Id Job: 3172324
Contents
Location
About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
Apply and further information
Location
About the job
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.
Working at the heart of government, we collaborate with other departments to ensure public money is spent well and to drive strong and sustainable economic growth. Our work ranges from protecting customers through to the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, supporting people across the country through the COVID 19 furlough scheme and Plan for Jobs as well as helping first time buyers buy their first home.
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 a stronger organisation, better at developing policy that is reflective of the communities we serve. We embrace different views and experiences and value the fresh 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.
The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring people together across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important issues of the day.
HM Treasury in Darlington will be joined by the Department for International Trade, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Competition and Markets Authority, the Department for Education and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
About the Group
Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions
We work to create a tax and welfare system which supports the government’s goals of deficit reduction, economic growth, and fairness. In doing so, we look after high profile areas including personal taxes, labour markets, welfare, tax administration, pensions, and savings. We also coordinate spending controls for both HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions. The Group also has a wider role to assess the overall impact of changes made to taxes and benefit on households across the UK.
Our work means we are often at the centre of ministers’ decision making, and we play an important part in the Budget and the Spending Review. Our group works closely with colleagues at HMRC, DWP, and the Prime Minister’s office, and with a wide variety of external stakeholders.
About the Team
Tax Administration, Spending and Reform
The Tax Administration, Spending and Reform (TASR) team is an outstanding, friendly and diverse team of around 20 people based across the London and Darlington offices. We are the Treasury team responsible for supporting HMRC to play its critical role in delivering Government priorities – from raising tax revenue to fund public services, to simplifying the tax system, and tackling tax avoidance and evasion.
TASR’s work is of fundamental importance to the Treasury, the Chancellor, and wider government. We work closely with a wide range of HMRC and HM Treasury teams to deliver tax policy, and we also act as the spending team for HMRC, ensuring that HMRC spending is sustainable and meets the government’s wider objectives.
The team is committed to equality and diversity. We seek to attract diverse, skilled, and impactful people and are keen to encourage applications from candidates with various backgrounds and ranges of experience.
Key Accountabilities
Government policies impact on people’s everyday lives – whether it is how we provide support to households, collect tax revenue, or fund public services.
Great policy making is about understanding what needs to change, what problems need to be solved, and supporting ministers to arrive at a solution. You will need to demonstrate a range of skills, including strong problem-solving skills, the ability to clearly explain your thinking both in writing and in person, and the drive to work with others to overcome challenges.
You don’t need to be a policy professional or have any specific qualifications or experiences to work as a Policy Adviser at HM Treasury. We are looking for people who have the right set of skills for the role, demonstrate our values, and are motivated to come and work with us at the heart of government.
This is an exciting and stretching role within TASR’s Policy Unit. The postholder will work across a range of policy areas to make the tax system simpler and easier to navigate for millions of individuals and businesses.
They will build strong, open relationships with a wide range of HMRC teams through HMT and HMRC’s ‘policy partnership’, working together to solve complex problems while ensuring outcomes are considerate of the bigger picture and aligned with HMT aims.
The role will provide opportunities to gain a confident grasp of core HMT policy skills across tax and spending policy, while honing skills to deliver to tight timelines and manage competing priorities when working across several areas of strong Ministerial and senior interest.
Key accountabilities for this role include:
1. Supporting HMT and HMRC’s reinvigorated work to simplify the tax system following the closure of the Office for Tax Simplification. Work closely with a wide range of colleagues across HMRC and HMT to advise Ministers on proposals for new policies and administrative changes to simplify taxpayers’ experience of navigating the tax system; and to champion and embed tax simplification across the departments’ policymaking.
2. Leading on spending control and policy partnership for two HMRC digital transformation programmes that sit at the heart of the government’s 10-year strategy for tax administration reform. This will involve developing strong knowledge of the programmes; boosting their public and cross-government profiles to ensure the programmes’ benefits are realised; proactively monitoring HMRC’s progress in designing and delivering programmes; and updating Ministers on progress, capturing successes while highlighting and managing potential risks.
3. Collaborating closely with HMRC to develop policies to raise standards in the market for tax advice and protect taxpayers from some of the consequences of bad advice.
4. Working with HMRC to provide high quality advice and briefing for Ministers, Special Advisers and press office, facilitating effective responses to policy problems and, where appropriate, the successful announcement of policies at Budgets and fiscal events.
5. Work flexibly to support wider team and departmental objectives, supporting seniors to stay up-to-date on HMRC priorities and support HMRC to respond to varied fast-paced requests for their policy expertise and delivery capability.
6. Contribute to making the team, department and Darlington office great places to work, proactively engaging in team discussions and corporate activities and supporting team members and wider peers.
Required Skills, Experience and Behaviours:
The below criteria will be assessed in your application form.
The lead criteria is: 1. Making Effective Decisions – Ability to gather and analyse a range of complex information to support decision-making and produce evidence-based recommendations in a timely manner.
If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criteria only, which will usually be a behaviour. This may be an experience or technical skill, but only where critical to the position.
We will assess the below further criteria in your application form;
2. Working Together – Strong collaboration and teamwork skills, with an ability to deliver through others, to influence senior stakeholders, and to work constructively and collaboratively with peers and teams who may have differing views to achieve a positive shared outcome.
3. Seeing the Big Picture – Understanding and remaining alert to the strategic objectives driving work, including the broader economic, political and/or social context; ensuring that these objectives are communicated to colleagues and seniors, and captured when planning and executing work.
Candidate Guidance on Completing your Application Form
Where will we assess success profiles across your application form.
All elements of the success profiles will be linked to a defined criterion that demonstrates the behaviour, experience or technical skills. It is beneficial to ensure your answer focuses on the full criteria, and not just the related success profile, to give you the best chance or providing the evidence the panel wants to assess.
In your statements, it is best to focus on one example in each section to allow you to provide enough detail in your answer and use all the words you have been allocated. Examples from a range of roles across your application will demonstrate that you have the skills, experience and behaviours we are looking for. We would also advise you to use examples that best meet the criteria, even if it is a few years old.
How to Structure your Answer
Please use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach when writing your application answers.
Notes to Candidates
Support to Candidates
Candidate Guidance Support Session
We will be running an overview of Success Profiles and the STAR approach; 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.
Wednesday 24th May 2023 17:00 – 17:30 Click here to join the meeting
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.
Wednesday 31st May 2023 12:30 – 13:00 Click here to join the meeting
Recruitment timeline:
Closing Date: 4th June 2023
Shortlisting Application Forms: w/c 5th June 2023
Interviews w/c 12th & 19th June 2023
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
Benefits
Flexible working arrangements:
HM Treasury views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including; working from home, compressed hours and job sharing. Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees to take up to an additional 2 days off each month, providing you work enough hours to meet business need.
We also offer a generous parental and adoption leave package.
At HM Treasury we have an incredibly broad remit; our work touches every citizen of the country. So, it’s important our employees come from the widest possible range of backgrounds, bringing us the widest possible range of perspectives and ways of thinking. We are committed to ensuring that all staff are able to realise their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Things you need to know
As part of our pre-employment security checks, if you are invited to interview and are not a current HM Treasury member of staff, you will need to bring:
Further details regarding acceptable documents will be provided in the invitation to interview. If you cannot provide in the first instance, the above documentation required for employment checks, at interview, please contact hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk, If you are offered the role, we will require all documentation, as this is part of the security vetting process. If you do not provide this at interview stage, this may slow down the process and delay your start date.
If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile.
Eligibility Statement
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. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
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.
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
Apply and further information
Job contact :
Recruitment team
