Policy Adviser – Schools and Pre-16 Education

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

This post can be based in London (1 Horse Guards Road) or Darlington (Feethams House).

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 ([email protected])

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.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace

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.

• 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. 
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27% 
• 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. 

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.

The office working expectation is linked to location of the role, if you apply to a post in a single location then you will not be able to meet this expectation at any of our other sites or be able to move your role to another location.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Charlie Grainger
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

Complaints Process: Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment based on fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact HMT by email at: [email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

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