About the job

Job summary

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives, the Treasury can offer you an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK. Working at the heart of government, we collaborate across government to promote responsible public spending and drive strong and sustainable economic growth.  

Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.  

HM Treasury is proud of a diverse and inclusive work environment, committed to fairness and the promotion of equality of opportunity for all. We know that having a range of experiences, ways of working and thinking makes us stronger and better at developing policy that reflects the needs of every community. We embrace different views and experiences and value the new perspective that people from a variety of circumstances bring to the work we do. We welcome applications from candidates who have not previously worked for the Civil Service, mid- and late-career changers with transferrable skills, people from all backgrounds and circumstances regardless of disability, gender, age ethnicity, LGBT+ identity and socio-economic status.  

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a pioneering new cross-government hub which brings people together to play an active role in the most important issues of the day whilst working closer to the communities we serve. The campus provides the opportunity for people from all over the UK to help shape the future of the country, and our flexible working practices ensure you can collaborate effectively with our partners. It’s central government, made more accessible to you! 

Job description

Public Services Group

The Public Services Group is at the heart of Treasury’s work to secure sustainable public finances and drive economic growth. We manage public spending of more than £250bn. across key public services and departments, including health, education, the criminal justice system, local government, housing, defence and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

We do this by working with other government departments, ministers, and other Treasury teams to ensure that spending plans support high quality public services, help the economy to grow and provide value for money for the taxpayer. 

Our roles offer a range of opportunities to work with senior leaders in other government departments and on the frontline of public services and ensure the effective delivery of public services.

The Group is committed to being an excellent place to work, with a relentless focus on good management, learning and development and continuous improvement in everything we do. 

The Housing, Planning and Cities team are responsible for managing the spending for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). This involves working with DLUHC on policies to accelerate housing building, make housing more affordable, and levelling up (reducing inequalities between different places in the UK). As well as DLUHC, we work closely with many other teams in HMT, no10 and other Departments. We are responsible for over £10 billion of public spending each year, including housing, homelessness, planning reform, local economic growth and levelling up opportunity across the UK.

Are you interested in making life better in the country's least prosperous places? Do you think the Treasury has a part to play in enabling everywhere to prosper?

We’re advertising for an exciting role at the heart of the Treasury’s work on economic growth and levelling up (the Government’s mission to combat social and economic inequalities between places in the UK). The Treasury’s role in crafting economic policy and its oversight of public spending makes it an outstanding place to make a tangible impact on these issues. The role offers the successful candidate the opportunity to work on some of the Government’s biggest domestic priorities, with keen interest from the Chancellor and other Ministers.

You will have specific policy responsibility for bringing together, working jointly with colleagues in our devolution team, HMT’s regional growth strategy for the coming Parliament.

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Setting and articulating HM Treasury’s regional growth strategy, including for the next Spending Review - this will involve developing a strong understanding of regional growth, and how we can best use HMT’s policy levers to drive it, working with others in HMT to ensure it is part of our wider economic growth strategy. You will develop, for example, the HMT view on whether and how we should distribute funding across the UK, how we use local growth funding to support growth and reduce inequalities, and how national and local government can work together on these important issues.
• Responsibility for c£4bn annual spending; You will oversee scrutiny of spending across all local growth budgets in DLUHC – working with the department to ensure taxpayers money is spent appropriately, efficiently and delivers value for money. You will need to set and manage the framework within the branch for monitoring and advising on new policy developments, managing both delivery and spending risks; developing options to improve value for money; and approving departmental spend.
• Fostering excellent relationships with senior partners in DLUHC; No 10; external local growth specialists; local government; and think tanks. We are an outward looking team and part of this will involve supporting your team in developing wider links with external stakeholders in order to provide the best advice possible to HM Treasury Ministers.
• Strong and inclusive leadership and line management of a team of 8 with 3 direct reports and 5 junior staff under them. This is a priority for us, and you will set direction for them, provide development opportunities and coaching, and pastoral support to build an outstanding team.

Candidate Drop-In Session 
 
We will be holding a  drop-in session to outline the role in further detail and provide prospective candidates with an opportunity to ask questions:

Wednesday 22nd May 10:30 – 11:00

Join the meeting now

Person specification

We are looking for the below skills, experience and behaviours and we will ask you to demonstrate these in your application form. Please review the Candidate FAQ document that is attached to the advert for guidance on how to complete your application form.  

Behaviours:

1. Seeing the Big Picture - Ability to lead on a wide, high-profile, fast-moving portfolio using strong analytical and policy skills, excellent judgement, and strategic thinking
2. Making Effective Decisions – ability to analyse a range of qualitative and quantitative information and evaluate evidence to provide good advice to Ministers on key issues
3. Working Together - Ability to build constructive relationships and work confidently with a wide range of senior and external partners, deploying strong personal influencing and negotiating skills.

The lead criteria is Seeing the Big Picture.  If we receive a large number of applications, applications will be assessed against this criteria alone first. They will then be assessed against the other criteria if they have met the minimum score on the lead criteria.

 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £64,160, HM Treasury contributes £17,323 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Recruitment Timeline 

Closing date: 02/06/2024

Shortlisting: w/c 03/06/2024

Interviews:  w/c 10/06/2024 

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline. 

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile. 

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

Location-Based Reserve Lists 

You will be placed on a reserve list if your application is successful, but we cannot offer you a post immediately. Where more than one location has been advertised, candidates will be approached for roles in merit order according to the first preferred location stated on your application form. 

Please note that a place on the reserve list does not guarantee an offer. We would still encourage you to apply for other HM Treasury opportunities that you are interested in. If you are offered a role in your first preferred location and you decline the offer or you are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe, you will be removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances. 

Eligibility Statement  

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information. 

Individuals appointed to the Treasury Group will be subject to National Security Vetting. To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out applicants will normally need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. A lack of UK residency in itself is not always a bar to security clearance but the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis using all information that can be obtained following a successful application. 

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks.  

For many roles, security clearance is also required. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements of the role before they can be appointed. The level of security clearance required for this role is Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) / 

Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you.  

Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.  

These short videos address common concerns and preconceptions which applicants may have about national security vetting.  

If you have questions relating to security clearances, please contact HMTSecurityVetting@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.