Disability & Health Reform Leads

Job summary

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.

Job description

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

Person specification

To be considered for this role, you must be able to demonstrate the following experience criteria:

• An inclusive and effective leader (lead criterion)
• Proven experience of working in policy or policy analysis.
• The ability to bring together multiple perspectives to provide sound advice on complex policy proposals.
• Strong written communication

Behaviours

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

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,026, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £21,735 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

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 23 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