Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

Locations: Leeds and London 

Number of positions available: 10 

Salary: National £33,476 London £37,694 

Security clearance:  Candidates will need to hold the right to work in the UK and meet Civil Service Nationality Rules. All roles will require baseline security clearance.

About the Department of Health and Social Care: 

We are a Ministerial Department, supported by 15 arm’s length bodies and several other agencies and public bodies. Our head offices are in London and Leeds. Economists form part of our analytical community which also consists of a mix of statisticians; operational researchers, social researchers; and data scientists. There are around 400 members of the analytical community.  

The health and care agenda is almost always in the spotlight and requires high quality research, analysis, and evaluation to inform debate. Our analytical community is focused on making the best use of evidence and data and championing the use of economics to generate insights and inform key decisions. We value our staff and work hard to create an inclusive environment that encourages people to collaborate and produce great outcomes for the public and the future. We can offer interesting roles with opportunities to progress your career. You will also be supported by a culture of excellent people management and a strong focus on learning and development.  

Overview of work areas  

As an Economist you will work within a multi-disciplinary analytical team, applying your skills, and economics knowledge, to health and care policy. Professional knowledge is applied on some of the most important and highest profile issues in Government with increasing demands on NHS and Social Care resources and finite funding.  

Teams work on a fascinating array of major topics, all with economics and analysis at their core, including NHS performance, infectious diseases, implications for health and care of demographic change, designing the future of social care, medicines pricing, health and care workforce and reducing health inequalities. 

DHSC Analytical community: 

The analytical community in the Department consists of around 400 analysts, mostly based in analytical teams co-located with policy directorates in areas including workforce, public health, social care, NHS, medicines and pharmacy. The community comprises Economists, Statisticians, Social Researchers, Operational Researchers and Data Scientists. 

We work hard to make our analytical community a rewarding place to be, with interesting and important work, camaraderie across our teams, high professional standards regular meetings and newsletters to keep you posted on what’s happening across the Department. Every effort is made to ensure that all our analysts have the skills they need to be most effective in supporting evidence-based policy making, working closely with the analytical professions. 

There are a range of regular events for all analysts, and also some profession-specific groups you can join. Your own team is also likely to have regular team meetings and informal team catch-ups which you will be invited to. We offer community meetings chaired by the Director of Analysis, Corporate Priority Groups that lead work on areas such as analytical capability and Diversity and Inclusion, Scientific Seminars, a range of staff networks and regular junior analyst social events. 

Each profession has a grade manager for analysts under G7 level, who you can talk to about profession-specific issues such as career progression and learning and development.  

 Opportunities for Development  

You will be fully supported in developing the knowledge and skills required to contribute to the work of the team and to develop in your professional role as an analyst, economist and health and care specialist. You will also learn how academic knowledge of economics is applied in the public sector. 

The analytical training offer is significant and is supported by a dedicated analytical training budget.  Depending on the role, there can be opportunities to manage others. Usually, after two years in post, economists under grade 7 are invited to opt into our annual job rotations. As well as developing as an economist, you will have opportunities to hone your broader analytical skills, data science capability and policymaking. 

Further Location details  

The Department of Health and Social Care currently operates a hybrid working policy, with staff spending 3 days in the office each week, alongside working from home. 

Contact point for further details: analystrecruitment@dhsc.gov.uk