Head of Planning and Reporting - Retirement Services

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Wrexham; On-site; GBP 72,000 - 84,000; Full time

Job summary

A permanent Grade 6 leadership role is available at a leading government department. The successful candidate will oversee service delivery and workforce planning, ensuring effective management information is provided to senior leaders. This role involves significant collaboration with business partners and requires strong leadership and stakeholder engagement skills. The position offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package, including generous annual leave and support for work-life balance.

Benefits

Generous annual leave

Health and wellbeing support

Family friendly policies

Funded learning and development

Qualifications

• Experience in Workforce Planning for large-scale operations.
• Managing multiple recruitment campaigns effectively.

Responsibilities

• Maintain oversight of service delivery and workforce plans.
• Support development of transformation plans and risk management.

Skills

Planning

Organisational Skills

Leadership

Communication

Stakeholder Engagement

Job description

The successful candidate can be based in one of the following offices; Blackpool, FY1 3EJ, Burnley BB12 7NQ, Dover CT17 0TH, Dundee DD4 9FF, Motherwell ML1 3FA, Newcastle NE98 1BA, Preston PR1 1DD, Sunderland SR1 3EY, Swansea SA6 8AH, Wigan WN4 8SS, Wrexham LL11 1BW

Job Summary

A vacancy has arisen for a permanent Grade 6 leader to lead the Planning and Reporting Team.

This is a high-profile role, working with Senior colleagues within Retirement Services and senior Business Partners across DWP.

The role will involve maintaining an overall view of service delivery and workforce plans, ensuring effective management information is provided to Senior Leaders.

The role will also support the Directorate’s transformation, ensure oversight of transformation plans, working with Business Partners to ensure realistic assumptions regarding costs and benefits are agreed and accurately reflected in demand and supply plans.

Coupled with the planning and reporting responsibilities the postholder is the lead for all directorate recruitment and redeployment activity, ensuring supply levels across several complex services are maintained and affordable.

Job Description

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

• Maintaining an oversight of service delivery and workforce plans and assuring a stable platform exists for subsequent transformation activity.
• Working with DWP Business Partners to ensure accurate workload and resource forecasts are maintained, developing resourcing and recruitment plans as appropriate.
• Supporting the development and maintenance of Transformation plans, regularly updating senior leaders about progress, challenges, opportunities, ensuring that the current plans, processes and governance approaches in the directorate are connected / integrated.
• Maintaining Risk Management plans, ensuring risks are identified, mitigated and escalated as appropriate.
• Keeping under review information needs of the directorate and developing products / senior leader and ministerial briefings as required.
  
  

The Successful Candidate Will Be Responsible For

• Maintaining an oversight of service delivery and workforce plans and assuring a stable platform exists for subsequent transformation activity.
• Working with DWP Business Partners to ensure accurate workload and resource forecasts are maintained, developing resourcing and recruitment plans as appropriate.
• Supporting the development and maintenance of Transformation plans, regularly updating senior leaders about progress, challenges, opportunities, ensuring that the current plans, processes and governance approaches in the directorate are connected / integrated.
• Maintaining Risk Management plans, ensuring risks are identified, mitigated and escalated as appropriate.
• Keeping under review information needs of the directorate and developing products / senior leader and ministerial briefings as required.
  
  

Person specification

Key Criteria for the Role: The successful candidate will

• Have experience of Workforce Planning for a large-scale operational area, ensuring resources are deployed against key priorities, managing competing demands effectively. (Lead Criteria)
• Have experience of managing multiple recruitment campaigns, implementing best practice to ensure recruitment profiles are met, colleagues inducted and trained to meet operational priorities.
• Have excellent planning and organisational skills – ensuring development of quality plans, including effective monitoring arrangements, highlighting risk and appropriate mitigations.
• Have the experience and ability to mobilise and drive delivery plans and ways of working to support processes and governance to land the plans.
• Have excellent leadership skills, with the ability to build high performing teams that are engaged in the organisational purpose.
• Have excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to source and analyse insight and data and translate into coherent and connected plans.
• Have excellent stakeholder engagement skills and proven experience of stakeholder management at all levels, with a focus on building collaborative working relationships.
• Be flexible, resilient and willing to adapt quickly to change.
• If based in Wales, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable.
  
  

Alongside your salary of £72,664, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £21,050 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 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 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.
  
  

Selection process details

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

Application Process

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

CV

The CV is an online tool accessed through the Civil Service Jobsite and there is no requirement to upload your personal CV. Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility.This will be for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Therefore,please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

Personal Statement

To apply you will need to submit a Personal Statement of no more than 1250 words to display your skills, experience and knowledge against the key criteria.

When completing your personal statement, please read and understand the Key Criteria thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against.

Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criteria separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several key criteria.

You may not be able to meet all the criteria, but please ensure you evidence: the key personal requirements and what have you done that relates to the requirements. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used.

Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why, what you can do and the skills you have that are transferable to the key requirements, and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.

The evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. If evidence of plagiarism, or sharing of questions, information or answers throughout any part of the selection process is found, your application will be withdrawn.

Examples Of Plagiarism Can Include

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own
• Copying content from an online/published source
• Using forms of Artificial Intelligence to produce application content which you present as your own.
  
  

If you fail to submit your Personal Statement before the deadline your application will be withdrawn.

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

If you withdraw your application at any stage it will not be progressed any further.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criteria. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

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.

Interview

Candidates successful at the written sift stage will be invited to a face-to-face interview (location to be confirmed at interview stage) that will include delivering a 5-minute presentation followed by a mixture of Experience questions based on the person specification and Strengths questions.

This aims to be more of a conversation and explores what the candidate can and has done but also their potential.

To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the presentation information 5 days prior to the interview. This information should be treated as confidential.

Sift expected to commence week commencing 2 June 2025.

Interviews expected to commence week commencing 16 June 2025.

Results scheduled for release week commencing 30 June 2025.

Please note that the dates for sift, interviews, and results are only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change.

Further Information

Find out more about Working for DWP

A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made.

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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

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

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service/Disclosure Scotland 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 [e-mail] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email [e-mail]

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.

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including 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 Government Recruitment Service via [e-mail] 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.

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. 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.

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. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.

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

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

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.

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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

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 : Lisa Rogers
• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DWP by email: [e-mail].

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service Commission.