National £51,200 - £64,000 (depending on experience)
London £56,400 - £70,400 (depending on experience)
Could you play a leading role in protecting UK financial services consumers?
The Consumer Finance Policy team is responsible for the rules and guidance that apply to firms providing consumer credit products. Our rules cover products such as motor finance, personal loans and credit cards, as well as related activities like debt advice, credit broking and debt collecting. We also help FCA supervisors hold firms to account against the standards we set, as well as supporting colleagues across the FCA, for example in authorisations and enforcement.
Since the FCA took over regulation of consumer credit in 2014, the team has led on developing and implementing rules to prevent credit brokers charging unexpected upfront fees, to ensure customers in difficulties are treated fairly, to tackle persistent debt on credit cards, and introducing price caps for rent to own and payday lending firms.
Our current activities include embedding the consumer duty in consumer credit policy development, working with government on a new regime for ‘buy now pay later’ products, and ensuring debt advice markets work well for consumers. We will also be contributing to the government’s review of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and supporting the FCA market study into credit information services.
To support this busy agenda we are seeking to bring in a Senior Policy Advisor. As an advisor, you will be responsible for leading one or more policy projects with the objective of enhancing consumer protection or ensuring credit and debt markets work effectively in the interests of UK consumers.
The FCA has staff from a very diverse set of backgrounds and career histories, and the wider Consumer Finance Division – which the Policy team sits in – has people who have joined from the financial services industry (including people who worked in branches), from other regulators, civil service, charities as well as teaching, and varied other previous roles. The Policy team comprises individuals from various backgrounds, including from other FCA roles, industry compliance, policy roles in other organisations, consumer groups, and civil service positions both in the UK and abroad. Our focus is on being able to demonstrate transferrable skills rather than your current job description. What matters is your ability to get to grips with complex issues, to communicate clearly, to take the lead on managing projects and stakeholders and work with others to make change happen.
What you will be doing
What will you get from the role?
Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.
Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:
We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.
The skills and experience you will have
We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.
Minimum
Essential
About the FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.
The FCA's Values & Diversity
Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.
The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our Senior Associate - Regulatory role.
Flexible working
We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.
Multi-location
As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.
Useful information
Applications for this role close at 23:59 on 15th October 2024
This role is graded as Senior Associate – Regulatory (Level 7)
What to expect from our interview process
All applications will be reviewed once the advert has closed.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a 60-min competency-based interview.
Got a question?
If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:
For Internal applicants, please contact Cheryl Cheung at [email protected]
For External applicants, please contact Aaron Ward at [email protected]
Application support
We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.
If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.
Please note – Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.
The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses, and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.
Working inclusively
We work best when we work together. We encourage our people to contribute fully and feel valued, to be innovative and creative by collaborating in an inclusive culture.
We're also committed to reflecting the diverse lived experiences of the communities we work in and the consumers we protect. We have a strategy to achieve a more diverse and inclusive workplace that is free from discrimination. This includes increasing the representation of women in our senior team to 50% and minority ethnic colleagues to 25% by 2025 – representative of the UK population.
We were recently voted 'Employer of the year' at the Women in Finance awards and our commitment to LGBT+ inclusion means we're recognised as a Stonewall Top 100 employer.
Flexible Working
We believe that giving our people greater flexibility fosters an inclusive culture and a healthy work-life balance.
We currently operate a hybrid working model, working up to 40% in the office each month (50% for senior leaders). This way of working applies in our Stratford, Leeds and Edinburgh offices.
We also offer career and family leave provisions, generous annual leave so you can take time off when you need or want to, and a range of other benefits.
Programme for parents returning to work after Parental Leave? |
We don’t have a formal programme, but we have hired several Returners through the assisted hiring route (working with Women Returners) |
Leadership development programmes? |
Yes – we are launching a female progression programme |
Mentoring programmess? |
Yes |
Coaching programmes? |
No |
Employee-led diversity networks? |
Yes |
Internal women’s networking groups? |
No |
Open to discussing flexible work arrangements at interview stage? |
Yes |
No. of weeks paid maternity leave at full salary: |
52 |
Minimum weeks tenure required to be eligible for paid maternity leave: |
|
No. of weeks paid paternity leave at full salary: |
|
Minimum tenure required to be eligible for paid paternity leave: |
Gender pay gap reporting information (2023) (UK): |
|
Average pay gap: |
13.1% |
Median pay gap: |
14.3% |
Average bonus gap: |
15.2% |
Median bonus gap: |
19% |
Signatory of the UK Women in Finance Charter? |
Yes |
Targets to raise the number of women in leadership? |
Yes – 50% female target across all pipeline roles |
Targets to raise the number of BAME individuals in leadership? |
Yes |
Listed in the Bloomberg Diversity & Inclusion Index? |
No |