Policy Advisor

Job summary

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) are the public sector’s property valuation experts and advisers with a vision to be a world-leading provider of public sector valuations. Our work is vital to the collection of over £60 billion of revenue which goes back into communities, touching every citizen and every business across England and Wales.

We champion the values of professionalism, integrity, respect and innovation. We are committed to providing a collaborative and supportive working environment that encourages every colleague to contribute, grow and excel together. With opportunities to drive your own development and growth, we empower our colleagues to succeed by ensuring support at every step of their career journey.

Join the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) as a Policy Advisor and become a key player in shaping property tax policy across England and Wales. This exciting role offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the VOA and government departments, providing critical insights that influence high-level decision-making.

As a Policy Advisor there is flexibility to work across the VOA Policy Team, having a critical role including for managing cross government relations, policy development and maintaining strategic oversight of key and emerging issues, including from high-profile litigation and Business Rates revaluation exercises. Your strategic oversight will have a direct impact on financial, legal, and reputational risks across government.

The VOA holds a unique position in the Property Tax System and is the operational arm for delivering strategic policy for HM Treasury and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government as well as the Welsh Government. Where a need for policy change is identified, you will be responsible for impacting these, working with a wide range of stakeholders across the VOA to develop and communicate a single view to recommend and broker policy change with strategic policy partners across Government.

Job description

Role Overview

The role sits in the Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) Policy team, which bridges the VOA and our cross- Government departments across the property tax system. The role supports strong collaborative working across the VOA and with our cross-Government policy partners, identifying and communicating emerging issues and areas for improvement while developing potential policy options and advice that are considered by senior stakeholders, included Ministers.

The role supports the VOA’s Litigation and Settlement Strategy, which provides the formal framework within which the VOA seeks to resolve emerging and ongoing disputes against valuations for Business Rates and Council Tax. This includes consideration of the VOA’s highest profile cases, carrying significant policy, operational and reputational risks.

You will also play a key role in Business Rates revaluation exercises, specifically for the escalation to cross-Government of any emerging issues or developments. This will involve building strong relationships across the VOA to gather meaningful insight that you will use to regularly update cross-Government policy partners and Ministers on progress.

Key responsibilities

There is scope for flexible working across the Policy Team, key responsibilities include:

• Managing and gatekeeping relationships with cross-Government policy partners, maintaining regular engagement to understand wider Government priorities and impacts of potential policy options and interventions, bringing these together with VOA operational impacts.
• Management and tracking of cases referred through the Litigation and Settlement Strategy’s Governance process.
• Reporting on emerging issues, including high profile cases referred through the VOA’s Litigation and Settlement Strategy’s governance process, and developments resulting from rates revaluation exercises. Providing advice and recommendations on any escalations to cross-Government policy partners and Ministers.
• Co-ordinate, develop and impact assess policy position papers to provide a collective ‘one VO’ view on issues in response to commissions e.g. from Ministers or emerging strategic policyrisks e.g. resulting from high profile litigation. This involves using the VOA’s Strategic Impact Assessment – policy development framework aligned to HMRC activity and the Agency’s Transformation Change Lifecycle processes and subsequent governance.
• Proactively identifying areas for improvement within the VOA through engagement with operational partners and strategic litigation risks to take to other Government Departments, ensuring the resulting changes are understood, impacted and operable by the VOA, including ensuring all legal, financial, political and operational impacts are taken into account.
• Work with a wide range of VOA stakeholders to inform and develop a view on the impacts of any policy change, including operational, financial, legal and reputational. You will also be responsible for advising senior leaders on proposed actions.
• The role has potential for line management responsibilities.

Person specification

We’re looking for an enthusiastic individual with excellent drafting skills, the ability to manage a varied workload with often competing demands who understands the value of seeing the bigger picture and applying this to their day-to-day work.

We are seeking a highly analytical and strategic thinker with excellent communication skills and a strong background in either policy development, case management or governance structures. The ideal candidate will have experience in managing complex stakeholder relationships, a deep understanding of governance processes, and the ability to navigate sensitive political environments.

Essential Requirements

• Experience in at least one of the following areas: policy development, case management, governance structures (processes and frameworks) or private office or secretariat experience, working with senior leaders and/or Parliament and Ministers.
• Sound judgement and ability to manage financial, legal, operational and political risks.
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships within the organisation and across Government, while managing competing demands and viewpoints.
• Proactive approach, horizon scanning and ability to monitor emerging and existing trends of activity and how they may be perceived externally, maintaining political awareness.
• Excellent communication skills, stakeholder management and influencing and negotiating, both verbal and in writing, including tailoring key messages on complex and political issues.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to research, analyse and summarise vast and complex information, applying wider considerations and creative thought to solutions, aligned to agreed processes, and an ability to use evidence to form a recommended course of action where existing processes do not exist / apply.
• Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills with the capacity to quickly grasp complex issues and distil them effectively, managing multiple high-profile projects simultaneously while meeting tight deadlines.

Desirable

• You will ideally have a good understanding of the Property Tax System.
• Understanding of primary and/or secondary legislation or experience working with lawyers.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,987, Valuation Office Agency contributes £12,743 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We offer a range of flexible working options, a generous leave allowance that starts at 25 days (increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days) and a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. We also offer:

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• Family friendly policies including 26 weeks full pay for maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme offering comprehensive wellbeing support.
• To learn more about the extensive benefits we can offer you as a VOA employee please download our Benefits Booklet: VOA_benefits_booklet.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

If you can meet our person requirements above, we are keen to hear from you.

To apply for this post, you must complete an online application with the following:

A CV setting out your Job History and previous Skills and Experiences.

A Personal Statement (maximum 750 words), please outline your suitability for the role. Please pay particular attention to the ‘Essential Requirements’ and ‘Person Specification’ outlined in the advert when providing your answer.

Sift - 10-03-2026 – 13-03-2026

Please note these dates are provisional and may be subject to change.

We will assess you on your CV and Personal Statement.

Should there be a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be made on the Personal Statement against the lead essential requirement, Experience in at least one of the following areas: policy development, case management, governance structures (processes and frameworks) or private office or secretariat experience, working with senior leaders and/or Parliament and Ministers.

Interviews - W/C 30-03-2026

Please note these dates are provisional and may be subject to change. These will be confirmed should you be invited to interview.

Interviews are currently taking place using Microsoft Teams Video. We will provide more detail if you are shortlisted for interview.

We will assess you on the Behaviours listed in the job description, Strengths & Presentation.

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

Behaviours

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did what your thought process was and so on.

Presentation

You will also be required to conduct a 5-minute presentation. information on the presentation topic will be provided to you if you are shortlisted for interview.

Application Hints and Tips

For more information on Success Profiles, tips on how to write a successful application and find out more about what’s involved in the application process please visit About the application process , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk).

Further Information

You will be joining the department during the transition of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) into HMRC. For this reason, the role will start on VOA terms and conditions for a temporary transition period. After this, your employment will move to HMRC Terms and Conditions.

As part of the application process you will be asked to tell us which of the locations available you can work in. You will be able to specify up to 2 options. Please be aware that you can be posted to any location that you put in your preferences. If you would only like to be posted to one location, please confirm one location only.

Successful candidates must select one of the locations noted in this advert as their base office and will be expected to undertake regular travel to this location under the Agency’s hybrid working policy.

Due to the way the CS Jobs system is set up, when choosing your preferred locations, you will find that the Canary Wharf location will not appear on the list of options.

Should you wish to choose Canary Wharf as a location then please select Tower Hamlets.

Any move to VOA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

The VOA is an office-based organisation that supports flexible working. By default, everyone in the VOA is a hybrid worker with options to work in the office, at home or out and about, depending on the work they’re doing that day and where it’s best done.

VOA employees only: If you are currently in receipt of DTA as a result of a VOA office closure/restructure and it is agreed for you to take up this role in your current location, you may continue to receive DTA for the remainder of the period you can claim for. Please check with the Vacancy Holder on preferred locations for this role before you apply.

This post is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish Citizen, under the EU settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for this post in relation to the Skilled Worker Visa route before applying.

To be eligible for sponsorship you will usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of £38700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria.

Ensure you are eligible before applying for this post.

You can also contact resourcingteam@voa.gov.uk for further support.

Pre-employment Checks

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Reasonable Adjustment

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application please

• Click here for more information: Reasonable Adjustments , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)
• Contact voarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible.
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process.

Reserve Lists

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 6-month reserve list.

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Starting Work

The successful candidates will normally take up duty within one month from notification of successful completion of pre-employment checks.

Applying

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email voarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Concerns/Complaints

The Valuation Office Agency’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, you may make a complaint, by contacting the Central Recruitment Team at the following address: resourcingteam@voa.gov.uk.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint you have the right to complain to the Civil Service Commissioners.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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) (opens in a new window)
• 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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Lance Roberts
• Email : lance.roberts@voa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : VOARecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk