JOB SUMMARY

DWP is responsible for welfare and pension policy, its primary focus is to provide financial support and services to individuals in need, helping to ensure economic security and social inclusion. The broader aim within the Department is to improve employment rates, reduce poverty and provide a safety net for those facing financial hardship.
The Employment and Support Allowance policy team has policy responsibility for both new style and legacy ESA, as well as residual incapacity benefits such as Incapacity Benefit (IB) and Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA), Special Rules for End-of-Life Policy (SREL). The team also leads on the Department’s work on the Infected Blood Issue.

JOB DESCRIPTION

As a senior policy official for the directorate’s Employment and Support Allowance policy team, successful candidates will join the Department’s busy Disability and Health Support Directorate.

Tasks will include:

• Playing a key role in maintaining and where required, developing new evidence-based policy options, whilst ensuring service delivery, financial, legal and communications issues and advice are fully considered.
• Working with internal and cross-government stakeholders to deliver policy changes when needed through changes to regulations or guidance.
• Providing expert advice on your policy areas to internal and external stakeholders, including OGDs.
• Working collaboratively with Service Planning and Delivery and Service Delivery colleagues to ensure policy intent is understood and delivered.
• Maintaining project plans, tracking risks and progress – including cross-government activity - against plans, reporting to senior officers and Ministers.
• Support HEO’s handling responses to PQs, oral PQs, correspondence, and FOI requests.

Successful applicants will:

• be a skilled and engaging leader, equally adept at supporting colleagues’ development and wellbeing and at building strong relationships with stakeholders across DWP to deliver business needs.
• benefit from extensive opportunities for stretch and development of core policy making skills, as well as stakeholder, Parliamentary and Ministerial engagement from an exciting, varied and multi-faceted role.
• be an experienced policy professional and motivated self-starter with the ability to quickly get to grips with the intricacies of often complex work at speed.
• be comfortable with managing competing priorities and able to take responsibility for delivering high quality work to completion.
• have the opportunity to work at the heart of policy making within the Department and regularly work closely with senior officials, DWP Ministers and with other Government Departments on issues that impact the lives of millions of customers.
• be working in a small, friendly, and very supportive team.

EXPERIENCE KEY CRITERIA

• Experience of working in a policy /strategy environment, including how policy is developed and maintained, and legislation is developed and delivered. (LEAD CRITERIA)
• Highly developed oral and written communications skills to provide advice and briefing to Ministers.
• Excellent relationship building and management skills and a proven track record of working effectively with other experts.
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to keep focus on key issues, whilst understanding and articulating complex issues.
• High levels of personal effectiveness with demonstrated ability to work at pace in a complex environment and delivering at pace by building consensus in the face of a range of competing views and priorities while being calm and resilient in pressured situations.

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)
• 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

Tasks will include:

• Playing a key role in maintaining and where required, developing new evidence-based policy options, whilst ensuring service delivery, financial, legal and communications issues and advice are fully considered.
• Working with internal and cross-government stakeholders to deliver policy changes when needed through changes to regulations or guidance.
• Providing expert advice on your policy areas to internal and external stakeholders, including OGDs.
• Working collaboratively with Service Planning and Delivery and Service Delivery colleagues to ensure policy intent is understood and delivered.
• Maintaining project plans, tracking risks and progress – including cross-government activity - against plans, reporting to senior officers and Ministers.
• Support HEO’s handling responses to PQs, oral PQs, correspondence, and FOI requests