Policy Adviser – DC Pensions

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.  

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! 

About the Group – Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions

We work to build a tax and welfare system that supports the government’s goals of fiscal sustainability, economic growth, and fairness. We look after high-profile areas including personal taxes, labour markets, welfare, tax administration, pensions, tax avoidance, and savings. We also coordinate spending controls for HM Revenue & Customs, Department for Work and Pensions. The Group is responsible for over £400bn in tax receipts and £300bn in welfare spending, impacting the lives of millions of citizens across the UK.  

Our work means that we are often at the centre of ministers’ decision making, and we play a significant part in the Budget and the Spending Review. We work closely with HMRC, DWP and Number 10, and with a wide variety of external stakeholders. 

PTWP is a friendly, diverse, and inclusive Group, with a wide range of backgrounds and specialisms. We have an active ‘Wellbeing Plan’ focussed on learning and belonging. 

About the Team – Pensions and Savings Team (PST)

The Pensions and Savings team are responsible for policy that supports people to build savings and pensions throughout their working life and for the state pension and connected benefits paid to people once they retire.

The team is responsible for significant annual tax reliefs (totalling nearly £70bn) and AME expenditure (exceeding £120bn). To deliver our policies, we work closely with other teams within HM Treasury and also with other departments, particularly DWP and HMRC. These are exciting policies that are meaningful across the population. The size and influence of these policies means that they are always of interest to ministers.

We are a small and friendly team. We play an active role in making sure that PTWP has an inclusive, positive working environment. We are committed to ensuring a good work-life balance and currently have people with a variety of working patterns, including job shares and part-time roles.

About the Role

We are looking for a Policy Advisor to join us in the DC pensions branch of PST. It’s an exciting time to join! In the last year, this branch has delivered major reforms to the way we tax pension contributions, including raising the Annual Allowance and starting the process of abolishing the Lifetime Allowance. We have also been a major part of the Mansion House reforms announced earlier this summer, which aim to improve the ways in which pension funds invest, both for improved saver outcomes and also the wider economy.

We are looking for a new person to take on a cross-cutting and dynamic role that provides the opportunity to gain exposure to policy issues across HM Treasury and develop core policy-making skills. Key accountabilities for the role will evolve over time, but are likely to include:

• Advising HM Treasury ministers on policy changes related to the taxation of pensions, including pensions tax relief thresholds and pensions tax relief administration. The postholder will advise ministers on policies to ensure a fair and affordable pensions tax system, and coordinate analysis that supports recommendations.
• Advising HM Treasury ministers on the future of automatic enrolment policy, working closely with DWP, and analysing cost of living issues for affected people as well as fiscal and economic impacts.
• Communicating government policy on the taxation of pension contributions through drafting responses to queries received by HM Treasury, working closely with other policy teams.
• Working closely with colleagues across HM Treasury, and strengthening the policy partnership with HMRC by building strong personal relationships with HMRC colleagues, encompassing all stages of the policy process.

You don’t need to be a policy professional or have any specific qualifications to succeed in the role. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and previous knowledge of tax policy-making is not essential. We are looking for a candidate who can collaborate effectively to deliver against shared objectives, analyse information to draw evidenced conclusions and position their work in a wider context. We’re also looking for someone who will bring enthusiasm and motivation to the role, helping to build a positive team dynamic.

The successful candidate may have the opportunity to work flexibly across the team on issues relating to pensions policy. We would also encourage you to contribute to making HM Treasury a great place to work through one of a number of corporate workstreams.

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 Greg Salt via email at Gregory.Salt@HMTreasury.gov.uk.

Required Skills, Experience and Behaviours:

The below criteria will be assessed in your application form.

The lead criterion is: Ability to build professional relationships with a range of stakeholders to deliver shared objectives (Working Together)

If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the first criterion 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;

• Ability to analyse and use relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions (Making Effective Decisions)
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly and with purpose to influence the work of others. (Communicating and Influencing)

Candidate Guidance on Completing your Application Form

Where will we assess criteria across your application form.

• Behaviours – these will be assessed individually with a 250-word statement per behaviour. The application form will indicate which behaviour is being assessed each time you provide a statement, and we are ideally looking for an example using the below STAR method to demonstrate this behaviour in line with the full criteria stated

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.

• Situation – Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
• Task – The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
• Action – What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use “I”, not “we” to explain how your actions lead to a result.
• Result – Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience.

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. 

Meeting time: August 15th 17:00 – 17:30

Click here to join the meeting

NOTES TO CANDIDATES

• Please refer to the candidate FAQ document which is a link on the job advert – this will provide you with guidance on completing the application form. Please contact hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk if you have any issue accessing this document
• At HM Treasury, to maximise diversity and inclusion within our workforce, we operate a fair, open and anonymous recruitment process. This means that the sift panel will only be able to assess you on the written evidence supplied in your application answers. They will not have access to personal information.
• You will be asked to provide some CV details during your application; however these will NOT be assessed during the process, but will be used to support discussions at interview – please ensure you put all information you would like to be scored against in your behaviour, experience and technical skill statements
• You will be assessed on your skills, experience and behaviours through the online application form When completing your application form, please outline how you meet the requirements as detailed in the ‘candidate assessment of skills and experience ‘section of this job description. This will give you the best chance to provide the evidence that the panel wants to assess. More guidance can be found here – completing you application
• If we receive a large number of applications, applications will be assessed initially against the lead criterion alone. You will then be assessed against the other criteria if you have met the minimum score on the first criterion.
• Find out more about how the Civil Service assesses candidates and uses Success Profiles (opens in a new window)
• Applications are not reviewed until the closing date has passed. You will be notified of the outcome of your application as soon as the recruitment panel has reviewed all the applications.

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

• 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the King’s birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant)

• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)

• Generous parental and adoption leave package

• Onsite restaurant and coffee bar. The London office also offers a gym, showers and prayer room

• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving

• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site

• A Rental Deposit Advance Scheme to help meet the total costs of deposits for privately rented homes

• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity (e.g. women in the Treasury, ethnic minority network, LGBT* network, faith and belief network).

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.

HM Treasury operates an office based working approach across all Treasury sites – Darlington, London, and Norwich, with the expectation of achieving 50% attendance in the office as a minimum requirement, along with the flexibility of working remotely. This blended working approach allows you to work collaboratively, meet stakeholders face to face, support others and promotes a healthy work life balance (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review. All our offices have been recently modernised and designed to collaborate and connect with colleagues as well as desk and quiet space to allow a range of ways to work.

Job contact :

• Name : Greg Salt
• Email : Gregory.Salt@HMTreasury.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk