Deputy Director Strategic and Cross-Cutting Policy

at  HM Revenue and Customs

JOB SUMMARY

Strategic Policy into Delivery is an outward-facing directorate in Customer Strategy and Tax Design that leads on strategic policy development and co-ordination, oversees the Budget, Finance Bill and policy-making cycle, delivers policy change and drives improvements to policy capability.
We work in partnership with HM Treasury, collaborate with colleagues across HMRC, and support other government departments, including Devolved Governments, to deliver reforms in line with ministerial priorities and to improve the health of the tax system overall.
The Deputy Director Strategic and Cross-Cutting Policy forms a crucial link between HMRC’s policy teams, operational directorates, HM Treasury, and Ministers. It offers a unique viewpoint of departmental objectives, operational challenges, and Ministerial ambitions, with the opportunity to influence and shape priorities across these areas.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Deputy Director, Strategic and Cross-cutting Policy leads a diverse portfolio of some of the key cross-cutting policy priorities shared across HMRC and HMT. They play a pivotal thought leadership role to drive forward mutual understanding across the partnership, using their unique viewpoint to shape our narrative on whole-system Tax Reform, balancing Ministerial steers with HMRC compliance and operational constraints, to deliver that reform.
As a member of the Strategic Policy into Delivery senior leadership team, the role holder will also play an active role in the leadership and management of the directorate, ensuring it is a great place to work.
This is a cross-cutting role, so the responsibilities will iterate and evolve in line with departmental needs and Ministerial steers.

Specific responsibilities will include:

• Leading departmental focus on tax simplification and steering the team to deliver ambitious tax simplification reforms at fiscal events.
• Working across HMT and HMRC to drive strategic thinking and provide advice and support to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on future policy and administrative reforms to close the tax gap (the gap between the tax revenue HMRC should be collecting and is collecting).
• Working with HMRC policy colleagues to ensure focus on preventing non-compliance from happening (upstream) – including helping to progress spending review propositions and ensuring that the department progresses development of further ideas (e.g. via facilitation of pilots).
• Leading policy work to reform Income Tax Self-Assessment payments, an area affecting millions of taxpayers and requiring careful stakeholder management. This includes acting as the Senior Responsible Owner for a £16 million investment to modernise HMRC’s app to allow Income Tax Self-Assessment taxpayers to make voluntary advance payments in instalments.

Accountabilities:
The role holder is accountable for leading strategic policy development of key crosscutting policy issues, including tax simplification, tax reliefs and measures to tackle the tax gap and reduce non-compliance, as well as delivery of a key modernisation project.
Management of People
The role holder will provide visible leadership to a multidisciplinary team of c.18 people, comprising specialists in policy, tax, project delivery and operations, based in HMRC regional centres across the UK.
They will be responsible for developing the capability and skills of the team, ensuring the appropriate resources are in place to meet stakeholder and departmental needs.
Key Interactions
This is a high profile role that requires excellent stakeholder management skills, involving interaction with Ministers, senior officials in the Treasury, as well as with HMRC DGs/Directors across a range of business areas. There will also be external stakeholder engagement.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Specific responsibilities will include:

• Leading departmental focus on tax simplification and steering the team to deliver ambitious tax simplification reforms at fiscal events.
• Working across HMT and HMRC to drive strategic thinking and provide advice and support to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on future policy and administrative reforms to close the tax gap (the gap between the tax revenue HMRC should be collecting and is collecting).
• Working with HMRC policy colleagues to ensure focus on preventing non-compliance from happening (upstream) – including helping to progress spending review propositions and ensuring that the department progresses development of further ideas (e.g. via facilitation of pilots).
• Leading policy work to reform Income Tax Self-Assessment payments, an area affecting millions of taxpayers and requiring careful stakeholder management. This includes acting as the Senior Responsible Owner for a £16 million investment to modernise HMRC’s app to allow Income Tax Self-Assessment taxpayers to make voluntary advance payments in instalments