Senior Democratic Services Officer

Job description

About

Job title: Senior Democratic Services Officer

Job Category: Interims

Location: 25 Windsor Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 2EJ, Slough Borough Council

Hours per week 37

Salary: £296.32 per day

2 days remote, 3 days in the office

The position number is for the substantive principal democratic services officer post that will be vacant during secondment of the existing post holder into a different role within the democratic services structure

Core Responsibilities

• Executive Committee Support: Lead on the end-to-end administration and governance support for the Cabinet, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and constitution guidelines.

• Forward Plan Management: Oversee the coordination, maintenance, and timely publication of the Forward Plan, ensuring robust tracking of upcoming key decisions.

• Pre-Meeting Governance: Manage critical pre-meeting processes, including facilitating and advising during high-level briefings with Senior Leaders and Cabinet members.

• Agenda & Minutes Management: Draft high-quality, legally compliant agendas, reports, and minutes under tight deadlines, ensuring clear transparency for all decisions.

Experience & Skills Required

• Local Government Expertise: Minimum of 4 years of experience in a local authority Democratic Services role (with 2+ years supporting Cabinet/Executive).

• High-Level Governance: Proven track record of directly supporting Cabinet/Executive functions and managing the forward plan process.

• Political Astuteness: Demonstrable experience working effectively in a complex political environment, ideally within authorities under "No Overall Control" or undergoing active external intervention.

• Stakeholder Management: Confidence to advise, challenge, and collaborate with Chief Officers, Directors, and Executive Councillors.

• Adaptability: Ability to hit the ground running with minimal supervision, managing heavy workloads in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.

Main purpose of Job:

To provide effective and high-quality support to committees and other meetings, the team, other colleagues and councillors.

To provide procedural advice on allocated areas of work to officers, councillors and members of the public.

Main accountabilities

To be the lead officer for allocated committees, panels, scrutiny working groups, appeal panels etc (some of which might be of a complex nature), undertaking tasks including (but not limited to) the preparation and distribution of work plans, reports, agendas, minutes, and notices in line with statutory and/or local deadlines, action logs and minutes.

To attend a range of meetings (many of which are in the evening) to provide clerking and procedural support and advice.

To assist the team in its preparations for meetings or other duties not allocated directly to the postholder.

To co-ordinate and support the council’s non-committee-based decision making processes.

To participate in the creation and delivery of the council’s member training and development programme (including new member induction).

To undertake detailed research on a variety of topics, some of which may not directly relate to the individual’s area of work, and to prepare associated reports and recommendations for members’ consideration.

To draft briefing papers, reports and policies, and present them to members as appropriate.

To provide timely and high quality procedural and constitutional advice and guidance to colleagues at all levels of the organisation, councillors and members of the public.

To build and maintain effective working relationships, and support a variety of individuals with engaging with the democratic process including elected councillors, officers at all levels of the organisation, partner organisations and members of the public.

To prepare and issue a range of statutory notices.

To support (or lead on where appropriate) various other duties assigned to the areas of responsibility reporting to the Head of Democratic Services which might include but is not limited to complaints handling, reporting on petitions, updating member records, freedom of information requests and subject access requests, supporting and leading on projects, etc.

To provide supervision and mentorship to junior staff reporting to the Local Democracy Manager and to deputise for the Local Democracy Manager as required.

To comply with the council’s data protection arrangements and maintain discretion.

To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of local and national developments in local authority governance, best practice, etc.

To provide support to the council’s response in the event of a civil emergency.

To provide support for elections related duties, or other areas within the general level of responsibility for the role, as required.