These posts are in DBT’s Employment Rights Analysis team, a multi-disciplinary team of 40 plus analysts, who undertake analytical work to support the breadth of the department's labour market policy. Employment Rights analysts operate in an embedded model supporting specific policy areas, such as the minimum wage, trade union policy, family-friendly rights, state enforcement and individual employment rights. However, there is potential to work flexibly across areas, and to work on cross-cutting issues such as inactivity, the cost of living, skill shortages, the gig economy, and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the labour market. The area is data and evidence-rich and there is a strong culture of collaboration to shape decision-making at key stages of policy development.
Analysts in the team will gain strong insight into the policy design process and make a real-world impact on millions of workers and employers. They will have the opportunity to undertake appraisal, monitoring and evaluation techniques and develop cross-disciplinary skills. They will be expected to work closely with policy and analytical colleagues from within DBT, across Government as well as academics and research stakeholders to build the evidence base and communicate findings. This is a great opportunity for an analyst to work at the heart of legislative change in a high profile, fast-paced environment and develop soft skills such as leadership and communicating and influencing.
You will have the opportunity to undertake data analysis using rich datasets, contribute to policy design, delivery and monitoring and evaluation. This will involve working closely with policy officials, colleagues across DBT (such as legal, communications and private office) and across Government. This will involve policy appraisal (e.g., impact/options assessments) and filling evidence gaps using rich datasets (through data collation, development of surveys, liaison with academics and experts). The roles will be varied, fast-paced and with strong interest from senior leaders.
There are 5 SEO economist roles in ERD; two in the Participation, Rights and Research team, and two in the Strategy, Security of Work and Data team and one in the Wages, Enforcement and Evaluation team.
Participation, Rights and Research team roles:
* Trade Unions : Responsible for delivering evidence to support consultations/implementation of secondary legislation (in areas such as e-balloting, the framework for union access to workplaces, etc). Leading on Options and Impact Assessments to inform policy making and the Bill process. The post-holder will have the opportunity to develop and manage cross-cutting research to improve DBT’s understanding of industrial relations/collective bargaining as well as leading on the publication of the Annual Trade Union Membership Statistics. Empowering workers’ collective voice is an important part of these reforms. These reforms include repealing recent anti-trade union laws, and reforms to strengthen worker’s rights to access and join a union, organise collectively and have effective representation.
* Family friendly and participation : Delivering a high-profile review of Parental Leave and separately of Carers Leave. These post-holder will have an opportunity to support the reviews by identifying and disseminating evidence, commissioning research, influencing policy and analytical colleagues x-Gov and ultimately appraising different policy options. The team are also introducing reforms to improve access to paternity and unpaid parental leave, tackle pregnancy and maternity discrimination and improve the level of flexible working. The post-holder will lead on developing the evidence base, designing monitoring and evaluation plans, supporting the policy team with evidence-based briefing material and producing robust Impact Assessments. These policies aim to increase labour market participation and improve employment outcomes for specific groups to close participation and gender pay gaps.
Strategy, Security of Work and Data team roles:
* Employment Rights Bill : This role offers the excellent opportunity of working on a flagship Bill. The post-holder will be responsible for producing cross-cutting impact analysis on the Bill and Government’s Plan to Make Work Pay. This also involves helping lead the oversight and steering of a large programme of analytical work directly supporting the Bill through Parliament and its subsequent implementation through secondary legislation. This will include Parliamentary facing work (e.g., supporting debates and producing briefing for Ministers), the communication of our analysis to stakeholders (think tanks, trade unions, business representative organisations, and the media). This role will require a good balance of technical analytical skills and soft skills, providing a great opportunity to deliver your own impactful analysis whilst delivering through others to provide actionable influential insights into policy development and implementation.
* Strategic Analysis (Migration and International) : The post-holder will be responsible for developing and using analysis to influence policy discussions on a range of high-profile labour market issues, including migration and international labour market standards. The individual will be expected to have strong technical skills and be willing to work closely with policy and strategy teams so that the needs of business are properly represented in policy development. There will be the opportunity to work on a diverse set of projects with strong senior interest and build relationships with analysts across Government.
Wages, Enforcement and Evaluation team role:
* National Minimum Wage : The NMW model is a business-critical model used to inform government decisions to increase the NMW each year, impacting millions of low-paid workers across the UK. The model informs the Impact Assessment for each annual NMW uprating, as well as ongoing policy development, and receives strong interest from Ministers, senior officials and other departments. The post-holder will primarily be responsible for delivering an end-to-end review of the model to improve model resilience and capability. The individual will be expected to have strong technical and modelling skills, including coding, economic appraisal, and drafting user manuals and other documentation. The post-holder will also be expected to work closely with the policy team and other stakeholders (e.g. think tanks, academics, other departments) to ensure the model reflects the latest evidence and policy needs.
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