Recruitment Details | HM Treasury

Recruitment Process

The Director, Business and International Tax recruitment process is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

Applications will be sifted against the criteria set out in the person specification by a panel chaired by a Civil Service Commissioner. This competition will be Chaired by Commissioner, Jane Burgess.

Following a longlisting meeting, longlisted candidates will be interviewed by GatenbySanderson. Following a shortlisting meeting, a shortlist of candidates will progress to the final assessment stage.

Prior to final interview there will be fireside chats with Mike Williams (Director in Business and International Tax Group) and Beth Russell (Director General, Tax and Welfare) and ILAs (psychometric assessment).

Leadership Assessment:

Staff engagement panel exercise

If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to take part in a staff engagement panel exercise prior to the interview stage. This assessment will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather it is designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

A short presentation

If you are shortlisted, you will also be asked to do a 5 minute presentation. Further details will be provided in advance of the interview.

Final panel members

Beth Russell – Director General, Tax and Welfare, HMT
Jonathan Athow – Director General, Customer Strategy and Tax Design, HMRC
Jane Burgess, Civil Service Commissioner

Working arrangements

Location: London or Darlington

Hours of work: This role is available full-time (37 hours per week) or part-time (30 hours per week) and can be done on a permanent or loan or secondment basis of up to 2 years.

Benefits:

Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)
Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions. Find out more about Civil Service pensions
Onsite restaurant and coffee bar. The London office also offers a gym, showers and prayer room
Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving
Access to a retail discounts and cashback site
A Rental Deposit Advance Scheme to help meet the total costs of deposits for privately rented homes
A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity (e.g. women in the Treasury, ethnic minority network, LGBT* network, faith and belief network)

SCS modernised terms and conditions effective from 1 July 2013

Terms and conditions for Senior Civil Servants have been revised with effect from 01 July 2013.

For new entrants to the Civil Service:

Basic hours of work will be 42 hours per week, including daily meal breaks of one hour.
Your annual leave allowance will be 25 days in the first year, rising by one day per year (on the anniversary of your start date) to a maximum of 30 days after 5 years of service.
1 day of privilege leave will be given on account of the Queen’s birthday every year.

For existing civil servants on promotion:

Basic hours of work will be 42 hours per week, including daily meal breaks of one hour.
If you currently have any privilege leave over and above 1 day for the Queen’s birthday, this will be rebranded as annual leave.
If you have more than 30 days of annual leave in total (including any rebranded privilege leave), your annual leave will be capped at 30 days.
If you have less than five years’ civil service employment, your annual leave entitlement will be graduated according to length of service, i.e. 25 days in the first year, rising by one additional day for each year of service up to a maximum of 30 days after five years. (This will apply even if you currently have more leave than that entitlement.)

For existing civil servants on level transfer:
Your current contractual entitlements in relation to basic hours of work, annual leave, privilege leave, and occupational sick pay will continue to apply.

If in doubt about your eligibility to apply for this post, please contact GatenbySanderson for further advice. Individuals appointed to the Treasury will be subject to National Security Vetting. To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out applicants will normally need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 years. A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessary a bar to security clearance but the Department will need to consider on a case by case basis using all information that can be obtained following a successful application.

Complaints Procedure

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of recruitment based on fair and open competition with decisions made on the basis of merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ 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 HMT by email:
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Eligibility Statement

Individuals appointed to the Treasury will be subject to National Security Vetting. To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out applicants will normally need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. A lack of full UK residency in itself is not always a bar to security clearance but the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis using all information that can be obtained following a successful application.