Senior Policy Advisers – Regional Economic Growth (2 Roles)

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 – 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) 

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 

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together

• 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 can 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; part-time, compressed hours and job sharing. Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees the flexibility to adjust their working patterns throughout the week which is subject to operational needs and line management approval.  

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 can realize their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

HM Treasury operates an office based working approach across all Treasury sites – Darlington, London, and Norwich, and along with the rest of the Civil Service, has an expectation of a minimum of 60% attendance in the office, along with 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 : Gavin O’Leary
• Email : gavin.oleary@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk