Deputy Director, KAI Benefits and Credits

Summary
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is the UK's tax payments and customs authority. We collect the money that pays for the UK's public services and give financial support to people. We help the honest majority to get their tax right and make it hard for the dishonest minority to cheat the system. Our work touches the lives of almost everyone in the country.

The Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI) Directorate in HMRC is one of the largest analytical teams in the Civil Service. We aim to put analysis at the heart of decision–making.

We are a friendly and supportive directorate of around 550 people. We provide analysis, research and statistics to inform policy and operational decisions. We have a key role in the Budget and Spring Statement process, working closely with policy partners in HMRC and HM Treasury (HMT) as well as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). We also work with Office of National Statistics (ONS), National Audit Office (NAO) and other government departments.

We are seeking candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and particularly welcome applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds and those with disabilities.

Job description
The role is to lead the KAI Benefits and Credits team, setting direction and ensuring the team produces high quality analysis that meets customer needs. We are expecting an increasing level of interest from Other Government Departments in collaborating with HMRC in using our data, which will be led from this team. We are also entering a transition period where an increasing number of tax credits customers will migrate to Universal Credit and the Tax Credits regime will close. The role holder will need to lead the team through these changes.

Responsibilities
Responsibilities Include but are not limited to:

• Providing ministers, HMRC and OBR with analysis (such as forecasts, monitoring and policy costings) relating to Tax Credits (including the transition to Universal Credit), Child Benefit and Tax–Free Childcare, that they need to deliver their objectives.
• Taking the lead in reporting KAI's data requirements when any changes in data relating to Benefits and Credits take place.
• Providing HMRC and Other Government Departments (OGDs) including DWP, Office of National Statistics (ONS), Home Office, DEFRA and NHS Digital with key data, analysis and insights from HMRC's PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) and Self–Assessment systems that helps them meet their objectives.
• Supporting operational decisions by measuring error and fraud; modelling compliance risks using predictive analytics; and evaluating the impact of new compliance initiatives, including upstream measures.? These estimates are also reported in the Annual Reports and Accounts, as is some other analysis from the team.
• Meeting the recommendations of the Office of Statistics Regulation review 'Strengthening the Quality of HMRC Statistics', for example around Reproducible Analytical Pipelines, and keep under review the quality and number of B&C statistics products.
• Leading the team through changes i.e. expected Tax Credits transition periods, and maintaining / improving staff engagement.
• Alongside the rest of KAI Senior Leadership Team, the post holder will need to show wider leadership, e.g. as a KAI location lead.

The accountabilities are:

• For analysis relating the Benefits and Credits, such as Tax Credits, Child Benefit and Tax Free Childcare, leading the team in this analysis, ensuring the analysis is fit for purpose for HMRC, HMT and OBR. This includes making any improvements to analysis.
• It includes a significant role in sharing data with other government departments, such as DWP, ONS and Home Office for analysis around labour markets, ensuring this is in line with legal processes and meets OGD needs. The will involve maintaining and developing stakeholder relationships.
• The post holder is accountable for signing off several statistical releases and for Error and Fraud and other estimates used in the Annual Report and Accounts.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

You will be required to: come from one of the analytical professions (economist, statistician, social or operational researcher, or Digital Data and Technology professions) and have strong, demonstrable and recent experience of working in related analytical roles as a leader in analysis; OR have strong, demonstrable and recent experience of working in analytical roles as a leader in analysis.

You must state which profession you are from on your application.

The post holder will need to have experience of:

Seeing the Big Picture: The ability to create a forward looking vision for KAI's work relating to Benefits and Credits and collaboration with other government departments, building on what is already in place. The ability to work through the complex nature of KAI's work to come up with creative and pragmatic solutions that deliver against KAI's and HMRC's objectives.

Leadership: You will have experience of providing visible leadership to deliver team or organisational/wider objectives, particularly leading through change.

Working together: You will have a track record of forming close partnerships with others inside and outside of the organisation. You will work closely with the other Deputy Directors within KAI as well as with colleagues in wider HMRC, and external stakeholders such as HM Treasury, NAO, Office for Budget Responsibility and Office for National Statistics. You will need to be persuasive in your views but also solution focussed to find a way through that best meets everyone's needs.

Communicating and Influencing: You will be an excellent communicator, actively ensuring a motivated, engaged and high performing team ethos and inclusive working environment across a number of office locations, which supports team members of diverse backgrounds. As well as being a visionary leader in analysis, you will need to communicate complex and technical matters clearly and concisely to seniors across HMRC