Census Takers

I have been asked to publicise the recruitment of Census Collectors, who are the people who will go door-to-door to households who have not submitted their Census forms yet to offer assistance.  They are essential to an accurate census, and the census data is essential to securing funding for local services.  Most public services, including the Council and the NHS, use Census data as the basis for funding allocation from Central government.

Brent has had a long standing problem getting its population estimated accurately because of a high level of transience and diversity.  The best way to ensure that Brent gets an accurate count, with all the positive funding and planning implications that brings, is to do everything we can to fill the workforce with local knowledge, cultural sensitivity and diverse language skills. The only way we can influence this in the recruitment process is to encourage as many of our residents from all our various communities to apply for the roles.

There are roughly 190 posts available in Brent (the number recruited will depend on the overall mix of weekly hours that applicants request) and Capita are looking for 12 applicants to every post and will extend the deadline for those areas where numbers are short. This means they are looking for something of the order of 2200 applications across the Borough – no small task!

If we can fill these positions with individuals with good links with local communities, who have knowledge and understanding of some of the cultural barriers that may be present to filling in the Census, then we stand a much better chance of getting an accurate count of our population and their characteristics.

There is a short job description at the end of this post; further information can be found at http://www.censusjobs.co.uk/.


Census Collectors, Brent

Fixed Term Temporary, approximately 37, 25, or 15 Hours/Week

£10.42 p/hour plus completion bonus

There around 190 full-time equivalent Census Collectors are required across Brent. The role mainly requires going door-to-door to encourage households that have not yet submitted a completed 2011 Census form to do so, offering help as required, so knowledge of local communities and experience of working with them will be an asset. Getting your community counted in the Census will give them a stronger voice in the future.

The period of employment starts on either 21 March or 6 April 2011 and ends on 6 May 2011. Mostly the work will be when people are expected to be at home: 2pm to 9pm weekdays and 10am to 9pm at weekends, and at least 60% of you time must be worked at evenings and weekends.

Although you will apply to a role in a fairly localised area during the Census you may be required to work outside this area and do hours outside the normal times above as the operation requires, however you should not be asked to work outside of the Borough. For full details and information on these and other roles please go to www.censusjobs.co.uk.

All application for these posts must be made online at www.censusjobs.co.uk. Click on “Apply now” and then select “London” as a Region and “Brent” as an Area to bring up all the roles available in Brent; each Collector role has between 12 and 15 full-time equivalent positions to be filled.

Closing Date 13/12/2010