Senior Policy Adviser

Job summary

We are MHCLG

The Local Government Finance (LGF) directorate works across government to ensure that councils have the funding they need to deliver the services that we all rely on, including social care, support for people experiencing homelessness, waste collection and leisure centres. In total, councils spend around £120bn a year, more than £1 in £7 spent by the public sector, and the directorate’s work has a significant influence on the whole of government and is a key priority for our ministers. The directorate is made up of 110 people across five divisions and includes the Local Authority Financial Risk team which this role sits within.

The Local Authority Financial Risk team supports the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s role in overseeing the funding provided to local government. This is an important area with significant interest from ministers, senior officials, and other departments including HM Treasury.

We work closely with local authorities and teams across government to understand and monitor the drivers of financial pressure and risk in the local government sector and drive government’s response to this through our policy work. The team directly works with the local authorities who are experiencing the most acute financial pressures, which can include assessing requests for exceptional financial support and making the appropriate recommendations to ministers. Our team also plays an active role in the department’s response to councils exhibiting or at risk of Best Value failure; helping local authorities experiencing failure, including those in statutory intervention, to secure continuous improvement and to recover.

Job description

As a Senior Policy Adviser in the LA Financial Risk team, you will build an excellent understanding of the financial pressures facing local authorities and of how the wider local government finance stewardship system works. You will be integral to building strong relationships within the organisation, across government, with HMT, and with senior figures in local authorities. You will be able to deliver timely and quality results, engage confidently with stakeholders and colleagues at different levels, draw on others’ expertise and experience to develop your approach, apply critical judgement to make decisions, and negotiate and influence effectively. You will be adept at handling different types of information (including financial) and reaching well-informed judgements. You will be flexible, resilient, and able to keep an eye on how your work fits into the wider priorities of the directorate. You will be a reliable member of the team who will regularly deputise for Grade 7s as required. Your responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:

• Identifying, pursuing and implementing new ways of doing things and challenging existing processes.
• Leading the drafting of advice for ministers and senior officials and development of new policy, proactively identifying where advice is required.
• Delivering on key priorities for example delivering the external assurance programme with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
• Leading relationships with local authorities in complex failure and creating an effective bridge between local and central government.
• Creating bespoke products for a range of audiences, including ministers, Director Generals, Directors, and HM Treasury.
• Building and maintaining strong cross-government relationships with key stakeholder departments, such as the Department for Health & Social Care, Department for Education and the Department for Transport, and within the department, such as in Local Government Stewardship, Reorganisation and Housing.
• Deputising for Grade 7s across the team.
• Delivering key oversight products and boards.
• Contributing to the wider objectives of the team and team culture.

Person specification

• You can demonstrate that you can quickly understand complex information from a range of sources and can identify how it fits into the wider picture.
• Strong ability to work collaboratively across teams and confidently represent government with external stakeholders and engage with a wide range of views.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor written work to different audiences and explain complex or technical issues clearly to non-specialists.
• You can manage competing priorities, stay highly organised, and proactively identify actions and next steps to drive work forward.
• Strong influencing skills, including the confidence to provide appropriate challenge constructively and effectively.
• Effective problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify risks proactively and take appropriate action to mitigate them.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,004, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,747 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Ability , Behaviours , Strengths ,

Stage 1: Sift

• Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing (Lead Behaviour)

• Behaviour: Delivering at Pace

• Behaviour: Making Effective Decisions

• Behaviour: Seeing The Big Picture

There is a 250-word limit per question.

When writing your application, remember:

• the assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially

• do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers

• if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Seeing The Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Making Effective Decisions, Delivering at Pace

• Ability: Presentation assessing ability

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview. the presentation will be assesed against ability

Sift and Interview

Sifting is envisaged to take place starting 05/06/2026

Interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

Disability Confident Scheme (DCS)

We are a Disability Confident employer.

We apply a fair and proportionate interview process for all candidates. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to progress candidates who apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and meet the required minimum selection criteria.

However, where high application volumes are received, progression to interview may be limited to those who best meet the role criteria. In these circumstances, the benchmark required to proceed to interview may be raised for all candidates.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database

• Appeals and Complaints

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office:

London Office: + CTC

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

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 counter-terrorist 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

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 : Alex Lim
• Email : Alex.Lim@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk