The ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations working between office and remote throughout the week. The locations for this role are Newport, Titchfield (Fareham).
All colleagues are required to work from their contractually allocated site for at least 40% of their working time.
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.
Job Summary
Are you a natural communicator?
Looking for a role that takes advantage of your people skills?
Want to join an inclusive, supportive team? This could be the role you’re looking for!
The Office for National Statistics is the UK’s national statistical institute and the largest producer of official statistics. We are the only government department dedicated solely to statistics, operating independently of ministers and reporting to Parliament and the devolved administrations through the UK Statistics Authority.
This role sits within the Social Surveys Collection (SSC) business area—the largest in ONS, with over 1,000 office-based staff and a nationwide field community. SSC is responsible for designing and collecting many of the UK’s largest household and social surveys, with over 70 years of experience in managing complex, multi-mode data collection.
You’ll be part of the Telephone Operations team (TO) within the Social Survey Division. TO is a dynamic and diverse team of around 200 interviewers who conduct telephone surveys with selected UK households. The team operates across various shifts, including evenings and Saturdays, to support the production of high-quality data.
Our TO roles are crucial to enabling us to deliver the statistical outputs we need to, so it's a great chance to take on a role that can have a real impact.
You’ll collaborate with teams across the wider business areas in Surveys and other ONS departments to deliver outputs that meet user needs and align with corporate priorities.
As a TO Interviewer you’ll become a member of the Operational Delivery Profession—the largest profession in the Civil Service with over 200,000 members.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a modern, inclusive, and innovative Civil Service profession at the heart of public service delivery. You’ll be part of a community delivering essential public services. ODP offers learning and development opportunities, career pathways, and resources to help you grow and succeed in your role.
Meet some of our Telephone Operators and their real life experiences at The Office for National Statistics.
Job Description
The primary responsibility of this role is to conduct telephone interviews with members of the public who have been pre-selected and notified to participate in our social surveys. These interviews may be scheduled in advance or initiated by calling provided contact numbers.
As an interviewer, your key task is to secure consent from participants and accurately administer the survey over the phone. You will follow a scripted text and record responses using a system called Blaise. Precision in reading questions and capturing answers is essential.
In addition to conducting interviews, the role may involve administrative duties such as:
- Participating in regular training and development activities
- Attending team and one-to-one meetings with your line manager
- Managing communications via Outlook and other internal systems
This position requires strong communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently while maintaining high standards of data quality.
Business Opening Hours :
The Telephone Operation business opening hours are:
- Monday -Tuesday 8am-9pm
- Wednesday -Thursday 9am-9pm
- Friday 9am-8pm
- Saturday 9:30am-1:30pm
We are able to offer 16, 24 and 28 hour shifts per week including evenings with various start times available. Please ensure you have read the shift pattern examples in the advert attachments before applying.
Hours will be discussed if you are invited to interview.
Key Responsibilities:
- Contact and call respondents to complete designated social surveys over the telephone. These surveys may include the Labour Force Survey (LFS), Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), and the Opinions survey (OPN), plus conducting keeping in touch exercises on other surveys.
- Ask questions as worded adhering to the Standard Method of Interviewing.
- Working as part of a team and supporting colleagues across the Telephone Operations Community.
The primary responsibility of this role is to conduct telephone interviews with members of the public who have been pre-selected and notified to participate in our social surveys. These interviews may be scheduled in advance or initiated by calling provided contact numbers.
As an interviewer, your key task is to secure consent from participants and accurately administer the survey over the phone. You will follow a scripted text and record responses using a system called Blaise. Precision in reading questions and capturing answers is essential.
In addition to conducting interviews, the role may involve administrative duties such as:
- Participating in regular training and development activities
- Attending team and one-to-one meetings with your line manager
- Managing communications via Outlook and other internal systems
This position requires strong communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently while maintaining high standards of data quality.
Key Responsibilities:
- Contact and call respondents to complete designated social surveys over the telephone. These surveys may include the Labour Force Survey (LFS), Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), and the Opinions survey (OPN), plus conducting keeping in touch exercises on other surveys.
- Ask questions as worded adhering to the Standard Method of Interviewing.
- Working as part of a team and supporting colleagues across the Telephone Operations Community.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Be able to follow a script and accurately record data.
- To be self-disciplined, self-motivated, and happy to work without constant supervision.
- Have excellent communication skills and enjoy talking to people.
- Able to navigate around a laptop and have experience in the use of MS Office packages including Teams, Outlook and Excel.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
Alongside your salary of £10,160, Office for National Statistics contributes £2,943 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
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.
If 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.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Artificial intelligence (AI) software such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini are powerful tools that can create and review text in ways that mimic what people can do. These tools can help you enhance your application and prepare for the process, but it is essential you use them appropriately.
They must also not be used to provide misleading or false information at any stage of the application journey.
It is also important to understand that while AI can help you prepare for an interview, you must not use it to produce responses during an interview.
For full guidance in relation to the use of AI through the recruitment process, please click here.
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at application stage will be based on the evidence given in the 2 set questions contained in the application form.
In your application form you are required to answer the questions below using up to 250 words on each answer. As these responses to the questions are scored, we would recommend that you give clear examples for each including the impact of your actions.
Question 1 -
Tell us about your experience of working with customers or colleagues, using the telephone and other methods such as face-to-face to communicate.
Question 2 - Can you tell us about a time you used new technology for work or a project? How did you learn to use it and make sure it worked well for the task?
When 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 carried out via Microsoft Teams.
Our main locations are Newport (South Wales) and Titchfield.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
The Sift will be conducted from Tuesday 26th August 2025.
Interviews will be conducted from Monday 8th September 2025.
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.
Please note that training for these roles will take place from:
- 3rd November 2025
- 1st December 2025
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact :
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact
[email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission
