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About HM Treasury

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives across the country, the Treasury is the department for you! We sit at the centre of everything that the Government does and have provided advice on economic policy and decisions that affect the public finances throughout the country’s history. A Treasury career continues to offer an exciting opportunity to be part of the decision making that affects the whole of the UK.

Working at the heart of government, we collaborate with other departments to ensure public money is spent well and to drive strong and sustainable economic growth. Our work ranges from protecting customers through to the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, supporting people across the country through the COVID 19 furlough scheme and Plan for Jobs as well as helping first time buyers buy their first home.

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

The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring people together across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important issues of the day.

HM Treasury in Darlington will be joined by the Department for International Trade, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Competition and Markets Authority, the Department for Education and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

About the Group

Strategy, Planning and Budget (SPB)

Strategy, Planning and Budget operates at the heart of the Treasury to develop the Department’s overall strategy and business plan, assess performance and risk, and help deliver its objectives with a large, flexible project team who work on ministerial priorities across the whole range of the department’s policy responsibilities. We also co-ordinate the Chancellor’s annual Budget, the Finance Bill and the Treasury’s tax strategy, as well as coordinate the Treasury’s responses to the COVID-19 Public Inquiry and provide support to ministers and officials who are Inquiry witnesses. SPB also promotes excellent policymaking across the department and houses the Darlington Leadership Team, which works to ensure the successful delivery of the Darlington Economic Campus (DEC).

Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions (PTWP)

We work to build a tax and welfare system that supports the government’s goals of fiscal sustainability, economic growth, and fairness. In doing so, we look after high-profile areas including personal taxes, labour markets, welfare, tax administration, pensions, tax avoidance, and savings. We also coordinate spending controls for both HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions. In doing so, the Group is responsible for over £400bn in tax receipts and £300bn in welfare spending, impacting the lives of millions of citizens across the UK. The Group also has a wider role to assess the overall impact of changes made to taxes and benefit on households across the UK.

Our work means that we are often at the centre of ministers’ decision making, and we play a significant part in the Budget and the Spending Review. Our group works closely with colleagues at HMRC, DWP and Number 10, as well as with a wide variety of external stakeholders.

PTWP is a friendly, diverse and inclusive Group, with a wide range of backgrounds, specialisms and working patterns. We have an active ‘Wellbeing Plan’ focussed on learning, management excellence, and belonging.

About the Team

Strategy, Planning and Budget (SPB)

As part of the Group Management Services Team (GMS), you will work alongside four other PAs, all of whom provide personal assistance services to the Group Management Team (GMT) as well as a range of administrative support and business planning services to the wider group. The role is an excellent opportunity for high-performing candidates looking to stretch themselves in a high-profile and fast-paced environment, assisting up to three Deputy Directors within the Strategy, Planning and Projects team.

Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions (PTWP)

The Group Management Services (GMS) team in PTWP is a friendly, flexible and collaborative team, supporting the wider group. We provide personal assistance and business support to the Group Management Team (GMT; the senior civil servants who collectively run the teams in the PTWP group) and provide a range of administrative support and business planning services to the wider group.

Personal Assistants are part of a dedicated team across HM Treasury who help with the smooth running of policy and operational teams, and who are integral to the work of the Treasury.

The role of a Personal Assistant at HM Treasury is varied and exciting and gives individuals a fantastic opportunity to experience working at the heart of Government whilst also providing them with the opportunity to work alongside senior leaders. If you are organised, efficient and people-focused, then we would love to hear from you.

Key Accountabilities

1. Provide PA support to three Deputy Directors

• Building strong, open, collaborative relationships with Senior Leadership to understand their preferences, areas of responsibility and priorities, developing and maintaining positive relationships with their key internal and external partners, as well as their wider team.
• Proactively monitor and anticipate problems, issues or tasks that the Deputy Directors may encounter; flagging issues in a timely manner to ensure that they are resolved quickly.
• Managing the Deputy Directors diaries. Prioritising the most significant meetings, using judgement and knowledge of their key partners, and resolving diary clashes.
• Supporting the Deputy Directors in the running of their day, pulling them out of meetings or managing partners’ expectations if they are running late. Ensuring that they receive meeting papers in advance and setting aside reading time if necessary.
• Handling inboxes as required. Using initiative and judgement to proactively forward emails / papers / messages to others across the team when the Deputy Directors are away and prioritising ready for their return.
• Taking minutes in regular Group Management meetings and on an ad-hoc basis in team meetings at the Deputy Directors request.
• Submitting expenses claims and making travel bookings on behalf of the Deputy Directors when requested.

2. Providing support to the wider group

• Provide high-quality service to the group for meetings involving the Deputy Directors, including ensuring rooms are booked with all appropriate equipment (e.g. video conference facilities) and, where relevant, making arrangements for external visitors to access the building.
• Support wider Group business management including maintaining mailing lists, assisting with the administration of recruitment campaigns, training new staff and running internal bonus rounds.
• Support group culture including ‘on boarding’ new starters, Knowledge Management, Group comms, and social events.
• Provide cover for the other PAs in the Group Management Services Team (GMS) when they are unwell or on leave, by monitoring the inboxes and diaries of the Directors/Deputy Directors they support when needed.

3. Specific to the Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions (PTWP role):

• Providing proactive, comprehensive operational and administrative support to two or more Deputy Directors and their teams, managing their emails; organising their diaries, and taking responsibility of booking their travel and meeting rooms.
• Coordinating correspondence such as Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information requests, responding in a timely manner, within set timeframes and to a quality standard.

Required Behaviours, Experience and Behaviours:

The lead criteria is: 1. Experience - Experience of providing administrative support in fast paced environment.

If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criteria only, which will usually be a behaviour. This may be an experience or technical skill, but only where critical to the position.

We will assess the below further criteria in your application form;

2. Working Together - Ability to build relationships with a wide and diverse group of stakeholders (from Directors to peers) to provide PA and broader support to Strategy, Planning and Budget Group GMT and the broader group.

3. Making Effective Decisions - Excellent judgement and the ability to anticipate and solve problems before they arrive (e.g., diary clashes, urgent issues which arise).

4. Managing a Quality Service – use initiative to identify risks and resolve issues immediately and proactively implementing processes/systems to enhance the service delivered to Directors and colleagues across the group.

Candidate Guidance on Completing your Application Form

Where will we assess success profiles across your application form.

• Behaviours - these will be assessed individually with a 250-word statement per behaviour. The application form will indicate which behaviour is being assessed each time you provide a statement, and we are ideally looking for an example using the below STAR method to demonstrate this behaviour in line with the full criteria stated
• Experience - this will be assessed individually with a 250-word statement per experience criteria. You will give the answer in the personal statement section under “statement of suitability” using the below STAR method, and be given direct guidance at this stage on the experience we are looking for you to demonstrate

All elements of the success profiles will be linked to a defined criterion that demonstrates the behaviour, experience or technical skills. It is beneficial to ensure your answer focuses on the full criteria, and not just the related success profile, to give you the best chance or providing the evidence the panel wants to assess.

In your statements, it is best to focus on one example in each section to allow you to provide enough detail in your answer and use all the words you have been allocated. Examples from a range of roles across your application will demonstrate that you have the skills, experience and behaviours we are looking for. We would also advise you to use examples that best meet the criteria, even if it is a few years old.

How to Structure your Answer

Please use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach when writing your application answers.

• Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
• Task - The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
• Action - What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use “I”, not “we” to explain how your actions lead to a result.
• Result - Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience.

Notes to Candidates

• Please refer to the candidate FAQ document which is a link on the job advert – this will provide you with guidance on completing the application form. Please contact [email protected] if you have any issue accessing this document.
• At HM Treasury, to maximise diversity and inclusion within our workforce, we operate a fair, open and anonymous recruitment process. This means that the sift panel will only be able to assess you on the written evidence supplied in your application answers. They will not have access to personal information.
• You may be asked to provide some CV details during your application; however these will NOT be assessed during the process, but will be used to support discussions at interview – please ensure you put all information you would like to be scored against in your behaviour, experience and technical skill statements .
• You will be assessed on your skills, experience and behaviours through the online application form. When completing your application form, please outline how you meet the requirements as detailed in the ‘Essential Criteria ‘section of this job description. This will give you the best chance to provide the evidence that the panel wants to assess. More guidance can be found here – completing your application.
• If we receive a large number of applications, applications will be assessed initially against the lead criterion alone. You will then be assessed against the other criteria if you have met the minimum score on the first criterion.
• Find out more about how the Civil Service assesses candidates and uses Success Profiles to test skills, experience and behaviours in applications and interviews.
• Applications are not reviewed until the closing date has passed. You will be notified of the outcome of your application as soon as the recruitment panel has reviewed all the applications.

Support to Candidates

Candidate Guidance Support Session

We will be running an overview of Success Profiles and the STAR approach; top tips for the application and interview process and an opportunity to ask general questions around our recruitment practices. If you would like to join us, then use the link below to join the call at the right time.

19 April 2023 12:30-13:15 Click here to join the meeting

Candidate Drop-In Session

We 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 the recruitment process. If you would like to join us, then use the appropriate link below to join the call at the right time.

Thursday 27th April, 12:30 – 13:15

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 319 815 804 050
Passcode: Snxhy8

Download Teams , Join on the web

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

• 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)
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27%
• 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 (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)

Flexible working arrangements:

HM Treasury views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to 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; working from home, compressed hours and job sharing. Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees to take up to an additional 2 days off each month, providing you work enough hours to meet business need.

We also offer a generous parental and adoption leave package.

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 are able to realise their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

Job contact :

Name :
Katy McNamara
Email :
[email protected]
Telephone :
07714 722 707

Recruitment team :

Email :
[email protected]