About the Group
Fiscal Group works on a wide-ranging set of issues at the heart of the Treasury’s objectives and of fiscal events such as Budgets. We are responsible for ensuring the sustainability of the government’s finances, overseeing its macroeconomic policy framework, and stable and efficient financing of government liabilities. Work includes advising the Chancellor on the appropriate levels of borrowing and debt (as well as broader commitments like guarantees & insurance), providing analysis of the government’s finances, overseeing financing raised for the government by the Debt Management Office and National Savings & Investments. We work with teams across the Treasury to support decisions on the full range of policy. We also have a particularly wide and deep range of relationships beyond the Treasury including the Office for Budget Responsibility, Bank of England, and the Office for National Statistics.
Delivering these objectives requires a range of skills and backgrounds, and we are proud of our diversity.
About the Team
The Debt & Reserves Management (DRM) team manages key financial assets and liabilities on the public sector balance sheet – using analysis, oversight and our stakeholder links to Bank of England, the Debt Management Office, National Savings & Investments (NS&I) and the Royal Mint.
This role is part of the Retail Debt and Cash Issuance (RDCI) branch in DRM, a friendly, supportive and dynamic team leading on a wide ranging, and high profile set of policy issues, with significant engagement from ministers and Special Advisers. The branch is responsible for developing strategy and legislation related to banknote and coins; working closely with the Bank of England and the Royal Mint; and sponsorship, policy and spending for NS&I. The post holder will be working in the NS&I side of the branch.
About the Job
NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK with 25 million customers and more than £220 billion invested. It plays a crucial role in raising finance to meet the government’s annual borrowing requirement, raising several billions of pounds a year for the government by issuing savings products like Premium Bonds and ISAs.
As an organisation, NS&I is part way through a major long-term transformation which will lead the business into a flexible scalable operation that can continue to serve savers and the government for generations to come.
As NS&I’s sponsor and spending team, RDCI supports NS&I in developing the strategic, operational, and financial framework it operates under. This covers a range of areas such as supporting NS&I in developing its strategy to raise finance, ensuring NS&I is adequately funded to deliver its objectives, reviewing NS&I’s performance against service delivery measures, budgets etc. RDCI is also responsible for advising Ministers on this framework and any wider policy or operational measures that impact NS&I’s performance and debt-raising role.
This is a stretching and exciting role with significant autonomy and exposure to seniors in NS&I. The successful candidate will:
- Lead on government’s retail financing policy, including analysing information relating to proposed interest rate changes on NS&I’s savings products, assessing the cost effectiveness of NS&I as a source of finance, advising seniors and Ministers on the annual retail financing requirement and considering the future role of retail debt financing. This will require working closely with private offices and leading the relationship with NS&I’s Retail Directorate to critically assess policy options and provide detailed and impactful advice to Ministers which balances HMT and NS&I’s views and interests. At present, this involves advising Ministers on proposed changes to interest rates on a near monthly basis.
- Develop, implement, and monitor the next phase of the Green Savings Bonds introduced at Budget 2021. This involves strategically assessing how this product sits alongside NS&I’s other products and creating and assessing policy options to integrate the product into NS&I’s product offering whilst maintaining transparency and meeting the requirements of the Green Financing Programme.
- Challenge and support NS&I in the delivery of its major transformation programme, a multi-billion-pound change programme currently in flight. This requires close and collaborative work with NS&I to monitor programme delivery and spend against agreed timelines and budgets whilst maintaining sight of risks and as needed, challenging risk management strategies or other elements of the programme. The post holder will often work closely with HMT’s central spending team and branch members who focus on overall NS&I spending to proactively manage any risks of over/under spending. As needed, the post holder will also lead HMT approval processes at key stages of the programme to ensure compliance with Green Book procedures and outcomes balance programme delivery with the interests of the taxpayer. This programme is a key interest for Ministers and the post holder will have the opportunity to lead on advice to Ministers.
- Lead policy and the relationship with the Bona Vacantia division of the Government’s Legal Department. This division is responsible for disposing of ownerless properties and estates and dissolved businesses which revert back to the state. This element of the role involves representing DRM at quarterly meetings to monitor inflows from the Bona Vacantia division and supporting the team as needed on ad-hoc policy issues relating to Bona Vacantia.
Candidate Drop-In Session
The hiring manager 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 ask any questions you may have. If you would like to join us, then use the appropriate link below to join the call at the right time.
Tuesday 14th January 2025 @ 15:30 - 16:00 - Join the meeting now (Meeting ID: 322566267519, Passcode: 9bv6Ri9j)
Friday 17th January 2025 @ 11:00 - 11:30 - Join the meeting now (Meeting ID: 331451322966, Passcode: SH695rv7)
If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date for applications to find out more about the job, please contact alysha.kassam@hmtreasury.gov.uk
