Policy Advisor in Birmingham

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) are the public sector's property valuation experts and advisers with a vision to be a world-leading provider of public sector valuations. Our work is vital to the collection of over £60 billion of revenue which goes back into communities, touching every citizen and every business across England and Wales. We champion the values of professionalism, integrity, respect and innovation. We are committed to providing a collaborative and supportive working environment that encourages every colleague to contribute, grow and excel together.

Join the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) as a Policy Advisor and become a key player in shaping property tax policy across England and Wales. This exciting role offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the VOA and government departments, providing critical insights that influence high-level decision-making. As a Policy Advisor, there is flexibility to work across the VOA Policy Team, having a critical role including for managing cross government relations, policy development and maintaining strategic oversight of key and emerging issues, including from high‑profile litigation and Business Rates revaluation exercises.

Your strategic oversight will have a direct impact on financial, legal, and reputational risks across government. The VOA holds a unique position in the Property Tax System and is the operational arm for delivering strategic policy for HM Treasury and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government as well as the Welsh Government. Where a need for policy change is identified, you will be responsible for impacting these, working with a wide range of stakeholders across the VOA to develop and communicate a single view to recommend and broker policy change with strategic policy partners across Government.

Role Overview

The role sits in the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) Policy team, which bridges the VOA and our cross‑Government departments across the property tax system. The role supports strong collaborative working across the VOA and with our cross‑Government policy partners, identifying and communicating emerging issues and areas for improvement while developing potential policy options and advice that are considered by senior stakeholders, including Ministers. The role supports the VOA's Litigation and Settlement Strategy, which provides the formal framework within which the VOA seeks to resolve emerging and ongoing disputes against valuations for Business Rates and Council Tax. This includes consideration of the VOA's highest profile cases, carrying significant policy, operational and reputational risks.

You will also play a key role in Business Rates revaluation exercises, specifically for the escalation to cross‑Government of any emerging issues or developments. This will involve building strong relationships across the VOA to gather meaningful insight that you will use to regularly update cross‑Government policy partners and Ministers on progress.

Key Responsibilities

• Managing and gatekeeping relationships with cross‑Government policy partners, maintaining regular engagement to understand wider Government priorities and impacts of potential policy options and interventions, bringing these together with VOA operational impacts.
• Management and tracking of cases referred through the Litigation and Settlement Strategy's Governance process.
• Reporting on emerging issues, including high profile cases referred through the VOA's Litigation and Settlement Strategy's governance process, and developments resulting from rates revaluation exercises.
• Providing advice and recommendations on any escalations to cross‑Government policy partners and Ministers.
• Co‑ordinate, develop and impact assess policy position papers to provide a collective 'one VO' view on issues in response to commissions e.g. from Ministers or emerging strategic policy risks e.g. resulting from high profile litigation.
• Proactively identifying areas for improvement within the VOA through engagement with operational partners and strategic litigation risks to take to other Government Departments, ensuring the resulting changes are understood, impacted and operable by the VOA, including ensuring all legal, financial, political and operational impacts are taken into account.
• Work with a wide range of VOA stakeholders to inform and develop a view on the impacts of any policy change, including operational, financial, legal and reputational. You will also be responsible for advising senior leaders on proposed actions.
• The role has potential for line management responsibilities.

As a Disability Confident employer, we generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.