
Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)
Location: Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Glasgow, Treforest and Birmingham.
All locations are subject to demand management approvals at the time so locations cannot be guaranteed.
Number of Placements: 3
Salary: National - £27,844
About DWP
DWP is the largest government department, employing more than 90,000 staff across the country. Our community of more than 170 Economists play a pivotal role in providing high quality, influential analysis for Ministers and policy makers. We inform decisions on delivering ground breaking initiatives to improve the welfare of the most vulnerable people in society, whilst ensuring value for money for the taxpayer.
We go beyond theory and apply our economics knowledge to real-world problems. We analyse data, build models and trial the latest thinking in economic and behavioural theory, to ensure that high quality evidence is brought to bear on all aspects of policy and delivery design, implementation and evaluation.
In doing so, we help the department to tackle a huge range of interesting and high-profile policy challenges such as:
How can we provide greater security, choice and dignity for people in retirement, while also ensuring the system is sustainable for the future?
How can we use behavioural economics to get people to save more for their retirement?
How can we most effectively support people to move into employment and achieve financial independence?
How can we halve the disability employment gap by supporting disabled people and people with long term health conditions to get in and stay in employment?
How can we create a fair and affordable welfare system which improves the life chances of children and of adults?
How can we ensure value for money for the taxpayer by reducing our operating costs over the Parliament, whilst continuing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services and delivery?
Economist roles:
Student economists are a thoroughly valued part of DWP and have the chance to work on high profile areas. They will be part of our thriving economic community, with regular economist debates, economic discussion groups, annual learning days and socials across all our hub locations.
The Economist community
As economists, we are also part of the analytical community and will often work in teams with a mixture of analysts, including not just other economists, but also statisticians, social researchers, data scientists and operational researchers.
The exact roles which students will be placed in will be decided nearer the time, depending on departmental priorities. Our previous student cohorts have worked on a range of high-profile topics such as State Pension age analysis, Universal Credit data development and fraud & error modelling, so you can expect to contribute to our most influential analysis.
Learning and Development Opportunities
During their time in the Department, we support students to develop, providing training to help them gain the skills they need to become an effective economist, such as:
Technical analytical skills including how to undertake applied data analysis using statistical software.
How to communicate analysis clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing, to a wide range of stakeholders ranging from ministers to the general public.
The ability to work with a huge range of stakeholders of various professions, from across DWP, other government departments and beyond.
Further Information
DWP recruits a large student cohort each year, so you will have lots of opportunities to build links with each other and shape your placements to get the most out of them.
Lots of our students return to us after graduating as Assistant Economists, which is a testament to how much our students enjoy their time with us at DWP. Many cite the breadth of roles available to analysts in DWP – and therefore the range of new challenges available – as a reason for choosing to return. Indeed, 100% of our previous cohort would recommend the DWP placement scheme, and in their feedback specifically mentioned how much they enjoyed the work, how strong the DWP Economist community was, and how much they valued being treated as full members of staff.
Eligibility Requirements
Candidates will need to hold the right to work in the UK and meet Civil Service Nationality Rules. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here