Senior Policy Adviser, Business Lending & Competition Unit

Are you looking for a stretching and high-profile role with the opportunity to shape Government policy in a wide-ranging and fast-paced area? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

About the Team

We are looking to recruit a Senior Policy Adviser to join the Banking and Credit Team (BAC), which sits within the Financial Services Group . The Financial Services Group advises the government on how to promote a stable and efficient financial services sector, to deliver excellent outcomes for consumers and business, enhance the UK’s position as a global hub for financial services and support economic growth across the country. 

The financial services sector is important to the UK economy – providing 2.3 million jobs and representing over 10% of tax receipts, making a huge contribution to the UK’s economic output. It also provides essential services to individuals – for example, helping them to purchase goods with ease, buy their first home, and plan for their retirement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it played a critical role in supporting individuals and businesses – for example, in providing payment holidays for individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic and working with the government to deliver Bounce Back Loans.

The Banking and Credit Team (BAC) is a high-profile, friendly and supportive team of about 20 people with interests across a range of important financial services issues. The team leads the Treasury’s policy work on retail banking, mortgages, Business Lending, building societies and mutuals, dormant assets, and the Government’s strategy for competition in financial services. The team works closely with a large number of Treasury teams (in the Financial Services and Financial Stability Groups, the Fiscal Group and the Enterprise and Growth Unit), other government departments and with a wide range of external stakeholders, including all the major banks.

About the Job

In this role, you will:

• Lead a branch of two Range Ds, helping them to deliver across the branch’s busy portfolio while supporting personal development, performance and wellbeing. The post-holder will also have the opportunity to contribute to the management of the wider team.
• Proactively monitor and analyse the UK Business Lending market. This will involve working closely with the British Business Bank, the government-owned development bank, as well as industry and other government departments to assess the demand and supply of capital for businesses and entrepreneurs across the country.
• Work closely with other departments and Treasury spending colleagues to design, develop, and introduce policies to support Business Lending in the UK, such as the Growth Guarantee Scheme.
• Lead the Treasury’s oversight of the government’s COVID-19 loanbook; communicate key developments in repayment rates for ministers and senior officials and draw analytical insights to inform the development of outstanding policy positions. The post-holder will also lead the Treasury’s engagement with the COVID-19 loans counter-fraud strategy, working closely with other government departments and agencies to solve any outstanding issues, and contribute to our submission to the COVID-19 Inquiry.
• Develop and implement an analytical work programme. Scope and perform discrete analysis to deliver insights into the performance of the Business Lending market. The post-holder will also have opportunities to provide analytical support on policy issues across the wider Banking and Credit team, including retail banking, home ownership and mortgages.

The post-holder can expect to shape the Treasury’s assessment of how the Business Lending market is performing and develop policies to support access to lending for small and medium-sized enterprises, such as the Growth Guarantee Scheme. The post-holder will also lead the Treasury’s oversight of the COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes; around £80bn of lending to 1.5mn businesses through commercial lenders.

The post-holder can expect significant exposure to ministers and senior officials, with opportunities to work with a broad range of internal and external parties including the major banks and alternative finance providers, industry and consumer representatives, the British Business Bank, the Bank of England and other Government Departments.

You don’t need to be an experienced civil servant to apply. We are looking for people who have the right set of skills for the role, 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.

About You

The successful candidate will have strong analytical skills, with an ability to assess a range of information and evaluate evidence to make effective decisions and/or recommendations to seniors and ministers. You will have the ability to lead, motivate and manage a busy team to deliver across a wide portfolio, demonstrating a commitment to inclusion, development and wellbeing. You’ll be ability to represent the Treasury and work with a diverse range of stakeholders at all levels, building relationships proactively to pool expertise to address policy problems.

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, ethnicity, LGBT+ identity and socio-economic status.

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 27%
• 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 (e.g. women in the Treasury, ethnic minority network, LGBT* network, faith and belief network)

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

If you need any reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process, please tell us about this in your online application form, or speak to the recruitment team at hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk