Vacancy -- Child Poverty Review Lead

'Pan Wales' means that the location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location, but requests will be taken into consideration.

The post holder will drive forward the First Minister’s commitment to re-engineer existing funding programmes to ensure that they have the maximum impact on the lives of children living in poverty. A number of initiatives are already in place across Welsh Government that contribute to putting more money into people’s pockets. With all medium to long term forecasts predicting the rise of child poverty across Wales due to the UK Government’s tax and welfare reforms, and the fact that the economic impacts of Brexit will have greater impact on vulnerable people, we need to ensure that Welsh Government funding spent on poverty mitigation has the maximum impact in the here and now. There is a need to focus more strategically on reducing poverty by redirection of resources and boosting incomes. The post holder will work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders across a wide range of organisations, and experts, to consider the current evidence and practice leading to the development of refreshed cross government policy and informing delivery in relation to child poverty.

• Develop a better understanding of what is actually happening in the lives of children living in poverty; the costs families face, including the poverty premium of children in a low income household; the components that go into enabling a family to live with “dignity”; and the variety of criteria and access points to these cash benefits, and how access to these cash benefits can be simplified / streamlined, raising awareness amongst eligible families.
• Working across government departments to develop options to reduce costs, redirect resources, and boost incomes which focus on building on the knowledge of what goes into enabling a “decent” standard of living; making recommendations for adapting policies and programmes to increase their contribution to reducing child poverty, and to make a real difference to the lived experience of children living in poverty.
• Develop collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, such as, the End Child Poverty Network, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Bevan Foundation, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Hub, the Children’s Commissioner, Save the Children, Children in Wales, Public Service Boards and Regional Partnership Boards.
• Ensure that the voices of children and young people and families help to shape the work through direct engagement, but also utilising partners’ existing engagement mechanisms e.g. Children in Wales, the Youth parliament and innovative approaches, such as, the work developed by Swansea City and County Council on engaging with young people.
• Turn the outcomes and actions of the review into a strong viable programme of activity securing cross government Ministerial support, and also from lead policy areas. Develop a timetable for delivery and implementation enabling this review to inform the budget planning process going forward.

Close working with Welsh Ministers and Senior Officials in a fast moving environment. Leading the way in developing new approaches to reducing child poverty in Wales a key cross cutting priority for the Welsh Government. Extensive stakeholder engagement working closely with public bodies, city deals, private and third sector to help influence the scale of change to tackle child poverty.

09/09/2019, 16:00

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

• UK Visas and Immigration - GOV.UK

• Nationality rules – GOV.UK

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

• Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
• Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
• For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
• Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have a disability which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to a disability in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.