About the job

Job summary

About 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.  

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

About the 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.

About the Team

Education and Skills is a high performing spending team, responsible for spending control of one of the largest and most high profile budgets in government. We lead HMT’s relationship with DfE at a time when the department is delivering several radical reform programmes. We are also at the forefront of the Treasury’s work to boost productivity, by ensuring that we have an education system which meets the needs of the future economy. 

We are a friendly and supportive team with a strong emphasis on an inclusive and open culture, making use of everyone’s talents! We are especially proud of our track record in helping our team members to develop and make the most of the opportunities available whilst being in the team. 

Our core role is to help the Department for Education (DfE) to live within their budget and deliver reforms to boost productivity in order to grow the economy. 

About the Job

It is a particularly exciting time to join the spending arm of the Treasury. We are recruiting an SEO policy adviser to join the Pre-16 side of the team. This side of the team has oversight of all early years and schools policy and spending, including the Department for Education’s schools budget of nearly £60bn a year. 

In the first instance, the post holder will be covering parental leave in schools branch, focussing on mainstream schools, within which the key policy issues are wide ranging and interesting – from the annual teacher pay award to core schools policy programmes designed to raise attainment. In the longer term, the postholder will lead on other areas of pre-16 education policy, which could include elements of the new expansion of free childcare, support for vulnerable families or specific projects to support HMT’s aims e.g. to improve attainment. 

Key responsibilities will include: 

1. Leading on schools workforce policy, including teacher pay, recruitment and retention
2. Proactively shaping the schools reform agenda, taking into account HM Treasury’s fiscal and economic objectives
3. Ownership of overall 5-16 curriculum policy, as well as policy programmes aimed at further improving in-school attainment
4. Supporting core schools spending strategy across Schools Branch
5. Owning and developing key relationships with a range of stakeholders across the Department for Education, including with senior civil servants
6. Writing regular advice to senior officials and Ministers
7. Interrogating spending proposals from the Department for Education to ensure they represent good value for money.

We strongly encourage candidates from a diverse set of backgrounds to apply. We are looking for people who have the right set of skills, who demonstrate the values of our organisation, and who are motivated to come and work with us on a range of issues that are at the heart of how we spend money and deliver public services.

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 Charlie Grainger (Charles.Grainger@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. Making Effective Decisions- Ability to assess a wide range of evidence, analyse it and make judgments to inform decision making
2. Seeing the Big Picture- Making strategic judgements that balance fiscal, economic and political considerations, to inform decision-making when developing advice.
3. Delivering at Pace- Leading a team to deliver to deliver short-term deadlines alongside driving long-term strategic work, and autonomously reprioritising work in a context of high uncertainty. 

The lead criterion is: Making Effective Decisions. 

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,500, HM Treasury contributes £11,060 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: 4 June

Shortlisting: from 5 June

Interviews:  w/c 10/17 June

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.