About the job

Job summary

HM Treasury

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

Strategy, Planning and Budget operates at the heart of the Treasury to develop the Department’s overall strategy and business plan, assess performance and risk, and help deliver its objectives with a large, flexible project team who work on ministerial priorities across the whole range of the department’s policy responsibilities. We also co-ordinate the Chancellor’s annual Budget, the Finance Bill and the Treasury’s tax strategy, as well as coordinate the Treasury’s responses to the COVID-19 Public Inquiry and provide support to ministers and officials who are Inquiry witnesses. SPB also promotes excellent policymaking across the department and houses the Darlington Leadership Team, which works to ensure the successful delivery of the Darlington Economic Campus (DEC).

The Budget and Finance Bill Team is a fun and supportive team which sits at the centre of the Treasury, and is responsible for delivering the department’s policy objectives through Budgets and Statements. The team works with privates offices, special advisers, policy teams, HMRC, comms specialists and more, to bring together a coherent package of tax, welfare and spending policy announcements and present these to the outside world in the most effective way.

The team operates in a dynamic and fast paced environment, especially in the run up to fiscal events, and has visibility of policy development happening across the whole department. You will regularly be exposed to and working on issues prone to hit the newspaper headlines, which makes our work relatable and interesting.

The team works flexibly to provide variety and support people’s personal development goals. We give team members lots of support and on the job training to help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to do well. Diversity is very important to us, as is team wellbeing, and we have experience with and support flexible working arrangements.

The role is in the Policy and Presentation branch of the team, which is responsible for the overall coordination, delivery and presentation of Budgets and Statements, including owning the overarching project plan, coordinating policy development and Ministerial decision making, and leading on key presentational product and processes such as the main budget document, supplementary documents and a comprehensive briefing pack.

The permanent members of the branch, are currently all London based. The team have experience managing across sites and there is a strong community of staff from the Strategy Planning and Budget Group based in Darlington. We also have additional staff join the branch from the Strategy, Planning and Projects team in the run up to Budgets and Statements who are often Darlington based

About the Job

You will be responsible for ensuring the smooth running of Budget and Statements across the department, delivering a high quality of service, identifying and mitigating risks, and driving delivery. You do not need any specific qualifications or experience to take on this role, just evidence of the right behaviours, values and motivation to succeed.

Key accountabilities for this role include:

1. Creating and managing a project plan for delivering Budgets and Statements, covering the full range of milestones and processes relevant to fiscal event delivery including Ministerial meetings and movements, policy development, presentational products, and legislation.
2. Coordinating the development, clearance and publication of budget documents, including charts and tables included in the main budget document (the publication setting out all policies being announced), and supplementary documents published alongside the main document on budget day (which can number anywhere between 30 and 90).
3. Leading on core elements of fiscal event delivery, including organising kick off and post event townhalls for the department, providing secretariat for the weekly budget directors meetings in the run up to fiscal events and coordinating weekly comms emails from the budget team to the department.
4. Building and maintaining strong relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure essential budget services are delivered and there is timely and high-quality input into budget processes run by the branch; including private offices, policy leads, HMRC, internal comms, the internal reprographics service, the external printing supplier (who typeset and print the main budget document), and HMT facilities, security and caterers.
5. Designing and implementing a cross-departmental lessons learned process to collect, review and act on feedback from the department across all budget processes run by the team. This will include facilitating discussions within the team and with key stakeholders to reflect on processes and team ways of working, designing actions to address these, and driving implementation.
6. Account management of an allocated policy workstream (such as all measures in a budget relating to public services, or welfare and labour markets), including tracking policy development and ensuring timely input into budget products and processes.

In time and with sufficient experience, you may have the opportunity lead on key presentational processes run by the branch, including:

1. Leading across HMT process to identify and mitigate presentational risks associated with budget policy packages, by organising challenge panels and advising the Chancellor.
2. Coordinating the development of a comprehensive briefing pack covering every policy announced at fiscal events to support Ministers, officials and press officers from across government engage with stakeholders and explain the budget package confidently.
3. Work with the comms team to collate and influence stakeholder handling plans in the run up to and directly after budget and statements.

Long hours can sometimes be required in the period immediately before a Budget or Statement, and you will need to be able to travel to London for short periods of time around a fiscal event. However, our branch is committed to helping staff maintain a good work-life balance and we actively manage flexible working practices to balance hours over the course of the year

Candidate Drop-In Session 
 
We 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 the recruitment process. If you would like to join us, then use the appropriate link below to join the call at the right time. 

Monday 15 April: 12:00 – 13:00 - Join via MS Teams at this link

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 Louis Phelps louis.phelps@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. Ability to plan, prioritise and deliver on a broad portfolio of work at pace and to a high quality, in an often busy and uncertain working environment (Delivering at Pace).
2. Ability to build and maintain relationships with a wide network of stakeholders and collaborate to deliver results (Working together).
3. Ability to identify and implement improvements to processes and/or ways of working and support people to manage change (Changing and improving).

The lead criterion is: Delivering at Pace.
 
If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criterion.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £31,710, HM Treasury contributes £8,561 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: 23 April 2024

Shortlisting: w/c 29 April 2024

Interviews: w/c 13 May 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.

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.