Policy Adviser - State-Owned Banking Assets
HM Treasury
Apply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 26th September 2024
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About HM Treasury
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.
Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.
We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a pioneering new cross-government hub which brings people together to play an active role in the most important issues of the day whilst working closer to the communities we serve. The campus provides the opportunity for people from all over the UK to help shape the future of the country, and our flexible working practices ensure you can collaborate effectively with our partners. It’s central government, made more accessible to you!
Job description
About the Group
The Financial Stability Group advises government on ensuring the stability of the UK financial system and economy. We track new and existing risks to the financial stability of the UK and the global financial system, taking action to mitigate risks and combat these when needed.
We intervene directly to manage any public support for the financial services sector – including stewardship of (and exit from) the government’s interests in NatWest Bank.
We’re also responsible for ensuring that the financial authorities have the appropriate legal powers and resources to deal with future failures in the financial sector, as well as planning for future stability events.
The Group works with the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, the intelligence agencies and international partners, to build and maintain systems to monitor assess and deal with financial stability risks.
About the Team
The Banking Assets and Resolution Strategy team is a friendly and inclusive team of around 15 people, with a varied and interesting range of work within the Financial Stability Group. The team has a full and active forward agenda, with significant exposure to ministers and senior officials. The team comprises two units – the State-Owned Banking Assets unit and the Resolution Policy Unit.
The State-Owned Banking Assets unit is responsible for policy relating to financial sector assets taken on as a result of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, including the Treasury’s shareholding in NatWest Group (NatWest) and ongoing interest in UK Asset Resolution (UKAR, a government owned company handling the government’s exposures to the legacy liabilities of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley). The unit works closely with UK Government Investments (UKGI) as it develops and advises Ministers on policy to exit these multi-billion pound interventions in the financial sector.
The Resolution Policy Unit is responsible for developing the UK’s resolution regime, which handles the failure of financial sector firms. The unit ensures the UK authorities have the legal powers and tools they need to manage the failure of financial sector firms, in a way that protects the wider economy and public funds. The unit works closely with the Bank of England, Prudential Regulatory Authority, Financial Conduct Authority, industry, and Parliament to deliver the vital legal powers and tool; and also with international counterparts to craft international standards for resolution regimes.
About the Job
The primary focus of the role will be to support policy for the government’s shareholding in NatWest, one of the largest banks in the UK. The government recapitalised the bank, acquiring an 84% shareholding, as part of a number of interventions made as a result of the global financial crisis to restore economic and financial stability to the UK economy. With that objective long achieved, the policy objective is to fully return the bank to the private ownership through sales of the government’s shareholding. Significant progress has been made against this objective in recent years, with the shareholding now reduced to below 18%. The government intends to fully exit this shareholding by 2025/26, subject to market conditions and achieving value for money. You will be supporting delivery of this objective, with sales of the shareholding raising billions of pounds in revenue to support the delivery of wider public services.
In addition to the work on the NatWest shareholding you may also support the work of the team in delivering a managed wind down of the UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) intervention. This involves assessing the best way to resolve a number of complex liabilities, including policy to defund and transfer the company’s pension schemes to central government.
Role Overview
You will be responsible for facilitating the policy and operational preparedness for NatWest share disposals. You will lead on critical aspects of share sale preparations and supporting their careful execution (recent sales have been among the largest transactions in UK markets), and on issues related to the management of the shareholding.
The role will provide you with experience of: close working with senior officials and ministers in the Treasury to develop and agree appropriate disposal options; exposure to market-facing commercial decisions and actors; and management of a range of critical relationships, including with UK Government Investments (UKGI, who manage the shareholding on behalf of the Treasury), NatWest and other external advisers and interested parties from inside and outside government.
Key Accountabilities for this role include:
- Sales strategy – working with UKGI to assess the viability and feasibility of options for selling down the government’s shareholding. You will advise senior officials and ministers on the most appropriate strategy and adapt the approach to changing circumstances as required.
- Sale preparation and execution – co-ordinating and managing the process of preparing and implementing sale options, working closely with UKGI to ensure we are collectively prepared to execute sales in a professional and effective manner.
- Shareholding management – advising ministers on issues relating to the management of the shareholding and issues relating to the intervention in the bank.
- Building and maintaining positive relationships with colleagues across the Civil Service and public sector, and with external advisers and other organisations from the private sector.
- Providing clear advice and briefings to the Treasury Accounting Officer and ministers and handling ministerial and other correspondence on issues relating to the NatWest shareholding, working closely with others, including our Press Office, to ensure accurate and timely responses are provided.
- Preparing for fiscal events (e.g. Budgets), working with colleagues across the Treasury and at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to produce forecasts for sales of the government’s financial assets.
- In addition, you should be prepared to be flexible, with options to support the wider work of the team and group, in particular supporting policy work on the wind-down of the governments interest in UKAR should it be required.
Candidate Drop-In Session – Microsoft Teams
The hiring manager will be running a candidate drop-in session for this role to give you greater insight about the role as well as the chance to learn more about HM Treasury and ask any questions you may have. If you would like to join us, then use the link below to join the call at the right time.
Tuesday 17th September 12:00 – 13:00: Join the meeting now
If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date for applications to find out more about the job, please contact Georgia Anderson – georgia.anderson@hmtreasury.gov.uk
Person specification
We are looking for the below skills, experience and behaviours and we will ask you to demonstrate these in your application form. Please review the Candidate FAQ document that is attached to the advert for guidance on how to complete your application form.
- Delivering at pace: Act promptly to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance.
- Making effective decisions: Analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions.
- Working together: Establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders and collaborate with these to share information, resources and support.
The lead criterion is: Delivering at Pace.
If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criterion only.
Candidate Guidance Support Session – Microsoft Teams
We will be running an overview of Success Profiles and the STAR approach including top tips for the application and interview process and an opportunity to ask general questions around our recruitment practices. Please note that this session is not role specific, so we will be unable to answer specific questions about roles we are advertising. If you would like to join us, please use the link below to join the call at the right time.
Thursday 19th September at 12:30: Join the meeting now
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
Benefits
- 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)
- Generous parental and adoption leave package.
- A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 28%
- 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 and diversity
Flexible Working Arrangements
HM Treasury views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they can 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; part-time, compressed hours and job sharing. Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees the flexibility to adjust their working patterns throughout the week which is subject to operational needs and line management approval.
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 can realise their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
HM Treasury operates an office based working approach across all Treasury sites - Darlington, London, and Norwich, and along with the rest of the Civil Service, has an expectation of a minimum of 60% attendance in the office, along with working remotely. This blended working approach allows you to work collaboratively, meet stakeholders face to face, support others and promotes a healthy work life balance (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review. All our offices have been recently modernised and designed to collaborate and connect with colleagues as well as desk and quiet space to allow a range of ways to work.
The office working expectation is linked to the location of the role. If you apply to a post in a single location, then you will not be able to meet this expectation at any of our other sites or move your role to another location.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Recruitment Timeline
Closing date: Thursday 26 September
Shortlisting: From 27 September
Interviews: w/c Monday 7 October
This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline.
If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile.
Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.
Eligibility Statement
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information.
Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Security Check (SC)
To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis once the advert closing date has passed.
Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you. Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.
These short videos address common concerns and preconceptions which applicants may have about national security vetting. If you have questions relating to security clearances, please contact HMTSecurityVetting@hmtreasury.gov.uk
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Georgia Anderson
- Email : georgia.anderson@hmtreasury.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk
Further information
