Policy Adviser - Special Situations

North East Combined Authority; Tees Valley; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 51,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Flexible working patterns

Generous parental and adoption leave

Job summary

The HM Treasury’s Enterprise and Growth Unit is seeking a senior analyst to lead on corporate distress cases, using financial information to advise ministers and reflect taxpayers’ interests.

You will build influential relationships across government and with external partners to develop high‑quality commercial advice, deciding when the government should intervene or disinvest, and shaping policy for sectors affected by distress.

Responsibilities

• Lead on situations where companies encounter financial difficulties for HM Treasury, using corporate financial information to advise decision making, often at pace.
• Build positive relationships and communicate optimally with colleagues across government - including the Department for Business and Trade, No.10, Cabinet Office, UK Government Investments, and other relevant bodies - to represent HM Treasury’s interests in company interventions.
• Work with colleagues inside the organization and with outside partners. These include Treasury spending teams, external advisers, and government bodies beyond the immediate department. Together, develop high-quality advice on commercial matters. This includes deciding if the government should intervene when companies face financial difficulties or want to disinvest from the UK.
• Supporting the strategic oversight of active casework, ensuring regular updates are provided for the Chancellor, ministers, and senior officials across government. This involves supporting the ongoing development of tools such as the cross-Whitehall digital tracker for supervising company distress case activities (in partnership with No.10).
• Oversee our active company distress casework pipeline and processes, working optimally across HM Treasury and wider government to develop and explain best practice for considering commercial interventions in financially distressed companies. This includes developing policies, providing training and advice, and signposting colleagues to relevant sources of expertise.
• Working with Treasury and Whitehall on the long-term approach to areas affected by sectoral or company distress. This includes policies affecting various economic sectors and individual companies and their finances. Projects will be driven by senior and ministerial priorities; for example, other team members have contributed to the government’s Industrial Strategy.

Job description

• Salary: £44,600 to £50,906
• Contract Type: Permanent
• Working Pattern: This post is available on a full-time, part-time or job-share basis, and flexible working hours can be accommodated.
• Location: London / Darlington

About the Team

The Enterprise and Growth Unit (EGU) promotes balanced economic growth and higher efficiency for the UK. We provide analysis and advice on enterprise, innovation, private sector investment and an efficient transition to a low-carbon economy. The department dedicated to business expansion and development has a varied and exciting agenda. We work closely with many teams across the Treasury.

We also work alongside multiple other departments and Government organisations to ensure that we are thinking creatively, spending wisely, and acting ambitiously to deliver these goals.

Members of Special Situations and Industrial Strategy (SSIS) come from a diverse range of backgrounds from the corporate world, public sector and beyond. Our priority is to develop all our team members to make the most of their abilities.

We are the go-to team for sectoral and company work; providing advice to the Chancellor regular on strategy as well as acute short term issues. Our analysis branch works closely with policy teams across HMT, providing and feeding into far-reaching analysis on companies and sectors. As part of this, we lead on the Industrial Strategy within HMT. We have responsibility for foundational sectors like metallurgy and chemical manufacturing. Our teams helped develop the UK’s new modern Industrial Strategy. They are now working with BIST and across government to deliver it.

We have small teams that focus specifically on the Steel and Chemicals industries, supporting sophisticated commercial negotiations with companies and developing strategies for the sectors. The special situation branch handles bespoke commercial interventions for strategically important companies, including financially distressed firms or those looking for investment. We sponsor HMT owned arm’s length bodies (UKGI and The Royal Mint) and take a strategic approach to corporate finance issues and wider management of government owned assets.

About the Job

In this role, you will:

1. Lead on situations where companies encounter financial difficulties for HM Treasury, using corporate financial information to advise decision making, often at pace. You may be assigned responsibility for company distress cases or oversee specific workstreams within larger and more sophisticated negotiations. You will provide recommendations to ministers that reflect the best interests of the UK and its taxpayers.
2. Build positive relationships and communicate optimally with colleagues across government - including the Department for Business and Trade, No.10, Cabinet Office, UK Government Investments, and other relevant bodies - to represent HM Treasury’s interests in company interventions.
3. Work with colleagues inside the organization and with outside partners. These include Treasury spending teams, external advisers, and government bodies beyond the immediate department. Together, develop high-quality advice on commercial matters. This includes deciding if the government should intervene when companies face financial difficulties or want to disinvest from the UK.
4. Supporting the strategic oversight of active casework, ensuring regular updates are provided for the Chancellor, ministers, and senior officials across government. This involves supporting the ongoing development of tools such as the cross-Whitehall digital tracker for supervising company distress case activities (in partnership with No.10).
5. Oversee our active company distress casework pipeline and processes, working optimally across HM Treasury and wider government to develop and explain best practice for considering commercial interventions in financially distressed companies. This includes developing policies, providing training and advice, and signposting colleagues to relevant sources of expertise.
6. Working with Treasury and Whitehall on the long-term approach to areas affected by sectoral or company distress. This includes policies affecting various economic sectors and individual companies and their finances. Projects will be driven by senior and ministerial priorities; for example, other team members have contributed to the government’s Industrial Strategy.

We work in a fast paced part of HMT and sometimes we need to work outside our core responsibilities to support policy development and implementation across a range of growth policy issues. Our branches work closely together and flexibly, so the successful candidate can expect the opportunity to be involved in other policy projects across the team.

About You

We're looking for a person able to weigh incomplete or conflicting evidence and strategic considerations. They must reach good judgments on sophisticated, often contending issues that involve corporate finance. They'll have strong communication and leadership skills. They can work expertly across teams to build strong connections and persuade many internal and external collaborators. They'll also understand how individual policy issues contribute to wider strategic objectives and use this understanding to support effective decision-making. We also need someone who can communicate sophisticated issues clearly, form effective relationships and influence senior stakeholders to support delivery of shared objectives.

Some of the Benefits our people love!

• 25 days annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the King's birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant). Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees to take up to an additional 2 days off each month
• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)
• Generous parental and adoption leave packages
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions of 28.97%
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme and season ticket advances
• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity

If you need any reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process, please tell us about this in your online application form.