Disability & Health Reform Leads

We are seeking experienced policy professionals to lead high-profile areas of the Government's Disability and Health Reform agenda. These roles offer the opportunity to shape major reforms that will improve outcomes for disabled people and those with health conditions, working closely with ministers, senior officials and key stakeholders across government and beyond.

Available opportunities include:

• Access to Work Policy Lead (Head of Access to Work), leading the reform of the Access to Work scheme to ensure it continues to provide effective and sustainable support for disabled people to start, stay and progress in work.
• Welfare Reform Policy Lead, leading work on major health and disability benefit reforms, including Child DLA, and working with Ministers, HM Treasury and No.10 to develop and deliver the Government's reform agenda.

Successful candidates will be strategic leaders with strong policy skills, excellent judgement and the ability to operate confidently in a fast-paced, high-profile environment.

Access to Work Policy Lead (Disability & Health Reform) 1 Role

The team is now working at pace to design the policy of fundamental reform of the Access to Work scheme, which contributes to the disability-related additional costs of working, whether that’s to help individuals to stay in work or start work. The scheme is 30 years old and requires reform to provide support to disabled people in a sustainable way that aligns with our understanding of the current labour market and the overall landscape for support disabled people to enter and progress in work. The current available role is as Head of Access to Work. This is an exciting time to lead this policy as it is high profile and with lots of scope for owning and shaping a policy area to have a wider reach and benefit more disabled people into work, working with employers. The post holder is expected to lead conversations with ministers and senior stakeholder (e.g. CEOs of leading charities) and will lead a team of around 5 people.

This is a wide-ranging, fast paced role, and the successful candidate will be expected to remain flexible as the policies around health and disability benefit reform and Access to Work develop. The role will involve:

• Leading an area of health and disability benefit reform policy – Access to Work.
• Working in partnership with a range of stakeholders, including other policy teams, analysts, legal, Private Office, Press Office/External Affairs and Service Delivery.
• Drafting and delivering high quality advice and briefing for ministers and senior officials on Access to Work Reform which considers the bigger picture, including latest evidence and analysis, to meet ministerial objectives.
• Leading ad hoc strategic work/projects in the area in response to ministerial priorities.

Welfare Reform Policy Lead (Disability and Health Reform) 1 Role

The division has responsibility for reform of health and disability benefits, including Universal Credit Health, Personal Independence Payment and Child DLA. This includes the development of the government response to the Milburn and Timms reviews and any future legislation for delivering these reforms.

The postholder will play a pivotal role in delivering these reforms, working across Policy Group, Ministers, HMT and Number 10 to obtain collective agreement on the shape of the reforms. This is a fast-paced role and responsibilities will evolve as the reforms are developed but the postholder will be expected to:

• Lead on the potential reforms to Child DLA, including how eligibility is assessed and working with Department for Education on the interaction with reforms of the Education, Health and Care Plan.
• Lead the programme of work on reform for young people, co-ordinating with DGs, Number 10 and HMT.
• Drafting and delivering high quality advice and briefing for ministers and senior officials on Health and Disability Reform which considers the bigger picture, including latest evidence and analysis, to meet ministerial objectives.
• Leading on the development of policy costings for the reformed system and prioritising the analytical work programme, engaging with the lead analyst and analytical teams to ensure costings and robust and quality assured
• Leading ad hoc strategic work/projects in the area in response to ministerial priorities.

For both roles successful applicants will:

• be a skilled, proactive and engaging leader, adept at nurturing high-performing teams, with a commitment to personal and team development and wellbeing.
• be an experienced policy professional and motivated self-starter with the ability to quickly get to grips with a range of complex policy issues.
• be capable of developing strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders in DWP and across government with No.10 and HMT, and where required resolving conflicting priorities across DWP to deliver ministerial priorities.
• have strong written and communications skills and be adept at advising seniors and ministers on complex policy issues.
• be comfortable with managing competing priorities delivering high quality work to tight timescales.
• have the opportunity to work at the heart of policy making within the Department and regularly work closely with senior officials, DWP Ministers and with other Government Departments on issues that impact the lives of millions of customers

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)

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

1. Application Process, Sift & CV

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and 500 word Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The CV is for reference only and will not be scored. You should provide a detailed account of your job history, highlighting any relevant experience in policy or related fields.

Your Personal Statement needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets all the experience criteria set out in the advert and not the published behaviours. Your statement must not exceed 500 words, and you are advised to take advantage of the full word count.

We are not looking at how much time you have spent in a job, but rather how you have performed. Your Personal Statement must show demonstrable evidence of what you did, how you did it, and what outcome was achieved. This should include the impact of your approach and evidence of your ability to take forward different approaches in different circumstances.

The standards detailed in the experience criteria are the minimum expectations for the role and only candidates with the strongest evidence will be invited to interview. In the event of a large number of applications, meeting the pass standard for the lead criteria 'an inclusive and effective leader' will determine if the other criteria are scored. Candidates will have to meet the standard for all criteria to progress to interview.

2. Interview Stage

If you are successful at the sift you will be invited to an interview. The interview will comprise behaviour-based questions. The guidance on Success Profiles explains these selection tools. Interviews will take place via MS Teams. Interviews will include questions based on the behaviours listed below:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace

We aim to conduct the sift in early September, followed by interviews in late September.

We welcome applications from a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, including those with disabilities. Disabled candidates who have applied under the Disability Confident Scheme will be progressed to the interview if they have met the minimum requirements at the sift stage. If we receive a large number of applicants the benchmarks for all applicants will be adjusted, including those being considered under the Disability Confident Scheme.

Important Location Information:

Please note that Caxton House, London is only available to existing DWP employees already based at Caxton House and Sanctuary Buildings, London. All other locations are available to all candidates.

When applying for these roles, you will be required to state in preference order which of the Hub locations you can work from. Please be aware these roles can only be carried out in the UK, not overseas, and your office base must be one of the following hubs :

• Quarry House, Leeds, LS2 7UA
• Caxton House, 1-11 Tothill St, London, SW1H 9NA
• King’s Court, Hanover Way, Sheffield, S3 7UF

Appointments will be made to candidates in merit.

The Department is committed to promoting flexible ways of working, whilst enabling the business to operate at maximum efficiency and will expect colleagues to work from a blend of locations, including some time working at home, as required.

Certain job roles may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

The corporate hub location will be the designated place of work and any remote or home working arrangement does not constitute a change to your designated place of work or contractual Terms and Conditions.

For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

• If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual Part Time Working Pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health).
• If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.

Disability Confident Scheme

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Reasonable Adjustments

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 the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.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 changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

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

Integrity, plagiarism and Civil Service Principles

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples of plagiarism can include:

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own
• Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

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.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check will be carried out.

Important

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

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.

Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP’s Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.

Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.

Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.

Any move to DWP 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 the Childcare Choices Website.

Feedback

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