Home Office(HO)

Locations: London (Westminster and Croydon), Sheffield, Manchester

Salary: £30,900 (National); £35,020 (London)

Number of places: 2 

About the Home Office

The Home Office leads a diverse and high-profile portfolio of work-streams, which provides its economists with a unique and exciting opportunity to apply economic thought and analysis to solve some of society's most pressing problems. The policy areas we cover are crucial both to people’s lives and the effective functioning of the country. What you work on in the Home Office will be individual to you, but it is guaranteed to be at the forefront of keeping the UK safe from those who seek to do it harm.

Economists within the department are responsible for economic policy appraisal, providing support to transformational delivery; as well as providing the economic analysis that underpins the Home Office’s multi-million-pound investment decisions. This analysis is key in ensuring the realisation of the Department’s vision for a United Kingdom that is secure and prosperous, where citizens, residents and visitors are safe, and feel safe, to go about their lawful business.

The Apprenticeship Role:

An apprentice in the Home Office can be expected to join one of several units within Home Office’s analytical community. Some examples include:

·       Central Economics Unit (CEU). Economists in this team work on cross-cutting strategic economics projects (for example supporting Home Office’s analysis for formal Spending Reviews), assess and support business cases underpinning our major spending decisions, and lead across the economist community on standards for quality assurance and economic appraisal. The Chief Economist leads this entire unit.

·       Crime Analysis Unit (CAU). The Crime and Analysis Unit is a fast-paced team working on very topical issues like trends and patterns in specific types of crime, and negotiating the funding settlement for the police service with the Treasury. Economics-related tasks include assessing costs and benefits for new legislation aimed at reducing knife crime, gun crime and homicide; assessing the cost to society of different types of crime; spatial mapping of crime and economic activity to determine the nature of any relationship, and econometric analysis aimed at improving our knowledge on the drivers of crime, both at a macro and micro level.

·       Borders Analysis (BAU). The border is a combination of policies, processes and systems de-livered by both public and private organisations across more than 270 recognised crossing points and many other smaller entry points across the UK. The smooth operation of these is vital to the UK’s economy, safety, biosecurity and ability to combat illegal migration. Borders Analysis plays a central role in ensuring the effective management and transformation of the border, driving decision-making across Border Force, Home Office policy and strategy. We are a dynamic unit of around 70 analysts, working collaboratively across professional boundaries with a record of accomplishment in delivering high quality, innovative analysis to support decision making on a wide range of government priorities from Covid-19 to EU Exit.

·       Migration. Migration economists work with statisticians and social/operational researchers in providing analysis and evidence on the economic impact of migration.  In the past, migration economists in the Home Office, and in the Migration Advisory Committee secretariat (the MAC) have been central to a number of analytical reports on the Economic Impact of EU migration; EU exit Long Term Economic Analysis, and an assessment of the impact of future migration policies alongside the Government White Paper.  Over the next year, work will be continuing to develop this analysis to support final policy decision making in the longer term, with economists playing a vital role.

The Apprenticeship Community

There are currently two GES-DAP apprentices within the Home Office Apprenticeship community. However, there is a strong 100+ Assistant Economist (AE) junior graduate economist community which GES-DAP apprentices can socialise and engage with.

Learning and Development Opportunities 

There is a strong package of L&D and induction materials to help HO GES-DAP apprentices to develop within their career. Examples of L&D programmes range from data science to impact assessment training. Furthermore, there are knowledge shares and a budget is available for external training to suit individual needs. Senior economists are constantly attentive to the specific training and development needs of GES-DAP apprentices.

Further Information 

Eligibility Requirements and Security Clearance
Vetting is required to work within the Home Office and depending on the unit/team, a higher level of vetting (Developed Vetting – DV) may be required. The absolute minimum level needed is Security Check (SC).

Security Check (SC)

Minimum needed for all economist roles. For SC clearance candidates must have been continuously resident in UK for the past 5 years, with no more than a 3-month gap overseas.  The SC process takes roughly 42 working days.

Developed Vetting (DV)

DV clearance required for specific HO teams and units. This is more stringent than SC. For DV clearance candidates must have been continuously resident in UK for past 10 years. The DV process takes around 6 months.