12-month Economics Internship with Active Travel England

Details

Reference number

448987

Salary

£24,548

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Job grade

Executive Officer

Contract type

Fixed term

Length of employment

This is a 12-month internship to start 31/08/2026 to 29/08/2027

Business area

ATE - Data & Analysis

Type of role

Economist

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Number of jobs available

1

Location

York

About the job

Job summary

Are you an economics undergraduate or postgraduate with an interest in active travel?

Do you have an inquisitive personality with a willingness to learn?

Looking for a placement during your degree and apply economic thinking into practice?

Active Travel England is enabling people nationwide to be more active by making streets safe and accessible for walking, wheeling and cycling. We do this by building capability across the country to deliver high-quality networks, routes and places. We engage, we enable, we assure and we advocate to make active travel a core part of transport planning.

At the heart of everything we do is raising standards in street design, to ensure our country’s streets become safer and more accessible.

Job description

Our Data, Digital and Analysis directorate provides data analysis, modelling, insight, and tools to support wider ATE activities. During your placement, you will understand the impact you can make to the lives of real people in local communities and the considerable contribution to both local and national economies while improving people’s quality of life, saving households money, and helping to address some of the key public health and environmental challenges of our time.

Your internship will involve supporting senior economists, social researchers and data scientists across the team’s work programme.

ATE internship opportunity

You will be provided with a structured programme but will also have the opportunity to identify areas of interest to you.

In this role, you will gain experience in and assist with:

• Assessing the value for money of proposed active travel investments,
• Research to strengthen and enhance the evidence base used when making the case for investment in active travel,
• Modelling and analysis to inform strategic funding and operational delivery decisions (e.g. for strategy development such as The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy or active travel’s role in supporting the government’s Health Mission),
• Designing and delivering activities to build capability in appraisal within Local Authorities and ATE’s delivery partners (e.g. training, seminars, guidance),
• Reviewing and providing assurance of analysis produced by others in ATE,
• Support in the development of the Research Library to include evidence on active travel,
• Communicating the outputs of the economics team's work to stakeholders,
• Reviewing and providing input to ATE’s evaluation programme (e.g. Active Schools Travel thematic evaluation).

Person specification

We are looking for someone who is/has:

• Either in your last two years of university studying for, or have graduated within the last year, with an economics degree.
• If it is a joint degree, at least 50% of the course modules must be in economics.
• The degree(s) must have included both macroeconomics and microeconomics.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills.
• Good organisational skills and good attention to detail.
• Hard working and motivated.
• Open to taking on new roles/tasks and delivering quality results to set deadlines.
• Shows a willingness to learn and develop their economics knowledge.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full-time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Qualifications

Either studying for or have graduated recently with an economics degree:

• If it is a joint degree, at least 50% of the course modules must be in economics.
• The degree(s) must have included both macroeconomics and microeconomics.
• You will be required to provide evidence that you hold any essential qualifications/licenses at some point during the recruitment process. If you cannot provide evidence, your application will be withdrawn.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Developing Self and Others
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £24,548, Active Travel England contributes £7,111 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

• A written behavioural example in 250 words that provides evidence of you having demonstrated the following: Working Together - Please provide an example of where you have collaborated with colleagues to achieve a desired outcome.
• A tailored CV that demonstrates suitability to the role and the essential criteria.
• Personal statement in 750 words providing detailed experience of the following:
• How this opportunity aligns to your studies and what you hope to gain from it.
• Your experience of carrying out research and gathering data.
• Your experience of proactively contributing to the work of the whole team, while remaining open to taking on new roles/tasks and delivering quality results to the deadline.

The sift will take place week commencing 09/03/2026

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Developing Self and others
• Strengths

The interviews will take place week commencing 13/04/2026

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact us for assistance.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please ask for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at the interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against the government.

All External applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity. It only considers content you have chosen to make public.

Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values.

If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Additional eligible individuals with settled or pre-settled status under different criteria.
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

For further information, refer to nationality requirements guidelines.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attracting, retaining, and investing in talent wherever it is found. To learn more, please refer to the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Apply and Further Information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment policies.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.