Policy Adviser – Devolution Team

North East Ambition; Darlington; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000

Job description

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.

About the Team

The Devolution team is a friendly team of around 15 people, with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. We are currently based in London, Darlington and Edinburgh. The team is responsible for overseeing the Treasury’s strategic approach to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, sitting across the Treasury’s finance and economics ministry functions. We work closely with colleagues in the devolved governments, across Government, and the whole department to:

1. Manage the funding arrangements for the devolved governments and Territorial Offices.
2. Work with teams across the Treasury to advise Ministers on economic and fiscal policy interventions by the UK Government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
3. Increase Treasury’s devolution capability.

About the Job

We are recruiting for two roles in the Devolution Team:

Policy Adviser – Northern Ireland Executive Funding

Key accountabilities for the role will include:

1. Leading on the management of Northern Ireland Executive funding, including advising HM Treasury ministers on funding issues as they arise.
2. Leading the delivery of Northern Ireland Executive Main and Supplementary Estimates and fiscal event processes, including the preparation of published Estimates documents outlining funding settlements.
3. (subject to start dates) leading on the delivery of the Northern Ireland Executive Phase 2 settlement at Spending Review 2025, including scrutinising requests for additional funding.
4. Building positive working relationships with officials in the Northern Ireland Office and the NI Department of Finance.
5. Answering Parliamentary Questions and correspondence on Northern Ireland Executive funding issues.

Policy Adviser – Devolution SW&NI Priority Projects

Key Accountabilities include:

1. Influencing wider policy development across HM Treasury to ensure Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland considerations are being accounted for. The postholder has the opportunity to influence a wide range of policy, helping to build an understanding of the economies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support this.
2. Leading on elements of our Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stakeholder engagement plan, to ensure that insights are being used to influence policy development.
3. Driving forward the department’s work on devolution capability, ensuring that we are equipped to deliver on the Government’s reset of relationships with the devolved governments.
4. Leading on the devolution team’s engagement on the UK Internal Market Act, as well as supporting our engagement with the devolved governments on matters of the economy.
5. Providing flexible support across the team at key points throughout the year (e.g. fiscal events) to pick up high profile and standalone projects.
6. Preparing correspondence, Parliamentary Questions and briefing.

About You

You don't need to be a policy professional or have any specific qualifications to succeed in the role, and we encourage applications from all backgrounds. We are looking for a candidate who has experience of handling and analysing data, working with Microsoft Excel, and is able to draw evidenced conclusions from the data that we work with. The successful candidate will also be able to bring enthusiasm and motivation to the role, helping to build a positive team dynamic.

Some of the Benefits our people love!

• 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). Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees to take up to an additional 2 days off each month.
• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours).
• Generous parental and adoption leave packages.
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions of 28.97%.
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme and season ticket advances.
• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity.

For more information about the role and how to apply, please follow the link.