Analyst

Analysts use data and evidence to help health and social care services make the best possible decisions about the way services are provided.

When the Government decides to invest in a new medicine or vaccine, how do they know it will work? How do they know that’s the best thing to invest in? How do they test whether it is working? There is often evidence in both directions, and analysts help to sort that out.

Working in a national organisation like the Department of Health and Social Care or NHS England, you will have the opportunity to work in a consultancy type role: working with data and providing evidence to senior decision makers, including Government Ministers

Analyst is also known as Data analyst, research analyst, financial analyst.

Role Characteristics

Working in a national organisation like Department of Health and Social Care or NHS England
Finding evidence and data about the best way to deliver a new service or address a problem, and weighing up which evidence to rely on
Using analytical or data skills to work out what might work; presenting your findings in a way that gets the message across.
Working with decision makers to inform national policies about health and social care.
Being part of a cross-Government profession, with opportunities and links to other areas of Government like education, transport or the economy
Opportunities to work as an economist, statistician, operational researcher or social researcher

Skills

Attention to detail
Problem-solving
Specialist skills
Team work
Using data
Using technology

Routes into this role

Here are some example routes that can lead into this role.

GCSEs

BTEC

A-Levels

An apprenticeship

Undergraduate degree

How to become

Many of the longer term career options in analytical roles are geared towards graduates with a degree with numerate content, but there are also several apprenticeship routes and some scope for equivalent experience, for example if you have A level maths or economics and some experience working in an analytical role.

Some entry routes are advertised on a cross-Government basis on a website called Civil Service Jobs. You are able to express a preference for working in health or social care areas. Here, you can apply to become a fast stream analyst or a mainstream analyst in one of five professions: economist, statistician, operational researcher, social researcher or data scientist. Some roles are advertised directly on Civil Service jobs, and typically you will need a good numerate degree and some experience of working in an analytical role.

There are also good apprenticeship routes into being a Data Analyst (level 4 apprenticeship, to get you up to A-level standard), Data scientist (level 6 apprenticeship), economics apprenticeship (level 6)

Recruitment typically relies on a ‘success profiles’ process, which is designed to test what you’re good at. It is worth reading up on success profiles before applying. Typically, recruiters are looking for examples of when you’ve used your skills, setting out the context, the things you did, and whether it worked.

Where can this role lead

No matter what role you start in or where you are in your career path, there are always opportunities to develop and progress in health and care.

What the civil service excels at is providing support and development to its staff on an ongoing basis, to enable you to build up your skills and knowledge and progress your career.

Progression to higher levels is always dependent on the skills and abilities you have developed, and never just on ‘time served’. These roles open up real opportunities to learn from the job you’re doing, to try new things, to move between roles in your organisation, to try roles in other areas of Government or to explore secondments or loans into other sectors like academia.

Some analysts in this type of role have progressed to the very highest levels, for example Chancellor of the Exchequer, Head of the UK civil service, Chief Executive of Leeds ICS. Progress to ‘senior civil service’, with pay rates starting at around £75,000 is a real possibility for many analysts, but there are also more technical roles where you can thrive doing what you enjoy.