Department for Work and Pensions
Promoting opportunity and independence for all
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for delivering the Government’s welfare reform agenda. Its principle aim is to promote opportunity and independence for all. It delivers support and advice through a modern network of services to people of working age, employers, pensioners, families and children and disabled people.
The Department’s objectives are to:
- Promote work as the best form of welfare for people of working age, while protecting the position of those in greatest need,
- Ensure the best start for all children and end child poverty by 2020,
- Combat poverty and promote security and independence in retirement for today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners
- Improve rights and opportunities for disabled people in a fair and inclusive society, and
- Modernise welfare delivery so as to improve the accessibility, accuracy and value for money of services to customers, including employers.
Operational Research in the DWP
OR analysts are part of the Analytical Community which also includes economists, statisticians, social researchers and IT specialists. The Department has some 90 OR staff located in central London, Leeds and Sheffield.
OR analysts give advice to the whole of the DWP, including senior officials and ministers, on operational issues and on policy matters where operational issues are influential. We use our analytical skills and experience to improve decisions about the Department's operations and policy.
Typical work areas are:
- Business modelling, for example on different ways of delivering service to customers;
- Design and analysis of complex sample surveys
- Risk scoring and modelling;
- Estimating the value of counter-fraud operations;
- Providing advice on the development and implementation of policies, for example, on the Social Fund, Housing Benefit and methods of payment;
- Performance measurement and target-setting;
- Developing resource allocation models;
- Forecasting and monitoring claims and other workloads
- Forecasting expenditure;
- Developing costing models, for example of staff pay;
- Human resources planning models;
- Monitoring equal opportunities;
- Evaluation of pilots;
- Modelling and evaluation of policy changes;
- Model simulations;
- General statistical analysis and sampling advice;
- Evaluation of business unit performance;
- Project evaluation.
What You Can Expect from Us
We do interesting work which matters to our customers, staff and the country generally. Social security spending accounts for some £115 billion (around one-third of government expenditure).
The Department is committed to developing its staff. Training will be arranged to meet immediate job and project needs and arrangements will be made to help meet personal development objectives.
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