine understanding of the challenges and responsibilities involved in improving outcomes for vulnerable children, young people, and families.

GCSE English and Maths (or equivalent) are required for this role

Please ensure that you download and read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement on your application.

Please note: We are not able to offer sponsorship for this position.

Additional Information

Hybrid working arrangements: Working from Civic Offices during probation period, once competent, may progress hybrid working.

Contact details for an informal discussion: If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact: Karen Stewart - Karen.Stewart@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Interview details:Interview will be held on 26th October 2026

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.

Our Recruitment process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

We strongly encourage applicants to add all Career and Education History to their application, as CVs are not reviewed as part of the shortlisting process.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience. If you apply without a detailed personal statement, it is unlikely that you will be successful.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it

We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career's portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council

Safeguarding

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.