The Money and Pensions Service’s (MaPS) vision
is everyone making the most of their money and pensions.
It is an arm’s-length body, sponsored by the Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP), with a joint commitment to ensuring that people
throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make
effective financial decisions over their lifetime.
MaPS is funded by levies on both the financial services
industry and pension schemes.
DWP is seeking two
Non-Executive Directors (NED) with a range of established
skills/competences to oversee the governance arrangements in
MaPS. DWP is looking for candidates who can provide experience
from other organisations with challenges on a similar scale to MaPS.
MaPS goal
of helping people, particularly those most in need, to be able to make better
decisions about their money and pensions, has never been more important than it
is now, as the cost-of-living continues to stretch household finances around
the UK.
Since it
was established in 2019, MaPS has supported millions of people to access free
and impartial debt advice, money guidance and to understand and make the best
use of their pensions for a more secure future.
MaPS also has
the lead role in co-ordinating delivery of the UK Financial Wellbeing Strategy,
which it developed through intensive engagement across financial services and
other stakeholder groups. This strategy sets ambitious goals in UK Financial
Wellbeing, through improvements in savings habits, financial education of young
people and reducing use of high-cost debt, among others, by 2030.
Achievement of
these goals will bring benefits for individuals, communities, and wider society,
as people are able to engage better with their money, making more informed
decisions and securing a better future for themselves and their families.
But the world
in which MaPS delivers its services is changing rapidly. Technology is
reinventing the way people access and consume financial information, guidance,
and advice. New products and services, such as the Pensions Dashboard that MaPS
is building, will revolutionise the way people are able to plan for later life.
And, as people’s financial situations become more complex, provision of
services such as debt advice need to evolve to help people in more holistic
ways.
As a member of
the MaPS Board, you will contribute your experience, expertise and strategic
counsel as MaPS moves into its next phase of working with stakeholders throughout
the UK, to respond to the rapidly changing landscape and deliver the
system-wide change needed to deliver the Strategy and its goals.
Message from Peter Schofield DWP Permanent Secretary
I want DWP and our arm’s-length bodies to be
places where everyone, whatever their
background, feels encouraged to achieve their potential. I believe attracting
talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, including regional diversity and
the
full range of
socio- economic groups, will allow us to be better able to provide the
best possible
support to those we serve.
DWP continues
to support Cabinet Office in working towards 50% of all public appointees to be
female and 14% of all public appointments to come from ethnic
minority backgrounds. We value diversity and inclusion and
actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone.
If you are
looking for an opportunity to use your talents to make a difference to the
lives of
millions of your fellow citizens, we look forward to hearing from you.
Job specification and essential and desirable
criteria for MaPS Board Members
We are seeking Two Non-Executive Directors of MaPS.
Applicants need to be able to demonstrate ability against the core essential
criteria below and in one or more of the following areas:
-
Audit,
Risk & Assurance Committee Chair;
-
Digital
transformation of service delivery expertise.
As a Non-Executive Director at MaPS, you will:
·
share responsibility as part of the Board to oversee the effective and
efficient delivery of the organisation’s mandate.
·
use your expertise to engage directly with the Chief Executive, the
Chief Financial Officer and Executive Directors, and other staff as required,
to assist in the effective delivery of the organisation’s strategic objectives;
·
where
appropriate, represent MaPS externally, and help it build relationships with
key stakeholders;
·
demonstrate
a commitment to the Seven Principles of Public Life (Annex1).
Non-Executive Directors will each participate
in Board sub-committees. Current Board Subcommittees are:
·
Audit,
Risk and Assurance Committee
·
Nomination
Committee
·
Remuneration
and People Committee
·
Investment
Committee.
In addition
to its relationship with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Money and
Pensions Service also engages with HM Treasury on policy matters relating to
financial capability and debt advice.
Our mission is
that we help people – particularly those most in need – to improve their
financial wellbeing and build a better, more confident future. Working
collaboratively across the UK, we make sure customers can access high-quality
money and pensions guidance, and debt advice throughout their lives, how and
when they need it.
Financial
wellbeing is good for individuals, communities, business, and the economy. But
poor financial wellbeing, affecting tens of millions of people, is holding the
UK back.
·
Nine million people across the UK have no savings and another five
million have less than £100, meaning 14 million people have less than £100 in
savings to fall back on.
·
Over 12 million people are now borrowing money for food or essential
bills and half of them are doing so for the first time in their lives.
·
5.4 million children have not been taught about money meaning they don’t
have the money skills they’ll need in adulthood.
MaPS
has outlined in its UK strategy for financial wellbeing that people should have
guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial
decisions throughout the course of their lifetime. This means improving
people’s financial wellbeing, through everyone making the most of their money
and pensions.
MaPS delivers this
across five core functions:
1.
Pensions guidance: MaPS provides free and impartial information and
guidance on matters relating to occupational and personal pensions. In 2022/23
it delivered 243 000 Pension Wise appointments (helping 50+ people to make
decisions on their defined contribution pension pots) and 221 000 Pension
Guidance sessions (through the Money Helper website).
2.
Debt advice: MaPS provides people in England (debt is a
devolved matter in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) with free
and impartial information and advice on debt and is the biggest funder of free
debt advice. In 2022/23, MaPS worked with delivery partners to
support more than half a million customers to get free and effective debt
advice while driving up the quality of that advice and providing training and
support to advisors on the ground.
3.
Money guidance: MaPS provides free and impartial information and
guidance designed to enhance people’s understanding and knowledge of financial
matters and their ability to manage their own financial affairs. This is
delivered through the Money Helper website, call centre, web chat and social
channels.
4.
Consumer
protection: MaPS works with government
and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to protect consumers against
financial scams. It supports the efforts of the wider financial services
industry to protect consumers.
5. Strategy: Working with others, to develop and co-ordinate a national strategy to
improve (a) the financial capability of members of the public, (b) the ability
of members of the public to manage debt, and (c) the provision of financial
education to children and young people. Following twelve months of engaging
with stakeholders throughout the UK, including 1,000 people during a listening
phase in January 2020, MaPS published the first ever UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, designed to drive change at scale and
shift the dials on personal finance. The UK Strategy is the ten-year framework
which will help achieve the vision of everyone making the most of their money
and pensions. MaPS will play a key role in achieving this vision by supporting
and working with a wide range of other organisations and by delivering services
where appropriate.
·
The MaPS Board has undergone a substantial
refresh in the past year, with a new Chair (March 2023), a new CEO appointed,
who will take up the post on 1st Feb 2024 and a substantially new
team of Non-Executive Directors, 3 of 5 of whom were appointed in September 2022.
·
Additionally, MaPS refreshing the Senior
Leadership team, and completing a significant move of location, from London to
Bedford, where our new offices, fully designed to meet the needs of hybrid
working, open in January 2024, symbolising a new chapter for MaPS.
This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the
Commissioner’s website 