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

About the Group - Public Services 

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 

We are recruiting two individuals to join our teams.

The Housing, Planning and Cities team are responsible for managing the spending of the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). We work with them to accelerate house building, make housing more affordable and reduce inequalities between different areas of the UK.

The Local Government and Reform team is responsible for managing HM Treasury’s interests in local government policy and funding. This includes ensuring that councils have the resources they need to deliver key services and deliver government priorities. We also work to ensure that financial powers and policy responsibilities are devolved to the most appropriate level of government, and lead work on the Freeports and Investment Zones programmes, designed to grow clusters of economic activity to level up and grow the economy.

The teams work closely together on regional economic growth and levelling up. They are both equally committed to being an excellent place to work, with a relentless focus on good leadership, fulfilling work, learning and development and continuous improvement. Both teams have team members in both London and Darlington. Come and join us!

About the Job 

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

We’re advertising for two exciting roles 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 priorities.

We’re offering two roles which will offer 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.

These responsibilities are common to both jobs:

1. Leading the Treasury’s thinking about your policy area. You will stay up to date on the latest evidence, and develop and drive forward creative ways to bring prosperity to places. You will provide excellent advice to Ministers on these opportunities as well as the trade-offs involved.
2. Building strong relationships. You will build strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including academics, colleagues in other government departments, and local government and private sector partners. You will work confidently with people more senior than yourself and look for opportunities to collaborate on shared objectives.
3. Working with Ministers to help them make decisions, as well as to prepare them for appearances in front of Parliament or the media. You will use your excellent written and verbal skills to advise Ministers and brief them on your policy area. You will use the knowledge and networks you will develop in the role to ensure accuracy and persuasiveness.
4. Providing excellent line management to one or two direct reports, providing outstanding direction-setting, supporting their professional development and offering pastoral support.
5. Providing visible leadership to the wider team. Alongside your day-to-day responsibilities, you will help to create a positive and inclusive culture in the team and role-model HM Treasury’s values. For example, you could work with others to improve the team’s training offer, wellbeing or diversity.
6. Working flexibly on Ministerial and departmental priorities. You will join busy teams whose work is driven by Ministerial priorities. You will need to have good political awareness and be able to shape your work to reflect emerging priorities.

Senior Policy Advisor – Economic Clusters

Economic clusters are concentrations of firms within similar industries that benefit from co-location. They help build ecosystems where knowledge is easily transferred, which supports innovation and improves productivity. This attracts investment and talent, driving growth. Examples of successful clusters include Canary Wharf in the UK, or Hollywood or Silicon Valley in the US. 

In this role, you will focus on strengthening economic clusters and increase private investment into places outside of London and the South-East. In addition to the responsibilities described above, you will ensure the delivery of two flagship policies: Freeports and Investment Zones, working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as well as the Treasury’s tax teams. You will work to identify any risks to the delivery of the programmes early and develop potential solutions, leading discussions with colleagues at different levels of seniority to build consensus. You will use programme management and analytical skills to assess whether programmes are delivering on their objectives and providing value-for-money for the taxpayer.

This is a permanent role. You will manage two members of staff.

Head of Levelling Up Strategy (Maternity Cover)

The Levelling Up White Paper was published in February 2022; it sets an ambitious agenda to combat the UK’s regional economic disparities through a diverse mix of policy missions including on skills, transport, and local leadership. The Treasury plays an important role in supporting these through fiscal events (such as Budgets and Spending Reviews) and strategic coordination of policy.

In this role, in addition to the responsibilities common to both roles, you will support the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in his work on the Inter-Ministerial Group on Levelling Up, including our mission to reduce regional disparities in pay, productivity and employment. You will also develop strategic analysis and options for Ministers on future regional development, considering the past performance of programmes and the latest thinking (including international) on what more can be done to redress imbalances.

You will manage one member of staff, and matrix manage other members of the team.

This is a permanent post and your first placement will be to cover a period of maternity. Following this placement you will be deployed into another Range E role within Public Services.

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. 

• Tuesday 9th January – 12:30 – 13:30
• Thursday 11th January – 18:00 – 19:00

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 Thea Goodsell (thea.goodsell@hmtreasury.gov.uk) or Gavin O'Leary (gavin.oleary@hmtreasury.gov.uk) 

Person specification

Your application will consist of a CV and a 1,000-word personal statement.

Your CV should consist of your career history, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will not be scored, but instead will be used to provide further context on your personal statement, and support conversations at interview.

We don’t have any specific experience or qualification requirements. Instead, we are looking for people with the transferable skills to join our team. Your personal statement should demonstrate, with reference to your past roles and experiences, how you meet the essential criteria below:

• Ability to set direction – you must be able to bring together a diverse range of considerations and priorities into an ambitious strategy, with clear objectives and a coherent plan.
• Ability to build strong relationships – you must be able to work with a range of stakeholders on shared objectives and to resolve areas of difference.
• Ability to gather evidence – even where incomplete or conflicting – and assess trade-offs in making a clear and credible decision or recommendation.
• Ability to communicate and influence – you must be able to influence stakeholders by understanding their positions and keeping messages clear, concise and accurate even under pressure and uncertainty.

These criteria have been identified as the essential skills or experience for the role, so it is important that you include evidence to demonstrate you have the skills or experience we are looking for.

You should not include any personal identifying information within your CV or personal statement.

Please review the Candidate FAQ document that is attached to the advert for more guidance on how to complete your application form.

Candidate Guidance Support Session 
 
We will be running an overview of Success Profiles; top tips for the application and interview process and an opportunity to ask general questions around our recruitment practices. If you would like to join us, then use the link below to join the call at the right time. 

Friday 5th January – 12:30 – 13:15 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £52,960, HM Treasury contributes £14,299 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 14th January 

Shortlisting: w/c 15th January

Interviews:  w/c 22nd January & 29th January

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.  

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.