Policy Adviser – Housing Spending

Are you interested in a wide-reaching role sitting at the heart of government and HM Treasury’s objectives with strong interest from senior ministers? If so, then we have the role for you!

About the Team

The Housing, Planning and Cities team is a friendly team of about 20 people. We are responsible for over £10 billion of public spending each year, covering a huge range of government priorities including homelessness, housing, planning reform and local economic growth across the UK.

Our work is at the centre of government, and is an exciting place to learn, develop and build an understanding of how government policy making works. We work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) to ensure public services are as effective as possible, and provide good value to the taxpayer.

About the Job

The role will evolve over the coming months to reflect government priorities but will involve negotiating with MHCLG at the Spending Review over housing spending alongside driving forward reform of the private and social rental sectors.

In this role, you will be:

• Managing spending control for housing supply programmes to ensure they are delivered efficiently and investments deliver good value for money for government.
• Leading work on housing supply programme design as we work towards Phase 2 of the Spending Review, collaborating with MHCLG to establish an evidence base and assess effectiveness of previous interventions.
• Spearheading work on reforms to housing tenure across the private and social rental sectors, including social rent, renters’ rights, and housing safety.
• Working across HMT to coordinate efforts to support homeownership, working with colleagues in tax and financial services, including on potential reforms of the mortgage market.
• Supporting the wider team during fiscal events and the Spending Review, including negotiating with MHCLG, preparing key products for ministers and a public audience.

About You

You don’t need to be a policy professional or have any specific qualifications to apply for the role. 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.

You should have an ability to prioritise different workstreams effectively to meet fast paced deadlines, adapt your communication appropriately for the audience, and be able to develop conclusions from multiple sources to support your confident decision making.

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 28.97%
• 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

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.