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:

The Economics Group in the Treasury provide Ministers with analysis and assessment of fast-paced economic developments in the UK economy and advises on their implications for the Government’s economic strategy. It works with policy teams to factor economic analysis into advice for Ministers on a wide range of polices.

The Group is also a leading member of the UK macroeconomic community, collaborating with the Bank, OBR and academia on shared topics of interest, liaising with international organisations in their surveillance of the UK economy and supporting the economic and social research professions across government departments.

About the Team:

The Macroeconomic Assessment (MA) team is at the core of the Treasury’s function as an economics Ministry, providing economic analysis, briefing and policy advice on the issues facing the UK economy. As a team, we play a central role in analysing developments in the economy and risks to the outlook. We aspire to excellence in producing high quality and influential analysis and working collaboratively with colleagues across the department. We work flexibly across branches, and the post-holder will need to be willing to work across priorities.

We are committed to ensuring the team is a fun, engaging and inclusive place to work, where everyone is supported to develop and progress.

Key Accountabilities:

Assistant Economist, Business Investment and Trade Branch

This is an exciting and influential economist role, providing the opportunity to work across a wide range of UK macroeconomic issues and the wider policy-making process in HM Treasury. The branch is currently comprised of one Range E2 (Grade 6 equivalent), one Range E (Grade 7 equivalent) two Range Ds (Assistant Economists) and an Apprentice Economist.

We are responsible for delivering and communicating high-quality economic analysis on UK business investment, capital stocks, business sentiment, trade, and the Balance of Payments. In addition, the postholder can expect to analyse the macroeconomic impacts of Budget policy measures on business investment. We have strong relationships with policy teams, with our advice on these areas directly informing and advising ministers. We also lead the department’s engagement with external stakeholders on business investment including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and MakeUK, among others.

Core responsibilities include:

• Delivering robust and timely analytical projects for ministers and senior officials on business investment and capital stocks, including the drivers of business investment and international comparisons, and communicating this analysis.
• Analysing the economic impacts of policy on business investment and capital stocks, such as the Super-deduction, and communicating conclusions to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as well as stakeholders across HMT in order to influence the policy-making process.
• Analysing new trends in business investment and sentiment, developing a view of their implications. Assessing the outlook for business investment and leading the production of the branch’s Business Investment Monitor product, summarising key messages to contribute to the Economics Group’s monitoring of the state of the economy.
• You will also be supported to contribute to the corporate agenda in the Economics Group and wider department.

We encourage applications from candidates who may have less experience in some of the required criteria but are curious and willing to develop their understanding. Training and support can be provided on-the-job.

Macroeconomic Assessment is a friendly team and flexible working practices are encouraged. If you would like to discuss the post further, please contact the recruiting manager Hassan Akhtar ([email protected]).

Required Skills, Experience and Behaviours:

The below criteria will be assessed in your application form.

The lead criteria is: 1.Effective communication skills, including an ability to distil key messages and uncertainties from technical work and communicate clearly to others (Communicating and Influencing)

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. Ability to establish effective relationships with people who have different roles and perspectives to deliver on shared objectives (Working Together)

3. Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment to deliver high-quality analysis on time (Delivering at Pace)

4. Ability to apply economic knowledge and modelling techniques to produce high-quality analysis (Technical skills)

Required Qualifications:

Mandatory: At minimum, a degree in economics, or degree-level experience working in economic policymaking. (Please set out what your experience is).

Desirable: A postgraduate degree in economics, and/or working experience in applying econometric analysis and quantitative modelling, would be strongly advantageous.

Candidate Guidance on Completing your Application Form

Where will we assess success profiles 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
• Technical Skills – this will be assessed individually with a 250-word statement per technical skill. You will give the answer in a separate technical skills section, and be given direct guidance on the technical skill we are looking for you to demonstrate

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.

• 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.

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 [email protected] 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 may 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 ‘Essential Criteria ‘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 your 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 to test skills, experience and behaviours in applications and interviews.
• 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:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Developing Self and Others

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

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

• Ability to apply economic knowledge and modelling techniques to produce high-quality analysis

• 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)
• 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 (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. 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.

Job contact :

Recruitment team :