Community Engagement Apprentice

• East Suffolk Council
• Location: East Suffolk House Melton Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 1RT
• Salary: 16341 (Year 1) rising to 24521 (Year 2) per annum NLW (National Living Wage)
• Hours: 37 hours per week

• Contract: Fixed Term Contract for 21 months for training contract

  Starting on 14 September 2026

East Suffolk Council is an exciting place to work anda great placeto make a real difference to peoples lives delivering vital services to a quarter of a million people across East Suffolk.

We have an established and successful apprenticeship scheme which has seen over 80% of apprentices stay on beyond their apprenticeships to develop promising careers with the Council. If you are looking for an exciting opportunity where you can earn money as well as gaining experience and a recognised qualification then look no further!

A unique opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic apprentice to join East Suffolk Council asa Community Engagement Apprentice in ourCommunitiesTeam.

Your role

This exciting and unique opportunity will involve providing project and administrative support to the Communities Team and to the wider organisation specifically in relation to community engagement.

We have to understand the needs of our communities even more intimately so that we can use that insight to design services and fund and deliver projects that work more effectively for our residents. This is particularly important as we redesign many services through the Local Government Reorganisation process.

You will assist our Engagement Lead with delivering more and more effective community engagement work. This will cover the full suite of engagement activity including strategy survey design promotion optimisation data analysis co-production and report writing. Youll have the chance to work hands-on with a large number of varied community engagement projects everything from online surveys to in-person workshops and potentially including work on nationally-recognised programmes like Marmot Place and Pride in Place. Youll learn about engagement strategy the soft skills and behaviours required to be an effective engagement professional how to engage with different audiences project management marketing and communications working with varied stakeholders working with data monitoring and evaluation reporting and budgeting and much more.

The engagement activity youll be working on ranges from planning consultations to co-production of health services through our Marmot programme small-scale local engagement to district-wide engagement with thousands of responses. Youll be in the perfect position to optimise this work and in doing so make a real difference to the lives of East Suffolk residents.

Your administrative duties will include updating web content creating surveys writing reports and assisting at face-to-face engagement activity.

We can offer an interesting and varied work programme a positive team environment and the opportunity to get involved in a variety of tasks at different levels and to lead projects of your own.

Apprenticeship open evening!

We are pleased to announce that we will be holdingtwoopen eveningsat our Melton and Lowestoft offices. This will give you the opportunity to find out more about East Suffolk Councils apprenticeship scheme learn more about each of our available opportunities direct from the placement managers and ask any questions you open evenings are taking place on the following dates -

• Tuesday 12 May 2026 5.30pm 7.00pmat the East Suffolk House offices (Riduna Park Station Road Melton Woodbridge IP12 1RT)
• Thursday 14 May 2026 5.30pm 7.00pmat the Riverside Offices (4 Canning Road Lowestoft NR33 0EQ)

Please email to book your place atone ofour open evenings.

You will need

You will need to have excellent interpersonal skills strong IT skills and ideally four GCSEs at grade C or grade 49 (or equivalent). Candidates without GCSE Maths and/or English will have the opportunity to gain these qualifications during the apprenticeship. No previous experience is required as full training will be provided however a passion to be a positive and professional ambassador for the council and provide the best experience for our customers is a must.

Why work for us

East Suffolk Council is a great place to work and there are lots of benefits our employees can access. To find out more about why we are so proud of East Suffolk Counciltake a look at our video and hear why our employees think it is such a great place to work.

Our apprentices have worked together to create avideo to tell you a little bit about their experience of being an apprentice at East Suffolk Council which we hope you find insightful.

Here are some of the main benefits

• A fully funded and supported Level 4 Communities-based apprenticeship.

• Generous holiday entitlement (equivalent to 25 days a year increasing to 31 days after 5 years service plus bank holidays)

• Flexible working arrangements

• Local government pension scheme

• The opportunity to meet and work alongside other apprentices in the organisation.

• Great training and development opportunities to add to your CV.

• A wide variety of staff support networks including access to health and wellbeing initiatives and programmes.

• Discounts on mobile phones computers holiday and travel fashion and clothing health and beauty and many other products and services.

Please see our benefits brochure for further information.

For more information

For an informal discussion regarding this post please call Alex Heys on or alternatively you can email

If you think you could bring enthusiasm fresh ideas and a different perspective to East Suffolk Council we would like to hear from you!

Closing date: 11.30 pm 8 June 2026.

Interview date: Week commencing 29 June 2026 and 6 July 2026.

How to apply

Step 1 -Read the advert and the Job Description and Person Specification (pdf).

Step 2 -Complete theSupporting Statement template (Word). Your statement needs to indicate how you meet each of the criteria contained within the Person Specification. Please use the template provided (other formats will not be accepted).

Step 3 -Complete the online application and upload your statement. Please note CVs are not accepted.

For more information check out the How to Apply section of our Career site.