Press Officer (Headquarters, Maidstone)

Location of Role: Maidstone 

Advert Closing Date: 30/05/2025 

Starting Salary: £40,170.00 (pro-rata for part-time vacancies)

Part/Full Time: Full Time 

Contract Type: Permanent 

Working Pattern: Mon-Fri 

Weekend/Evening Working: No 

An exciting and rare opportunity has arisen to join Kent Police in the role of Press Officer.

This versatile and challenging position is on the frontline of police communications for one of the largest forces in the country during a time of heightened scrutiny of policing and competing demands.

You will be part of a key team at the heart of some of the most sensitive, serious and complex issues affecting the people and communities of Kent.

As a press officer you will work with officers and staff from across the force to help prevent and detect crime and disorder. This is a vital role in a vibrant, innovative and busy department and you will be responsible for ensuring accurate, appropriate and timely information is provided to the public about the force.

The role will require you to develop and maintain professional relationships with officers, staff and journalists from local, regional and national media organisations, while responding to requests for information, promoting the good work of the force and finding agenda-setting news.

Successful candidates will also provide support to Kent Police’s digital engagement and social media team as well as the wider Corporate Communications department. You will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and a good understanding of policing on a local and national level is desirable.

This opportunity would suit a highly motivated and dynamic individual who is able to demonstrate consistently strong decision-making, integrity and professionalism. You should be comfortable providing media advice to officers and staff of all ranks on complex and serious issues and dealing with journalists in what can be a highly pressurised environment.

Ensuring officers and staff are competent and confident when engaging with the media is a priority for the department and you will be expected to help provide comprehensive media training to the wider organisation.

Please evidence the following in your application:

• Excellent written communication skills,
• At least four years’ experience in a journalistic or press officer role,
• An ability to manage risk,
• Examples of gathering and analysing sensitive information.

For further information about this role, please contact Adam Westgarth 58356, Deputy Head of the Press Office at Kent Police on 07854 046916, adam.westgarth@kent.police.uk.

Kent Police offers smarter working which allows some flexibility in terms of work arrangements. Due to the operational nature of this role, it will be predominantly office based.

Kent Police offer incremental increases within this salary band, therefore the salary for this position will rise to a maximum of £45,591.00.

For the full job description please click here. 

Your application for this role will be shortlisted on the content you provide within the “reason for application” question, within the application form itself. CV’s, covering letters or attachments are not included in the shortlist. Within your “reason for application” answer, please refer to any experience, skills, and abilities you feel you have that will make you suitable for this role, based on the role criteria stated in the job advert or job description. Please provide as much detail as possible as insufficient content may mean you do not meet the shortlisting criteria, however please note this question is limited to 9000 characters and this system will count spaces and blank lines as characters. This count may differ from the Microsoft Word word count function therefore you may wish to use a different online character counter to check the characters used.

All of our posts require a level of vetting and security clearance.  During the recruitment process you will be sent vetting information forms to complete. 

Kent Police and Essex Police welcomes applications regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, or employment status.

Please let us know if you require extra support at any stage of the application process, or for further information regarding this position, please email us at recruitment.business.services@ecis.police.uk stating ‘Application Support and Adjustments’ in the title of your email. Alternatively, you can call us on 01245 452833.

Where appropriate we will make adjustments to the selection process, working arrangements and/or the working environment provided it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so.

If you’re not from the UK, you must be a resident in the UK and have lived here continuously for the last three years. You must also be free from restrictions with indefinite leave to remain.

If you’re from the UK you must have lived here continuously for the last three years. This doesn’t apply to those serving abroad in the British Armed Forces.

Essex Police and Kent Police are an equal opportunities employer. Communications may be recorded for monitoring purposes.