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Role details

NS&I Non-Executive Director

Application deadline 4 September 2022

Summary

• Organisation: National Savings and Investments
• Sponsor department: HM Treasury
• Location: Various
• Sectors: Business and Trade
• Skills: Business, Change Management, Commercial
• Number of vacancies: 1
• Time commitment: 18 day(s) per annum
• Remuneration: £18000 per annum
• Length of term: 3 Years
• Application deadline: 11pm on 4 September 2022

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Timeline for this appointment

1. Opening date

   22 July 2022

2. Application deadline

   11pm on 4 September 2022

Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change

About the role

Introduction

NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK with 25 million customers and more than £207 billion invested.

NS&I is both a government department and an Executive Agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Our origins can be traced back 160 years to 1861.

When customers invest in NS&I products, they are lending to the Government, which goes towards the public purse. In return, the Government pays interest, or prizes for Premium Bonds. We offer 100% security on all deposits.

Introduction from the Chair

Welcome from Ed Anderson CBE, Chairman, NS&I

Thank you for your interest in a Non-executive Director role on the Board of National Savings and Investments (NS&I). NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK with 25 million customers and more than £202 billion invested.

We are both a government department and an Executive Agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and play a key role in the Government’s debt financing strategy. All money invested with NS&I is used by the government to fund public spending.

Over the last five years NS&I has transformed into a direct, digital-first business. We are now looking to appoint a new Non-Executive Director to join the Board and support NS&I on the 

The pace of change in the UK financial services sector is rapid. NS&I aims to become a true digital business with full support for vulnerable customers. NS&I also needs to be operationally resilient and able respond in a nimble, proactive way to changes in policy or in the broader savings market.

To support and achieve this aim, we are looking for an exceptional individual with extensive experience in the financial service sector, to bring specific insight to Board discussions, together a blend of audit and risk expertise relevant to our broader business. We are proud of our diverse and inclusive work environment, committed to fairness and the promotion of equality of opportunity for all.

If you have the skills and experience, we are looking for, and are motivated to help the NS&I Board and leadership team to develop and grow our business, then I look forward to hearing from you and wish you every success with your application.

Ed Anderson CBE

Chairman, NS&I

Role description

Key responsibilities and main tasks of Non-executive Directors at NS&I include:

 

• Strategy

Helping ensure a sound strategy for NS&I is in place serving the interests of government and meeting agreed performance targets. Non-executive Directors support the development of the strategy by challenging the Executive Team in terms of robustness and contributing ideas, bringing their own expertise and experience to bear as external sources of advice on key strategic issues.

• Management and outsourcing oversight

Playing a key role in the monitoring, continuous evaluation and, where necessary, challenging the performance and competence of NS&I senior executives. This includes challenging behaviour demonstrated by Executive Directors that is not in line with NS&I’s values and accepted corporate ethical standards. They will also contribute as to the development of NS&I’s outsourcing partnership.

• Risk and compliance

Ensuring that effective systems exist for internal control and for the identification and management of risk; and will regularly review major areas of risk, and the adequacy of risk mitigation measures.

• Governance

Contributing as a member of the Board and its sub-committees. Non-executive Directors also develop the effectiveness of NS&I’s governance structure, as appropriate, giving independent assurance to HM Treasury Ministers that NS&I abides by the highest standards of business conduct.

Organisation description

About NS&I

Our products and services

NS&I raises cost-effective financing for the Government. We do this by offering savers the opportunity to invest in our range of savings products. When customers invest in NS&I products, they are lending to the Government. In return, the Government offers 100% security on all deposits and pays interest or prizes for Premium Bonds.

We were established over 160 years ago and today our savings products are held by millions of customers across the UK. Our range includes Premium Bonds – one of the UK’s most popular and best-loved financial products with over £100 billion invested.

Alongside our core aim of delivering finance to HM Treasury to support public spending, we also have two other functions:

• We leverage our expertise in banking and payment processing to provide these services to our partners across government. This provides other departments and public bodies with high quality, efficient services and provides NS&I with a funding source to support our core retail savings business. Our current government partners include the Ministry of Justice and HM Treasury’s popular Help to Save scheme.

• We also use our knowledge of the savings sector to help government deliver its policy objectives. This includes delivering specific ‘policy products’ within the savings sector. In 2015 we launched 65+ Bonds which were the best-selling savings product launch in post-war history. We followed this in 2017 with Investment Guaranteed Growth Bonds.

Board composition

The NS&I board consists of Executive and Non-executive Directors and representatives of HM Treasury. 

Seven of the board also make up the Executive Committee.

Ed Anderson CBE – Independent Non-executive Director and Chairman

Nina Hingorani-Crain – Independent Non-executive Director

Jill Lucas – Independent Non-executive Director

Sharmila Nebhrajani OBE – Independent Non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee

Kunal Patel – HM Treasury representative

Executive Team

• Ian Ackerley – Chief Executive

• Ruth Curry – Finance Director

• Dax Harkins – Business-to-Business Director

• Gareth Headon – Acting Director, People and Strategy

• Paul Henry – Risk Director

• Matthew Smith – Chief Operating Officer and Senior Responsible Officer for Rainbow Programme

• Jill Waters – Retail Director

Regulation of appointment

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website 

Person specification

Essential criteria

Candidates For This Role Must Have the Following Experience:

• Have been or is a Non-Executive Director, with significant experience of taking a retail customer-centric approach to development and delivery of products and services, gained in financial services.

• Demonstrable experience of working in the UK financial services market and knowledge of UK financial services regulatory regime.

• Be a professionally qualified accountant and have previous audit and risk committee experience.

Demonstrate the Following Key Competencies:

• Independence and impartiality, including an ability to question or challenge the NS&I Executive, using and applying their experience from elsewhere, and to challenge constructively the existing way of doing things.

• Business strategy skills, including an ability to interpret business and management information to determine business performance and development, an ability to simplify and focus on big issues, and an ability to understand and appreciate the impact of transformational change that has already taken place within NS&I and to support the continuing need for change.

• Influencing and communicating skills, including an ability to develop an effective, inclusive, and constructive relationship with the CEO, other executives and NEDs and other key external influencers. Ability to manage a board effectively including meeting management.

Desirable criteria

• Direct experience of the public sector is desirable but not required.

Application and selection process

How to apply

You can apply via the Microsite here: NS&I (green-park.co.uk)

Please see:

Candidate Pack & Microsite

Diversity Form

Disability Confident Scheme, Political Activity and Conflicts Form

In order to apply you will need to provide:

1. A  Curriculum Vitae which provides details of your education and qualifications, employment history, directorships, membership of professional bodies and details of any publications or awards;

2. A supporting statement setting out how you meet the eligibility criteria;

3. Information relating to any outside interests or reputational issues;

4. Diversity monitoring information. This allows us to see if there are any unfair barriers to becoming a public appointee and whether there are any changes that we could make to encourage a more diverse field to apply. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be used as part of the selection process and will not be seen by the interview panel.

5. Disability Confident – If you want to be considered for the disability confident scheme, please complete the Disability Confident Scheme, Political Activity and Conflicts Form

6. Reasonable adjustments - requests for reasonable adjustments that you would like to the application process (if applicable).

Timetable: The closing date for this role is 11.00pm on Sunday 4 September 2022.

The Advisory Assessment Panel reserves the right to only consider applications that contain all of the elements listed above, and that arrive before the published deadline for applications.

If you have any questions about the appointments process, please contact laura.stuart@green-park.co.uk

Overview of the application process

Public appointments are made on merit following a fair and open competition process which is conducted in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments. We will deal with your application as quickly as possible and will keep you informed at key stages. We aim to conclude the appointment process within three months of the deadline for applications – this is in accordance with the Governance Code.

The assessment process

1. Ministers are responsible and accountable to Parliament for the public appointments made within their department. As a result, they must be consulted at every stage of the appointments process.

2. An Advisory Assessment Panel (“Panel”) is appointed by Ministers to assist them in their decision making. The role of the Panel is to decide, objectively, which candidates meet the eligibility criteria for the role.

3. At the shortlisting meeting the Panel will assess applications against the eligibility criteria and decide which candidates should be recommended for interview. Ministers will then be consulted on the Panel’s recommended shortlist.

4. Once the shortlist has been agreed by Ministers, you will be advised (by e-mail) whether you have been shortlisted. Those shortlisted will be invited to an interview.

5. The Panel will meet again to interview candidates and determine who is appointable to the role. The names of all appointable candidates are provided to Ministers. It is then for Ministers to determine merit and decide who should be appointed. In some circumstances, Ministers may choose not to appoint any candidates and re-run the competition.

6. The Panel’s recommendations will be provided to Ministers in a report which details the assessment method used and the outcome of each interview. They will then be asked to agree on the candidate(s) who should be appointed.

7. Once the decision on the appointment has been made, interviewed candidates will be advised of the outcome of their application. Successful candidates will be issued with their Terms & Conditions and a letter of appointment should they agree to take up the position.

Advisory Assessment Panel (AAP)

Advisory Assessment Panels (AAP) are chosen by ministers to assist them in their decision-making. These include a departmental official and an independent member. For competitions recruiting non-executive members of a board (apart from the Chair), the panel will usually include a representative from the public body concerned.

AAP’s perform a number of functions, including agreeing an assessment strategy with ministers, undertaking sifting, carrying out interviews in line with the advertised criteria and deciding objectively who meets the published selection criteria for the role before recommending to ministers which candidates they find appointable. It is then for the minister to decide who to appoint to the role.

The interview panel will be chaired by Ed Anderson, NS&I’s Chairman, Kunal Patel, HM Treasury representative on NS&I’s Board and Deputy Director, Debt and Reserves Management Team, and Alison Cottrell, an Independent Panel member.

Eligibility criteria

In general, you should have the right to work in the UK to be eligible to apply for a public appointment.

There are a small number of specialist roles that are not open to non-British citizens. Any nationality requirements will be specified in the vacancy details.

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. 

You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:

• you are disqualified from acting as a company director  (under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986);

• have an unspent conviction on your criminal record;

• your estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or you enter into a debt arrangement programme under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17) as the debtor or have, under Scots law, granted a trust deed for creditors.

When you apply, you should declare if:

• you are, or have been, bankrupt or you have made an arrangement with a creditor at any point, including the dates of this. 

• you are subject to a current police investigation.

You must inform the sponsor department if, during the application process, your circumstances change in respect of any of the above points. 

When you apply you should also declare any relevant interests, highlighting any that you think may call into question your ability to properly discharge the responsibilities of the role you are applying for. You should also declare any other matters which may mean you may not be able to meet the requirements of the Code of Conduct of Board Members (see Outside interests and reputational issues section below)

If you need further advice, please contact  laura.stuart@green-park.co.uk

Security clearance

The successful candidate will be required to undertake Baseline Personnel Security Standard checks in line with the Civil Service guidelines. Additional Security Clearance may also be required for certain roles. However, where this applies, candidates will be notified during the appointment process. Further information on National Security Vetting can be found on the Gov.uk website here.

Additional information for candidates

Equality and diversity

We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom. Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve and this is an important part of the Government’s levelling up agenda.

We collect data about applicants’ characteristics and backgrounds, including information about people’s educational and professional backgrounds, so that we can make sure we are attracting a broad range of people to these roles and that our selection processes are fair for everyone. Without this information, it makes it difficult to see if our outreach is working, if the application process is having an unfair impact on certain groups and whether changes are making a positive difference.

When you submit your application, your responses are collected by the Cabinet Office and the government department(s) managing your application. The data is used to produce management information about the diversity of applicants. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be seen by the Advisory Assessment Panel who review applications against the advertised criteria and conduct interviews.

Disability confident

We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit and retain disabled people. 

As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. Indicating that you wish your application to be considered under the scheme will in no way prejudice your application. By ‘minimum criteria,’ we mean that you must provide evidence which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria, as set out in the job-advert.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to select if you would like your application considered under this scheme.

Reasonable adjustments

Government departments are committed to making reasonable adjustments to make sure applicants with disabilities, physical or mental health conditions, or other needs are not substantially disadvantaged when applying for public appointments. This can include changing the recruitment process to enable people who wish to apply to do so.

Some examples of common changes are:

• ensuring that application forms are available in different or accessible formats;
• making adaptations to interview locations;
• allowing candidates to present their skills and experience in a different way;
• giving detailed information on the selection / interview process in advance to allow candidates time to prepare themselves;
• allowing support workers, for example sign language interpreters;
• making provision for support animals to attend.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments to the application process.

Principles of public life

Holders of public office are expected to adhere to and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2. These are:

1. SELFLESSNESS - Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family or their friends;
2. INTEGRITY - Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties;
3. OBJECTIVITY - In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit;
4. ACCOUNTABILITY - Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office;
5. OPENNESS - Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands;
6. HONESTY - Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest;
7. LEADERSHIP - Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

Code of conduct for board members

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. In support of this, all non-executive board members of UK public bodies must abide by the principles set out in the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Code sets out the standards expected from those who serve on the boards of UK public bodies and will form part of your terms and conditions of appointment.

Management of outside interests and consideration of reputational issues

Holders of public office are expected to adhere and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. Before you apply you should consider carefully: 

• any outside interests that you may have, such as shares you may hold in a company providing services to government; 
• any possible reputational issues arising from your past actions or or public statements that you have made; 
• and/or - any political roles you hold or political campaigns you have supported; 

which may call into question your ability to do the role you are applying for.

You will need to answer relevant questions in relation to these points when making an application. Many conflicts of interest can be satisfactorily resolved and declaring a potential conflict does not prevent you from being interviewed. If you are shortlisted for an interview, the panel will discuss any potential conflicts with you during that interview, including any proposals you may have to mitigate them and record that in their advice to ministers. Alongside your own declaration, we will conduct appropriate checks, as part of which we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This may include searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. The successful candidate(s) may be required to give up any conflicting interests and their other business and financial interests may be published in line with organisational policies. 

Details of declared political activity will be published when the appointment is announced, as required by the Governance Code (political activity is not a bar to appointment, but must be declared).

Status of appointment

You will not become a member of the Civil Service. You will not be subject to the provisions of employment law.

Appointment and tenure of office

1. Appointments are for the term set out in this advert, with the possibility of re-appointment for a further term, at the discretion of Ministers.  Any re-appointment is subject to satisfactory annual appraisals of performance during the first term in the post. If re-appointed, the total time served in post will not exceed more than two terms or serve in any one post for more than ten years

Remuneration, allowances and abatement

Remuneration for this role is treated as employment income and will be subject to tax and National Insurance contributions, both of which will be deducted at source under PAYE before you are paid. 

You can claim reimbursement for reasonable travel and subsistence costs necessarily incurred on official business however these payments are taxable as earnings and will be subject to tax and national insurance, both of which will be deducted at source under PAYE before you are paid. 

Pension and redundancy

This is an office holder appointment and does not attract any benefits under any Civil Service Pension Scheme. You will not be eligible for redundancy pay as you are not an employee. No other arrangements have been made for compensation upon termination because an office holder who is appointed for a limited duration would have no expectation of serving beyond that period.

Application feedback

We will notify you of the status of your application. We regret that due to the volume of applications received, we are only able to offer feedback to candidates who have been unsuccessful at the interview stage.

How to complain

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy.

Please contact  laura.stuart@green-park.co.uk p in the first instance if you would like to make a complaint regarding your application. She will acknowledge your complaint upon receipt and respond within 15 working days.

How to complain to Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA)

If you are not content with the appointing department’s response, you may wish to further complain to the Commissioner at publicappointments@csc.gov.uk,Further information on how the Commissioner handles complaints can be found on the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ website https://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/regulating-appointments/investigating-complaints/

Data protection

The Cabinet Office will use your data in line with our privacy policy.

The Treasury Privacy Notice 

Contact details

laura.stuart@green-park.co.uk