Senior Analyst/Senior Auditors: Value For MoneyVFM

Salary: VFM Senior Analyst: c£55,000 (London), c£50,000 (Newcastle) / VFM Senior Auditor: c£60,000 (London), c£52,000 (Newcastle)
Hours: Open to full time & part time hours

INTRODUCTION:

Thank you for your interest in joining the National Audit Office as a Value for Money Senior Analyst/Senior Auditor (Performance Auditor). This pack will give you a better idea of who we are, what you’ll do when you join us, and what we offer. It also gives more details about the application process.

As a Senior Analyst/Senior Auditor you will lead studies examining key aspects of government programmes and projects. You will get involved in other work too, including investigations, correspondence (from the public and MPs) and other work that supports Parliamentary select committees.

Our position is unique, and our work is influential. We are independent of government and the civil service and scrutinise public spending for Parliament and on behalf of citizens and taxpayers. This means we work for, and for the good of, everyone in the country. We help society work better – supporting improvements in the way services are delivered right across the public sector. The recommendations from our work can result in financial savings and positive changes in government to improve services and achieve value for money for the taxpayer.

You’ll tackle complex projects that inform debates and influence some of the biggest decisions that government makes. You’ll work with dedicated and talented people toward shared and important goals. And, by taking on new opportunities and challenges, you’ll build a rewarding and fascinating career – one that will allow you to make an impact that you, and the nation, can clearly see.

We are now looking to recruit several Senior Analysts and Senior Auditors. We are looking for people with strong analytical and communication skills as well as experience of project and people management, which can be drawn from a range of backgrounds including experienced analysts, value for money auditors, performance auditors and internal auditors.

If you like what you see and can meet our requirements, then we want to hear from you.

THE ROLE:

The main role of Senior Analysts/Senior Auditors in the NAO is to lead our teams in planning, researching and drafting our reports, working alongside sector or topic specialists, analysts and qualified accountants as well as applying strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills. A key part of the role is communicating complex information clearly for a wide range of audiences including MPs, civil servants and members of the public.

Senior Analysts and Senior Auditors also lead other work including investigations – where we conduct more rapid and focussed pieces of work – and support Parliamentary Select Committees.

All Senior Analysts and Senior Auditors are expected to spend part of their time developing and using their expertise to contribute to our specialist networks across the office. This includes providing analytical insight and support to others outside of your team on your areas of expertise such as analytical techniques and methods, commercial and regulatory issues, digital transformation and data use in the public sector, financial risk and management, major project delivery, and people and operational management.

Purpose

Each year we publish around 60 major Value for Money (VFM) reports looking at various government programmes and projects. VFM reports are multi-method reports often delivered at pace to achieve real impact. We write long form reports and other types of written communication on complex subjects in ways that non-specialist or technical audiences can understand

Our work can cover any area where government spends public money, ranging from how government is responding to the challenges facing adult social care in England to how government is maintaining schools and hospital buildings. Our lessons learned reports bring together what we know on important recurring issues to make it easier for others to understand and apply the lessons from our work, such as government interventions to support companies in distress and key issues for government to consider when attempting to increase its efficiency.

Relationships and Accountability

You will lead a team to deliver value for money work to time and budget. You will work with other people of all grades. You will work with Senior Audit Managers who support and manage the team to deliver high-quality reports. The Director is accountable for the overall quality and impact of the audit. You will commonly meet and interact with senior people in the NAO and in government bodies

The impact you’ll make

Our work responds to government’s plans and particularly those with long-term implications for public spending. Right from the start, you’ll contribute to work that examines the cost, effectiveness and efficiency of government programmes and projects. Whatever you work on it all serves to help hold government to account for the way it uses public money and helps to promote improvements in public service delivery. The scope of our impact is huge – from health to education to justice to overseas development to the BBC and Bank of England and much more.

Our recommendations and reports on good practice help government improve public services, and our work in the last year led to:

• Positive financial impacts of £572 million in 2022-23;
• £7 of positive financial impact of for every pound spent on running the NAO in 2022-23; and
• 91% of our recommendations from April 2019 to March 2022 being accepted or partially accepted by government departments and agencies.

You can find out more about us and our work from our website. Here are some recent examples of our work:

We examine the performance and costs of core public services across all areas of government, including:

• plans to improve urgent and emergency care services such as general practice and ambulance services;
• work to improve outcomes for women in the criminal justice system; and
• how the supported housing system in England works for people with care needs such as older people, people with a learning or physical disability, people at risk of or who have experienced homelessness, or people recovering from drug or alcohol dependence.

We are focusing on assessing efficiency and productivity within government, and the resilience of public services, operations and infrastructure.

We have examined key issues across government including: