SCS1 Finance Deputy Director - Planning, Fiscal Events and Reporting

Job summary

DWP is looking to fill the the Finance Deputy Director, Planning, Fiscal Events and Reporting role.

Strategic Finance and Business Strategy Directorate set and maintain the Department’s business strategy; secure, allocate and optimise our financial resources; and assure the Department’s performance, so that the Department delivers its goals/objectives efficiently and effectively.
PFER leads on the Department's Financial Strategy and relationship with HMT to create, assure, and secure funding for effective and sustainable policies, delivering efficient outcomes to support DWP’s overall objectives.

The primary focus of the role is to lead our engagement with HM Treasury on some of the biggest decisions affecting government spending. In this pivotal role, you will steer the Department’s response to key fiscal events including the Spring Budget, Autumn Statement and Spending Reviews while overseeing the planning and allocation of our multi- billion-pound DEL budget.

Join us for a Virtual Engagement Session ​

Date: 20/03/2026 Time: 13:00pm

This virtual session is an opportunity for you to find out more about the role and what it's like leading the Finance directorate. You'll get the opportunity to hear directly from the vacancy holder, Alex Skinner and HR Director Sue Henley, who will provide an overview of the role and hold a Q&A. Join session here

Job description

Key Responsibilities include:

Leadership & People Development

• Empower and inspire your division to deliver excellent service and grow individual and team capability.
• Foster a positive, inclusive, and collegiate working environment that supports continuous improvement and professional growth.

Planning, Fiscal Events and Reporting

• Lead the Department’s engagement with HM Treasury and cross government partners, including managing the response to major fiscal events such as the Spring Budget, Autumn Statement and Spending Reviews.
• Plan, allocate and oversee the Department’s DEL budget, ensuring alignment with statutory responsibilities, ministerial priorities, and Spending Review commitments.
• Oversee formal requests and negotiations with HMT for policy or delivery changes with financial implications

Governance & Assurance

• Ensuring appropriate engagement and strong financial governance.
• Proactively manage AME risks and performance, strengthening governance through the DWP AME Board, DWP/HMT Senior Welfare AME Group, and enhanced ministerial oversight, including compliance with the Welfare Cap.
• Develop medium-term financial strategy and secure Executive Team and Ministerial agreement to annual DEL budgets.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders across DWP, managing expectations and influencing outcomes.
• Manage strategic relationships with HMT, negotiating investment for both AME and DEL budgets and mitigating financial risks to support departmental goals.

Professional Standards and Culture

• Promote evidence-based decision-making and uphold the highest standards of financial professionalism.
• Lead through complexity and ambiguity with resilience, self-awareness, and openness to feedback.

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their knowledge, experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Exceptional interpersonal, communication and influencing skills, with the professional credibility to operate confidently as a senior financial leader. You will have experience of building strong relationships with both internal and external senior stakeholders (Perm Secretary, Ministers, Director generals), generating trust and shaping strategic decision‑making through high‑quality financial insight.
• Highly effective analytical and data reasoning skills. Sound working knowledge of the key principles of financial management. The ability to procure, assemble, interpret, test and evaluate financial and business information to inform and enhance business decisions with a clear view of the financial implications
• Strong strategic financial leadership, including the ability to interpret and advise on complex fiscal issues; translate policy and operational concepts into robust financial strategies; and provide high‑quality assurance on financial modelling, governance material and investment decisions
• Solid understanding of fiscal events, public spending frameworks and financial risk management, which may include engagement with HMT on Spending Reviews, fiscal negotiations and investment cases.
• A strong track record of delivering challenging projects at pace, prioritising longer-term work alongside shorter-term asks. The ability to deliver through others and maintain professional standards under pressure.
• Able to inspire confidence and motivate others, creating a positive environment where people feel equipped and encouraged to use data, insight and digital tools effectively. Demonstrates strong leadership in building capability, supporting colleagues to develop skills, and fostering a culture of continuous learning, curiosity and improvement.
• You must hold, or be willing to fast track towards a full chartered level professional qualification awarded by a UK-recognised accountancy body: CIMA, ICAEW, ACCA, CIPFA, ICAS or Chartered Accountants Ireland. Your membership of one of these institutes must be up to date and active on the day you submit your application. If you are invited to interview, you will be asked to provide evidence of both your qualification status and your membership being active

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

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 and Experience.

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process outlined below no later than 23:55pm on Monday 6 April 2026

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years;​
• A personal statement (maximum 1250 words), explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification. ​

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer.

Reasonable Adjustments

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, especially those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk as soon as possible, before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what additional support or adjustments you might need during the recruitment process.

For further information regarding reasonable adjustments, please see following link: Reasonable Adjustments , Civil Service Careers

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Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.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 : Senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk
• Email : senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact: senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response, you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Candidate Pack Finance DD Planning Fiscal Events and Reporting FINAL Opens in new window (pdf, 563kB)