Apply before 11:55 pm on Wednesday 14th April 2021

Application only through this link. No CV’s please.

Summary

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice.

Our application system is crafted to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name or any of your personal details. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/about/equality-and-diversity

HMRC

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) influences all aspects of society: alleviating child poverty; tackling climate change; making the UK economy a vibrant and attractive place to do business; understanding what drives taxpayer behaviour and, since the beginning of the COVID crisis, playing a central role in delivering key parts of the Chancellor’s economic support package.

HMRC’s vision is to be a trusted, modern tax and customs department that will fit with the way our customers run their businesses and their lives, reduce the tax gap, enhance the customer experience, keep costs down, and operate in a way that is recognised as fair. It means we’ll be on the side of our customers when they’re trying their best to get things right, while tackling the small minority who set out to cheat the system. It also means creating a great place to work in HMRC by nurturing a culture of respect for all our colleagues.

About us in KAI

Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI) is a directorate of around 500 people at the heart of HMRC and Customer Strategy and Tax Design (CS&TD).

We are currently recruiting Senior Social Researchers and are looking for candidates who can demonstrate:

• Strong social policy, social research methods and/or analytical, statistical and numeracy skills.

• An interest in the policy process and want to see research having an impact on government decisions.

Job Description

HMRC is a mainstream Government Social Research (GSR) department with over 100+ social research posts, from Research Officer to Senior Civil Service grades, working in multi-disciplinary analytical teams. Regular rotation exercises mean that researchers can have the opportunity to work in posts across many of our teams, which include:

Compliance – Our work on tax compliance is split into two analytical teams: Compliance and Debt Operations, and Customer Compliance Strategy. These teams provide analysis across a wide range of compliance areas in HMRC: from analysis to recommend how and when HMRC intervenes with customers to understanding the overall impacts of those interventions on tax receipts and taxpayer behaviour. The team also provides analysis to influence and support HMRC’s strategy on offshore tax evasion and regularly publishes internationally acclaimed ‘tax gap’ analysis.

Business Taxes – We produce analysis for Ministers, HM Treasury and HMRC colleagues covering Corporation Tax for large businesses, including the banking sector, small business taxation issues and research to inform preparation for exiting the EU. We also produce influential analysis on VAT, stamp duties, excise duties (e.g. tobacco & alcohol), and environmental and transport taxes (e.g. climate change levy, fuel duty).

Benefits and Credits – We deliver analysis and research on how to improve the operational delivery of tax credits and child benefit, and on policy reforms including transition of tax credits to Universal Credit.

Personal Taxes – We analyse the impacts of high-profile reforms to the tax system affecting millions of individuals in the UK, developing the evidence base for HM Treasury policy and producing advice for Ministers.

Operations, Strategy and Transformation – We deliver research and analysis for a wide range of HMRC areas including corporate functions, strategy and customer service delivery. We lead on cross-cutting HMRC operations and behavioural analysis and work flexibly to deliver priority projects. The four key priority analytical themes for the team are Customer and Strategy, Customer Service and Efficiency, People and Leadership and Making Tax Digital.

COVID Analysis Coordination and Evaluation – In response to the Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting UK lockdowns, a new deputy directorate has been established to undertake a wide range of COVID-related analysis. This includes analysis to advise policy design, monitoring and evaluation for the COVID schemes; additional forecasting and monitoring of revenues and benefits and credits payments; and analysis of the implications for HMRC’s compliance, debt and customer service activities.

Responsibilities

Research Officers must be able to demonstrate:

• Strong social policy, social research methods and/or analytical, statistical and numeracy skills.
• An interest in the policy process and want to see research having an impact on government decisions.

GSR requirements

To apply, you either need to be a current member of the GSR profession or fulfil one of the two criteria mentioned in the application form (click apply to follow link)

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• GSR Professional Expertise: Technical Skills
• GSR Professional Expertise: Using and Promoting Social Research

Important Application Notes

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a technical problem with one element of the application form. Part two – Desirable Skills and Experience. When you are asked about your GRS membership: -

• If you are a current member of the GSR profession, click on ‘yes’ and then just type, “I am a member of the GSR profession” in the box (otherwise you can’t move on from this page).
• If you are not a member of the GSR profession, you should STILL click on ‘yes’ and then type, “I am not a member of the GSR profession” in the box and then provide the information on qualifications/experience requested.
• On the Technical Skills part of the application form, you are NOT Required to use the STAR technique even though it asks you to.

Any technical problems, please reach out to the recruiter.