Head of Pay and Reward

Job Summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.

The Reward team sits within the People and Places Directorate (PPD) and provides strategic leadership, specialist advice and high-quality delivery across delegated pay, Senior Civil Service pay, reward and recognition, allowances and related policy. The team works closely with Finance, Pay Unit, HR Business Partners, trade unions, People Analytics and leaders across ONS, as well as Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and pay professionals across government.

Job Description

This is a strategic leadership role responsible for shaping how pay, reward and recognition support ONS to attract, retain and motivate the workforce it needs. The postholder will lead implementation of the ONS Pay Strategy, own its ongoing development and bring forward evidence-based recommendations that respond to organisational priorities, workforce risks and emerging government policy.

You will combine strong pay and reward expertise with strategic thinking, political awareness and the ability to lead change. As ONS’s lead professional for pay and reward, you will provide trusted advice and recommendations to senior leaders, establish influential relationships across government and lead engagement and negotiations with trade unions. You will use workforce analytics, external insight and professional judgement to help shape a deliberate, targeted and evidence-led approach to pay and reward.

Alongside this strategic focus, you will ensure the Reward team delivers high-quality annual pay activity, policy advice, reward and recognition services and governance. You will lead through the team, setting direction and maintaining responsibility for the quality and impact of its delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Pay Strategy and Organisational Outcomes

• Lead implementation of the ONS Pay Strategy and own its ongoing evolution, ensuring pay, reward and recognition remain aligned with organisational priorities and workforce needs.
• Translate recruitment, retention, skills and pay competitiveness challenges into clear strategic options and recommendations for senior leaders.
• Lead the development of future pay proposals, including annual pay approaches and potential flexibility initiatives, ensuring recommendations reflect workforce needs, business priorities and wider Civil Service requirements.
• Challenge existing arrangements constructively, testing whether pay and reward interventions remain fair, effective and proportionate and whether they are delivering the intended impact.
• Lead the team in delivering pay and reward initiatives, remaining responsible for successful implementation and embedding while drawing on wider organisational expertise and support.
  
  

Strategic Advice, Evidence and Governance

• Provide clear, balanced and evidence-based pay and reward advice and recommendations to senior leaders and decision-making forums, including the HR Leadership Team and Remuneration Committee, and contribute to advice and recommendations for ExCo and People Committee.
• Bring together pay, recruitment, retention, workforce, skills and market evidence to improve the quality of strategic decisions and business cases.
• Present complex policy, evidence, risks, constraints and trade-offs in a clear and compelling way, with practical recommendations for senior and non-specialist audiences.
• Ensure appropriate governance, assurance, equality consideration and evaluation are built into pay and reward decisions and initiatives.
  
  

Relationships, Influence and Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong relationships with Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and Heads of Pay across other government departments, representing ONS and bringing relevant policy developments, insight and best practice back into the organisation.
• Lead the Reward team’s contribution to engagement, consultation and negotiations with departmental trade unions, building constructive relationships and providing the specialist pay expertise needed to navigate challenging issues and competing priorities.
• Build effective partnerships across ONS so that pay and reward decisions bring together business priorities, workforce evidence, policy expertise, robust modelling and financial implications, while recognising Finance’s accountability for affordability.
• Navigate the wider Civil Service policy and political environment, anticipating implications for ONS and shaping timely, credible responses.
  
  

Leadership and Delivery through the Team

• Act as a senior leader within PPD and ONS, demonstrating collective leadership, contributing to directorate and corporate priorities, and working collaboratively across teams to deliver organisational outcomes and the wider People Plan.
• Set a clear strategic direction for the Reward team, translating priorities into deliverable plans and focusing resources on the highest-value outcomes.
• Ensure effective delivery of delegated and Senior Civil Service pay activity, reward and recognition, allowances, pay policy, pay gap reporting and associated governance in line with relevant frameworks.
• Lead, develop and empower a high-performing specialist team, building capability, professional standards, resilience and accountability for delivery.
• Maintain oversight of operational performance, delivery risks and dependencies, intervening or escalating where required.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative and continuous-improvement culture in which evidence, learning and constructive challenge are valued.
  
  

If you would like to find out more about this exciting role, please join our event on Thursday 22nd October 10:15-11:00 to find out more please visit - LINK

Person specification

Essential Criteria

We are looking for an experienced pay and reward professional who can combine technical credibility with strategic leadership, influence and delivery through others.

• Strategic and Collective Leadership: Experience leading specialist teams and delivering organisational outcomes through others. Able to think beyond functional boundaries, demonstrate collective leadership and contribute to wider directorate and organisational priorities alongside their own area of responsibility. (Lead)
• Stakeholder Relationships and Influence: A strong track record of building trusted relationships, establishing credibility and influencing outcomes with internal and external stakeholders. Experience operating effectively across complex governance and stakeholder landscapes, including engagement with senior leaders, trade unions, government departments, regulators or equivalent external partners.
• Pay and Reward Expertise: Significant experience of pay and reward within a complex organisation, including experience operating within Civil Service, public sector or similarly regulated pay frameworks. Able to apply specialist knowledge, professional credibility and evidence-based analysis to provide authoritative advice and shape strategic recommendations.
• Change, Evaluation and Continuous Improvement: Experience leading significant initiatives or organisational change and using evaluation, insight and learning to refine approaches, respond to changing needs and improve outcomes.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical and policy issues into clear, compelling recommendations for different audiences.
  
  

Qualifications

CIPD Level 7 or willingness to work towards.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
  
  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,861, Office for National Statistics contributes £16,472 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records
  
  

ONS may be able to provide visa sponsorship where the role meets ONS sponsorship criteria and all relevant Home Office requirements. Applicants must hold, or be eligible to obtain, the right to work in the UK before employment commences.

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application (2 steps)

Application Step 1: Online Civil Service Judgement Test.

Upon submission of Part 1 of your application form you will be sent an invitation to complete an online Civil Service Judgement test. There will be full instructions on how to complete the test including an opportunity to practice before undertaking the actual test. The test is not time limited. If you fail the test your application will not proceed to the next stage.

Application Step 2 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word-count allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the lead Essential Criteria, which you will address through Stage 2 of the process. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to interview.

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

You will be asked to complete an in-tray exercise which will be provided on the day of the interview and candidates will be allocated time to prepare. This in-tray exercise will assess candidates against the Success Profiles Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing.

Interviews will be held in person at our Newport Office - Cardiff Rd, Duffryn, Newport NP10 8XG.

Please be aware that we are unable to reimburse travel expenses associated with attending an interview.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Sift will be conducted from 4th November

Interviews will be conducted 24th & 25th November

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment. Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : Gemma Kelly
• Email : scs.recruitment@ons.gov.uk
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.recruitment@ons.gov.uk
  
  

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission