About the job

Job summary

About HM Treasury

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives across the country, the Treasury is the department for you! We sit at the centre of everything that the Government does and have provided advice on economic policy and decisions that affect the public finances throughout the country’s history. A Treasury career continues to offer an exciting opportunity to be part of the decision making that affects the whole of the UK.

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. 

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a pioneering new cross-government policy making 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

About the Group

Financial Services Group

The Financial Services Group advises the government on how to promote a stable and efficient financial services sector, to deliver excellent outcomes for consumers and business, enhance the UK’s position as a global hub for financial services and support economic growth across the country. 

The financial services sector is important to the UK economy – providing significant numbers of jobs and making a large contribution to the UK’s economic output. It also provides essential services to individuals – for example, helping them to purchase goods with ease, buy their first home, and plan for their retirement. During the COVID pandemic, it played a critical role in supporting individuals and businesses – for example, in providing payment holidays for individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic and working with the government to deliver Bounce Back Loans. 

We ensure that financial services businesses such as banks, investment firms, financial advisors and insurers are well-regulated. Ensuring firms treat customers fairly, customers have access to a range of financial services as a result of competition in the market, and there are appropriate remedies in place when things go wrong. 

We work on a significant international agenda which includes promoting openness and trading links between the UK and countries all around the world, including through Free Trade Agreements and other international dialogues and negotiations.  To do this we work closely with colleagues in offices overseas from the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office and the Department for International Trade. 

Working with stakeholders is key in Financial Services – for example, we work closely with the independent regulators to help them fulfil their roles, consult consumer groups on issues affecting them, and work with the sector on wider issues like the net-zero agenda.

About The Team

The Financial Service (FS) Group Management Services (GMS) is a large team, comprising of 7 people that sits at the heart of the Group. FS is a lively and exciting Group to work in. The primary function of the GMS is to ensure that the Group is provided with excellent administrative/business support; and that the Group Management Team (2 Directors’ and 10 Deputy Directors) receive first class PA support. The collaborative nature of the GMS team means that new insights are always encouraged and there are lots of opportunities to develop and re-shape processes that benefit the wider team. 

About the Job

Excellent PA support is critical for our Directors’ and Deputy Directors (DDs) to improve their impact in the group, the department and with external partners.

The successful candidate will be responsible for PA support to a Director/Deputy Director. The main responsibilities of this role are to:

1. Proactively manage diaries to prioritise the most meaningful meetings. Use professional judgement to line up meetings in the most efficient order, at times without referral to the Director/Deputy Director. Identify and resolve clashes before they happen. Deal with any travel and accommodation bookings, visa or other logistics and post-travel expenses. Managing upward to delegate meetings to other members of the group where this is appropriate.
2. Proactively handle email and phone calls to prioritise the most important and/or urgent messages and draw attention to them. Exercise professional judgement to filter out irrelevant messages, and forward on/delegate messages to other members of the team/group where this is appropriate.
3. Ensure that the Directors’/Deputy Directors’ Have a clear understanding of their agenda for the day and are equipped with the relevant papers and briefed where and when they need to arrive for each of their appointments. Intervene in meetings where appropriate to pull the Directors’/Deputy Director out and keep their day on track.
4. Take the initiative to develop and maintain relationships with the Directors’/Deputy Director’s key internal and external partners and the people in their team, gaining an overview of the group’s work and priorities, so that PA responsibilities can be carried out with minimal oversight and decisions can be made in the Deputy Director’s absence as necessary.
5. Anticipate problems, risks, issues or tasks that the Directors’/Deputy Director will have to deal with (e.g., capturing feedback and doing appraisal meetings in the spring/autumn) and proactively make suggestions about the best way to coordinate them.
6. Provide support to the Directors’/Deputy Director for corporate/management issues (e.g., plan and produce minutes for Deputy Director lead work stream meetings, maintain management information data on posts).
7. Providing excellent business support for all members of the group/team(s) to function effectively and providing cover for all aspects of the GMS function including correspondence, PQs, room bookings, arranging conference call lines, organising visitor passes, coordinating events and logistics, business continuity activities etc.

 Candidate Drop-In Session 
 
The hiring manager will be running a candidate drop-in session for this role to give you greater insight about the role as well as the chance to learn more about HM Treasury and ask any questions you may have. If you would like to join us, then use the appropriate link below to join the call at the right time. 

Thursday 25th July 2024 @ 12:30 Join the meeting now

If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date for applications to find out more about the job, please contact john.dent@hmtreasury.gov.uk

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.  

1. Experience of providing high-quality PA support to senior officials in a fast-paced environment.
2. Excellent organisational skills, and the ability to work independently and handle a busy workload to deliver deadlines and changing priorities during particularly busy periods. – Delivering at Pace
3. An ability to handle a range of senior stakeholders – both internal and external – and influence upwards, with the ability to work with and support the aims of a professional team. – Communicating and Influencing
4. An ability to exercise judgement and make decisions including responding to issues and situations changing at short notice is crucial. – Making Effective Decisions

The lead criterion is : Experience

If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criterion only.

Candidate Guidance Support Session

We will be running an overview of Success Profiles and the STAR approach including top tips for the application and interview process and an opportunity to ask general questions around our recruitment practices. Please note that this session is not role specific, so we will be unable to answer specific questions about roles we are advertising. If you would like to join us, please use the link below to join the call at the right time.

Thursday 18th July 2024 @ 12:30 Join the meeting now

Thursday 1st August 2024 @ 12:30 Join the meeting now

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,770, HM Treasury contributes £7,227 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: Sunday 4th August 2024 

Shortlisting: w/c Monday 5th August 2024

Interviews:  w/c Monday 19th August 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. 

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Counter Terrorist Check (CTC)   

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis once the advert closing date has passed. 

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.