Policy Analyst

Candidate Pack and Job Description

About Asthma UK

Our vision for the future

Every 10 seconds someone in the UK has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack and three people die every day. Tragically many of these deaths could be prevented, whilst others still suffer with asthma so severe current treatments don’t work. This has to change. That’s why Asthma UK exists.

We work to stop asthma attacks and, ultimately, cure asthma by funding world leading research and scientists, campaigning for change and supporting people with asthma to reduce their risk of a potentially life threatening asthma attack.

Our long term vision is to ‘Stop asthma attacks. Cure asthma.’

What we do

We fight asthma in three ways; fund world class research, campaign to improve the quality of care and provide expert advice and support.

  • Research:We fund new avenues of asthma research and asthma scientists with the aim of halving the time it takes for new discoveries to start helping people with asthma. New technologies and collaborations will increase the chances of scientific breakthrough and we are determined everyone with asthma should benefit.
  • Improve quality of care: We constantly challenge complacency around asthma. We raise awareness of issues and solutions to ensure there is consistent delivery of the basic care that research has proved time and time again substantially reduces the risk of an asthma attack.
  • Advice and support:We help people to effectively manage their daily life with asthma by providing access to the best available information and advice to reduce their risk of an asthma attack.

Our 2014-17 Goal and strategies

Our 2014-17 strategy has one overarching goal; to reduce risk of asthma attacks.

This is underpinned by 5 strategies:

  • Drive world-class asthma research
  • Campaign for good asthma care
  • Directly support more people at high risk of an asthma attack
  • End complacency about asthma
  • Attract more funding for asthma

Our values

We can only achieve our vision with the help of people working for Asthma UK, our volunteers, partners and supporters. That’s why we strive to build a team people want to invest in, experts in their field and passionate about improving the lives of people with asthma. This is underpinned by our values.

Everything we do is driven by people with asthma which means that we value being Trusted to put the interests of people with asthma first. As a patient organisation this ensures we are committed to making changes that see real impact for people with asthma.

We believe in scientific and professional excellence and in advancing solutions which means we value advancing knowledge. This demonstrates our commitment to excellence, both scientific and professional and draws from our history as a charity encouraging the best medical research into the causes and treatments for asthma. We strive to create an environment conducive to creative thinking and innovation, where we measure and evaluate our work, ask questions, reflect on shared learning and find new solutions.

We’re fighting for a better quality of life for people with asthma and we believe in building healthy environments which means we value promoting quality of life. Our goal is to enable people with asthma to lead full and active lives. This means we need to support them holistically - in school, in the workplace or with the benefits system. Internally, we promote quality of our working lives by creating a positive working environment, preventing stress and considering flexible working where we can.

We believe in encouraging personal development and in continuous learning and improvement which means we value developing potential. We are dedicated to helping people with asthma overcome barriers and realise their potential. It also demonstrates our commitment to become a learning organisation where we grow our skills, seek to improve and listen and learn from customer experiences to increase our community of supporters. We want increased motivation for staff and greater empowerment to suggest and make changes to improve how we do things.

Job Profile
Basic details
Job title: / Policy Analyst / Date profile updated: / March 2015
Department: / External Affairs / Location: / 18 Mansell Street
Hours: / 35 hours per week / Salary: / c. £30,000.00
Reports to: / Carine Lewis
Purpose of job:
To support the provision of data and policy products which enable Asthma UK to:
  • Make evidence-based decisions and develop evidence-based policy
  • Develop and evaluate impactful campaigns, products and services
  • Communicate the impact of asthma on people in the UK in an accurate and compelling way
  • Change public policy and NHS practice to benefit people with asthma
  • Make the case for the UK to be a centre of world class asthma research

Key accountabilities:
Accountabilities also include a responsibility on behalf of the job holder to undertake any other duties that are relevant to the job as requested by the line manager.
  1. Collate, analyse and interpret data and statistics about asthma and its treatment in the UK and Europe.
  1. Interpret data and research papers in order to develop an understanding of the impact of asthma on individuals and public services which is robust and compelling enough to be used with the media and with senior decision-makers.
  1. Collate and communicate the opinions of people with asthma to ensure that Asthma UK’s policy and campaigning agenda is driven by their needs. This includes commissioning or carrying out research and reporting on findings.
  1. Support Asthma UK’s strategic relationship with the Asthma Observatory at the Applied Centre for Asthma Research.
  1. Monitor relevant external developments in health and research policy in order to identify opportunities and support Asthma UK’s campaigning and influencing work.
  1. Develop high quality data and policy products, including reports, position statements, consultation responses and briefings to communicate the charity’s views and influence decision-makers.
  1. Support project development and delivery across the charity, advising on the appropriate data and outputs.
  1. Disseminate asthma data and analysis to public and professional audiences so that our insights are shared and acted on.

Person specification requirements for policy analyst
Qualifications and knowledge: /
  • Degree-level qualification or equivalent work experience in a field related to health, policy or economics
  • Knowledge of medical research databases, their limitations and how to maximise their use
  • Understanding of and commitment to organisational values
  • Clear understanding of current developments in health or research policy
  • Knowledge of public and private sector sources of health data and how to access and
interpret them (desirable)
  • Working knowledge of health economics (desirable)

Skills: /
  • Excellent IT skills, including ability to work with analysis software, databases, spreadsheets and content management systems as well as basic Microsoft Office package
  • Highly numerate and skilled in collating, analysing and interpreting complex datasets
  • Written and spoken communication skills, including ability to present complex information in an accessible way
  • Research and survey skills, with the ability to give methodological advice when needed
  • Literature searching, review and critical appraisal, including ability to conduct systematic searches

Experience: /
  • Interpretation and analysis of large datasets, including data linkage
  • Experience of presenting data in user-friendly ways
  • Finding and interpreting clinical research literature
  • Researching, drafting and implementing policy (desirable)
  • Conducting primary and secondary research projects (desirable)

Terms, conditions and benefits

Salary:

The salary for this position is c£30,000.00per annum. We are committed to paying competitive salaries that are based on appropriate market data.

Annual leave:

Annual leave entitlement for full time staff is 22 working days per calendar year, rising to 24 days after two years’ service, plus 1 further day for each year’s service thereafter. You are entitled to all working days between Christmas and New Year when the offices are closed. In addition, all statutory and bank holidays are honoured. Annual leave will be pro-rated for part time staff. We operate a time off in lieu (TOIL) arrangement whereby staff who have worked additional hours for a specific reason have an opportunity to take compensatory time off in the interests of their health and well-being.

Pension:

We have a group personal pension scheme to which you will be enrolled, but may opt out. Your minimum contribution is 4% of salary on a monthly basis. If you pay less than 5% of salary into your pension, the charity will match your contribution. If you make a contribution of 5% or more, employer contributions will be 7.5% of salary. From the beginning of the month following completion of five years’ service the charity will increase its contribution to 10% of your salary, although there is no obligation for you to increase your contribution.

Season ticket loan:

After successful completion of a six month probationary period we will provide, if required, an annual interest free season ticket loan repayable over 12 months.

Equality of opportunity:

We have a wide range of employment policies and procedures that provide favourable conditions in areas such as:

  • Maternity, parental and special leave
  • Sickness absence
  • Fair treatment and representation of staff on employment matters.

Both as an employer and a service provider, we are committed to ensuring fairness and creating an environment where equality of opportunity is maintained. This commitment is demonstrated by developing and reviewing employment policies and procedures that ensure recruitment, training and development and promotion decisions are made on the basis of competency, performance and ability and by working towards providing equal access to services for all people with asthma. We have received public recognition for our flexible, family friendly and work-life balance policies and commitment to staff development. We are IIP Bronze accredited.

The post will be offered subject to satisfactory references, a medical declaration and a declaration of any interests you may hold. References may be taken up at any stage, but the current employer will never be approached unless an offer is to be made, and then only with your permission.

Good luck with your application.

If you have any queries on any aspect of the recruitment process, please contact Laura-Louise Knowles on 020 7786 4948.