As September starts, Parliament has resumed its normal business in Westminster. That means that, after a busy summer meeting public sector and community leaders locally, I’m back to Parliament most of the working week, standing up for our area.
It has continued to be a busy time in the constituency, with me and my team working hard to respond to hundreds of individual cases from constituents relating to all matters from benefits to bus services, doing everything we can to support our residents and communities. I’m proud that we’ve responded to 1000 letters and emails so far. I’ve prioritised helping residents with the most urgent cases, so, if you’ve been in touch and haven’t yet received a response, we’re working on it and you should hear from me soon.
Since being elected in July, one of my main priorities has been to establish a strong team of staff to support my work both here at home and in Westminster. It’s really important that local MPs have skilled and committed teams in place to support them in being able to advocate for local constituents and causes.
I am excited to be looking for an additional motivated, organised and compassionate Caseworker to join my dynamic team in the constituency. I’m very keen to receive applications from residents living in the constituency, so wanted to set out here in the Newton News what I’m looking for. If you know someone who might have the right skill set, please encourage them to apply.
Caseworker vacancy in my team
As well as my duties representing our communities in Westminster, I have also been appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department for Education. That means the Caseworker post is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in helping make a difference to the lives of constituents across our area by resolving constituents’ challenges and taking up issues on their behalf. This is a full-time role, but part-time and flexible working options will be considered.
The key duties the role holder would carry out are:
• Deal with large numbers of standard queries, as well as assisting
on more complex cases from members of the public by phone,
email, social media or face to face.
• Gather information to assist with resolving cases.
• Log all cases; monitor progress and ensure all identified actions
are taken.
• Draft responses to constituents.
• Ensure records are kept and information managed confidentially in
line with data protection legislation.
• Ensure that each case is dealt with promptly, sensitively,
confidentially and accurately in accordance with the MP.
• Assist surgeries and other meetings and follow up as appropriate.
• There may be a requirement for the role holder to work outside of
the normal working hours and travel for work occasionally.
Essential Skills for the successful candidate include:
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Workload and project management skills.
• Good IT skills.
• Ability to deal with constituents and community interest groups in a
helpful and sympathetic manner.
• An enthusiasm for helping people and a willingness to pitch in
where needed.
• Sympathy to the aims and values of the Labour Party.
Further desirable skills include:
• Experience of advising in areas such as housing, welfare benefits
or immigration issues or community advocacy work would be
beneficial.
• A good working knowledge of local issues in the constituency.
I would love to see applications from local constituents for the role. The deadline is 11th September 2024. The team and I expect to then carry out interviews week commencing 16th September 2024.
If you feel you could make a difference to our area and succeed in the role, please submit your CV and a covering letter, highlighting how your experience and skills meet the job description, to my office manager via email at liam.fellows@parliament.uk with the subject line ‘Caseworker Application’.
Alan Strickland MP
Member of Parliament for Newton Aycliffe & Spennymoor.