Assistant Economist
| Posting date: | 06 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £44,241 per year |
| Additional salary information: | London based £48,581 |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 22 March 2026 |
| Location: | Leeds |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 450526/2 |
Summary
Do you have a track record of delivering analysis with purpose and to tight deadlines?
Are you able to translate economic principles into practical, workable solutions for real policy challenges?
If so, we’d love to hear from you!
DfT is a high-profile department at the heart of UK government. We work with agencies and partners to support the transport network that helps businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country. We plan and invest to make journeys better.
Did you know that buses account for half of all public transport trips in England - more than twice as many as rail? They bring people to jobs, study and local services; they liberate people who are old, young, disabled and isolated; they save millions of tonnes of carbon and pollution, and thousands of miles of traffic jams.
The bus policy area has strong links to high priority Government missions including:
• Kickstart economic growth
• Breakdown barriers to opportunity
The role will provide economic analysis to support the implementation of the Bus Services Act 2025. This Act is a major step in bus reform and delivers the Government’s commitment to expand bus franchising powers. Franchising is a significant change for smaller local authorities, strong analysis is needed to build the evidence base and shape the support they will receive. The Act also introduces other measures, such as lifting the ban on Local Authority Owned Bus Companies, improving safety and accessibility, and giving councils more control over routes that are socially necessary.
Find out more about what it's like working at Department for Transport Central - Department for Transport Careers
You will be joining the Bus analysis team. We are a close team of 13 analysts, made up of a mixture of economists and social researchers, grades G6 to HEO. This team sits within the Local and Regional Transport Analysis division – a friendly, multi-disciplinary analytical team that works closely with policy teams and covers analysis on all aspects of Local Transport.
Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:
Conducting analysis to support the implementation of the Bus Services Act 2025.Providing ad‑hoc analytical support across wider workstreams that underpin the development and rollout of bus franchising.Supporting the development and dissemination of the Bus Franchising Analysis Advice NoteContributing to strategic work including shaping the ongoing development of the Outcomes FrameworkDeveloping the evidence base for bus analysis. This includes identifying and addressing strategic gaps in the existing evidence by undertaking targeted research and analysis.For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.
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