Records Assistant

About the job

• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

The locations for this role are Newport and Titchfield (Fareham).

This role requires regular attendance at an ONS office, with a minimum of 1 day per month worked at the Christchurch site. The postholder will be expected to work in the office on a regular basis to undertake in‑person activities.​ Driving licence would be beneficial but is not essential.

The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.

Please note: Part-time contracts for this role are a minimum of 30 hours per week.

About the job

Job summary

Are you a Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) or Records Management professional looking to further your career?

We're looking for someone experienced, organised and motivated to join our KIM team and support strategic delivery of KIM services to ensure that record management in the ONS and UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) meets legislative and regulatory requirements, meets the needs of internal users and supports the business in collecting, analysing and disseminating statistics about the UK's economy, society and population.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social, and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

Job description

This role is within the KIM team which forms part of the Security and Information Management (SAIM) directorate. Our aim is to ensure that information and records management in the ONS meets legislative and regulatory requirements, meets the needs of internal users, and supports ONS’ mission to deliver trustworthy, independent, high-quality statistics that underpin the UK’s most critical economic and societal decisions and inform the public.

You will be responsible for the delivery of records management services across all repositories for records created in any medium held by ONS and UKSA.

Records Managers are responsible for the governance, safeguarding and delivery of records held by ONS/UKSA. Records managers work within an information legislation culture in support of The Public Records Act, UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 and The Freedom of Information Act 2000. Records Managers support internal stakeholders, as well as manage the relationship with ONS/UKSA and The National Archives (TNA).

Responsibilities:

• Monitoring of the KIM Team shared mailbox.
• Manage records through their lifecycle, applying review, appraisal, selection and sensitivity methodologies to recommend records for permanent preservation at TNA, retention or destruction.
• Catalogue records for transfer to The National Archives, to include the secure transfer of selected records where appropriate.
• Ongoing cataloguing and review of a large collection of publications held in store.
• Update and maintain records management systems and trackers to support and record loans, retention, disposal and transfer decisions.
• Respond to requests for access to information, such as historic records, legacy outputs, books and pamphlets listed on ONS internal systems, the UK Government Web Archive, the ONS Library Catalogue and the ONS website.
• Development and delivery of training and guidance on records management services and resources according to business need.
• Stakeholder engagement to ensure services are understood and promoted across business areas.
• Collation and provision of metrics and other management information to support compliance with the Public Records Act and related legislation and for internal reporting purposes.
• Utilisation of the Microsoft Purview Compliance portal to apply retention labels and policies to relevant Microsoft applications.
• Provide support for TNA retention and closure applications.
• Participation in a rota to monitor SharePoint related Service desk calls and resolving user queries.
• Role may include management of ONS library/publication collection to include liaising with external bodies concerning copyright and subscriptions.
• Line management of two Administrative Officer Records Assistants

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Experience of working in a knowledge and information management role, or demonstrable knowledge and understanding of records management principles.
• Experience of working with and responding to enquiries from a wide range of internal and/or external stakeholders.
• Proactive with excellent organisational skills, strong attention to detail and the ability to work to deadlines.
• The ability to be highly collaborative and flexible within a team to ensure that a range of diverse tasks are completed to a high standard.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills.
• IT literate with experience of cloud based collaboration platforms such as Microsoft 365, and associated standard applications such as MS Word, and MS Excel.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Communication and Engagement (Awareness)
• Records Manager (Awareness)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,138, Office for National Statistics contributes

£8,151 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

I f you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Please note: We will reach out to you once the advert has closed to confirm eligibility for this role, this will be via an e-mail. Please check you e-mails.

Visa Sponsorship

ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least 18 months at point of application.

To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements (where applicable).

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying . Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

• Number of Stages: 2
• Stage 1: Application
• Stage 2: Interview
• Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement . It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1,250 words , which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

W hen a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills .

Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates

• Eligibility checks: 16/09/2026 - 22/09/2026 . Please be aware we will be sending all candidates an e-mail to complete a eligibility form.
• Sift will be conducted from 23/09/2026
• Interviews will be conducted from 12/10/2026

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements be