Head of Private Sector Licensing and Home Improvement

Please apply online via the link provided.

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities! We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

Lewisham Council’s Housing Service is seeking a new Head of Private Sector Licencing and Home Improvement as part of our senior leadership team in the Housing Services Directorate.

The role

It’s an exciting time to join us. Lewisham is a vibrant and rewarding place to live and work –full of ambition, energy and a huge amount of potential. Our people are passionate, diverse and engaged in the work we do. We are proud of our strong, welcoming communities and of being recognised as the UK’s first borough of Sanctuary.

It’s also a challenging time for us, with significant financial pressure and increasing demand for our services. We are meeting this challenge head on, with a radical and bold change agenda underway across the organisation.

Here in the housing service, we are passionate about our vision that everyone has a safe, stable and genuinely affordable home where they can live an independent and prosperous life. Maintaining high standards and ensuring safety in the private rented sector is essential. To support this, we operate Selective Licensing, Additional HMO Licensing, and Mandatory Licensing schemes. The Housing Improvement and Assistance Team works to support vulnerable residents who need aids and adaptations to enable them to continue to live independently in their homes as well as providing a range of capital grants to support landlords to bring empty homes back into occupation and ensure homes are free from hazards.

We are ambitious with a clear strategy to deliver on our vision. This role is a critical part of delivering our vision.

We are looking for a new Head of Private Sector Licencing and Home Improvement.

What we’re looking for

Reporting to the Director of Housing Strategy, the Head of Private Sector Licencing and Home Improvement will lead a service area that provides strategic direction for the Council’s housing improvement and assistance service and the property licensing and enforcement function. This is an area of the division with big ambition, as we have recently expanded our property licencing schemes and have seen an increase in applications from residents for support from our grants, specifically the Disabled Facilities Grant.

Managing a service of up to 100 staff the post-holder will lead our ambitions to work proactively within the private rented sector to drive up standards and safety for Lewisham’s residents. With expertise in the legal framework of regulation and licensing, you’ll be at the forefront of operationalising our new licensing scheme, and will maximise their impact through innovative new approaches to engaging with our residents.

You will also be responsible for utilising a home assistance grant of £2million a year to support our most vulnerable residents to live in safe and secure homes from which they can live independent lives.

We’re looking for a strategic and inspirational leader, communicator and manager who can demonstrate strong experience of delivering an operational income-generating service, ideally with a background in commercial or regulatory and enforcement services as well as a strong background and experience in managing Disabled Facilities Grants services. If you are excited by this challenge, we want to hear from you.

Location

The job is primarily based in Laurence House, Catford but we operate a hybrid approach where you will be required to work both in the office and from home on a regular basis.

The recruitment process is anonymous and we don’t accept CV’s.

Applicant handbook - please read the guidance in this handbook when applying. It is essential that you complete the application fully and that your supporting statement covers how you meet each of the person specification criteria listed.

To apply, please click on the apply link above.

Please click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification

Salary

£69,840 - £74,487 per annum (SMG2)

N.B: All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role. The only exception to this will be when matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale), which is subject to evidential proof.

Special conditions

• The job is subject to a basic DBS check

The recruitment process is anonymous and we don’t accept CV’s.

For an informal discussion about this job, please contact Fenella Beckman (Director of Housing Strategy)- Fenella.Beckman@lewisham.gov.uk

Diversity

Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

The Council has a dedicated employment support service, Lewisham Works, which offers Lewisham residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you want to join Lewisham Works, please email JobsAndSkills@lewisham.gov.uk and an advisor will be in touch with you.

The Council reserves the right to close adverts early if there is a large response.

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