Please find below details of an exciting new job opportunity in Lucy's constituency office.

Job Details

Lucy Powell is looking for an additional member of her constituency team in Manchester. The successful candidate will be working as part of a small team in one of the biggest constituencies in the country, helping to manage a large volume of constituency casework and help constituents on a wide range of personal and local issues. 

As well as offering support to constituents, the successful candidate will assist with managing Lucy’s diary and keeping in touch with residents through face to face meetings and through social media. 

Lucy welcomes applicants with a range of experience and applicants looking for a full time or a part time position. The salary will be within the IPSA pay scales £19,641 - £25,000 pro rata, dependent on experience.

Main Duties

Deal with enquiries from the public by phone, letter and email, taking appropriate action to resolve, document or escalate concerns/enquiries to the Office Manager

Provide advice and support to constituents on a variety of complex casework issues including welfare benefits, immigration, health and housing

Work with government departments, the local Council, other external agencies and voluntary sector organisations to resolve matters on behalf of constituents

Draft letters and respond to enquiries in a timely and professional manner

Use the Parliamentary Research Service, independent research, as well as input from the Member to respond to constituents on issues of policy

Attend surgeries as required and supporting community engagement activities and resident meetings

Ensure cases are dealt with in a confidential and sensitive manner and ensure records of contact are kept in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Help to manage website and social media presence

Person Specification

Excellent communication skills and a pleasant telephone manner with the confidence to deal effectively with constituents, outside bodies and others.

Strong organisational and administrative skills with an emphasis on accuracy and attention to detail.

The ability to empathise with constituents and communicate effectively, both in writing and verbally, to identify constituents’ issues, investigate them and respond appropriately.

Excellent ICT skills required including the use of Microsoft Office suite, the ability to manage the website, electronic casework system and deal with bulk emails

Ability to work independently and as part of a team and be able to manage a large caseload.

Sympathetic to the values and aims of the Labour Party.

Upon appointment you will be required to comply with the Baseline Personnel Security Standard, undertaken by the Members’ Staff Verification Office (MSVO). See Members’ Staff Verification Office (MSVO) page for further info.

Closing Date: 18 May 2018

Interview/Start Dates

Interviews on 24^th May

Start date to be agreed

Application Details

Please send a CV and a cover letter with maximum 500 words to garry.bridges@parliament.uk with the subject line First Name, Surname, Constituency caseworker application.”

Lucy Powell MP has been elected as the Chair of the new All Party Parliamentary Group for Greater Manchester.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Greater Manchester (APPG) will bring together MPs and Peers from across the main political parties to help maximise future investment and growth for the benefit of everyone in the region.  It will work closely with the incoming Metro Mayor, who will be elected on 4^th May, and key leaders in the region’s businesses, local government and voluntary sector.

The first meeting today will discuss the economic and social challenges that face Greater Manchester. The Group will hear from Stephen Clarke, Social and Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation; Andrew Carter, incoming Chief Executive of Centre for Cities and Professor Ruth Lupton, Head of the Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit, University of Manchester.

In a recent report, the Resolution Foundation warned about the stark inequalities within Greater Manchester.  Their analysis shows a mammoth 20 percentage point gap between the highest and lowest employment levels in the region. This is the widest gap of any city in the UK. Resolution Foundation data also shows that while Manchester and Salford have seen employment growth of around six per-cent over the last five years, employment has increased by just one per-cent in Bury, and has actually fallen in Rochdale over the same period.

Greater Manchester’s jobs divide is felt most keenly by disadvantaged groups – a BAME person is 50 per cent more likely to be in work if they live in Trafford, compared to Manchester – highlighting that serious living standards challenges remain even in the City centre[i].

Lucy Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central and Chair of the Greater Manchester APPG said “This is an exciting time for Greater Manchester with the metro-mayor elections and further powers devolved to Greater Manchester to tackle some of the stark challenges our city-region faces. Many residents won’t be aware of the mayoral elections just a month or so away yet they are a chance for Greater Manchester to This cross-Party group will bring together key players from across the region to work together for the good of local residents, exploring some of the key issues our conurbation faces.”

In addition to Lucy Powell MP, the officers of the Group are: Vice-chairs David Nuttall MP, for Bury North, Ivan Lewis, MP for Bury South and Baroness Morris of Bolton, Lord Goddard of Stockport; Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde and Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East.

First published in The Guardian and LabourList: 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/19/help-poorer-pupils-selection-social-mobility-education-brexit-grammar-schools

http://labourlist.org/2017/03/lucy-powell-in-cross-bench-push-against-mays-grammar-schools-plans/

Lucy Powell has joined with the former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and former Tory education minister Nicky Morgan to urge the prime minister against her plans to create new grammar schools.

The trio warn against “narrowly defined” social mobility, “too focused on helping a tiny few reach the top” and not on improving the skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.

In an article in the Guardian, Lucy Powell, Nick Clegg and Nicky Morgan said this:

“As politicians from three different parties, we sparred across the despatch box but now we’re coming together to build a cross-party consensus, focused on looking at the evidence of what works, to tackle inequality in education and boost social mobility.”

“All the evidence is clear that grammar schools damage social mobility. While they can boost attainment for the already gifted, they do nothing for the majority of children who do not attend them. Indeed, in highly selective areas children not in grammars do worse than their peers in non-selective areas.”

"Having the brightest children in comprehensive schools helps raise standards for all, increasing aspiration and intellectual capital in a school. This isn’t a zero-sum game. As Sir Michael Wilshaw has said, he delivered an excellent education for his pupils through the comprehensive system precisely because the school was mixed ability."

"Those championing selection as the silver bullet for tackling social mobility, or as the panacea for creating good new school places, are misguided."

"In a time when resources are so limited and many other educational reforms are still in their infancy or yet to be proved – from university technical colleges and new T-levels to the expansion of free childcare and hundreds of new free schools – now is not the time for more division or political ideology in education."

"Times have moved on. Expanding selection isn’t part of the answer to tackling social mobility."

“The most effective strategies are already identified. They start with high-quality services in the early years. Despite important initiatives such as free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds, more than a third of children from poorer families start school behind their peers, with communication a key area of concern”

“Our economy and country is changing fast. We must rise to the challenge with a new national mission to boost education and social mobility for all. That’s why we are putting aside what we disagree on, to come together and to build a cross-party consensus in favour of what works for our children – not what sounds good to politicians.”