Darlington, Leeds, Manchester
Job Summary
Do you enjoy building solid working relationships with internal and external stakeholders? Are you keen to promote collaborative ways of working amongst your team and across Local Government and partner organisations?
If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Homelessness Adviser to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!
The Government has made a manifesto commitment to get Britain back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. A dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, is bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy working with mayors and councils across the country to address homelessness and deliver long term solutions to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping.
This is an exciting time to join a high-profile team and provides a great opportunity for excellent individuals to work collaboratively across sectors and help influence the shape of homelessness service delivery, and make a real difference to thousands of lives.
The Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in April 2018 and significantly reformed England’s homelessness legislation by placing duties on local authorities to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness in their areas. The Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST) provides advice and guidance to local areas implementing the HRA, and the team has continued to work closely with local authorities on delivery of the new duties, improving homeless services and performance. HAST advisers also work to provide more in-depth support and oversight in Local Authorities with high numbers of families in unsuitable temporary accommodation and, alongside the Rough Sleeping Adviser team, to help local areas to develop their approaches to prevent single homelessness and reduce rough sleeping.
We are recruiting for a new adviser to join HAST, working in the North Team to support Local Authorities in the Midlands and North of England.
Job Description
As the Homelessness Adviser your responsibilities will include:
* Visiting and working with local authorities across England, providing advice, support and challenge that is relevant to local context and issues.
* Supporting work to embed the Homelessness Reduction Act, including helping local authorities build a preventative problem-solving culture and deliver services to meet local need across family and single homelessness and rough sleeping.
* Working with local authorities to deliver the government’s manifest commitment to get back on track to end all forms of homelessness. This will include supporting Local Authorities to reduce the number of families in unsuitable temporary accommodation and B&B, reduce the number of long term rough sleepers and to deliver sustainable accommodation and support solutions.
* Supporting local authorities to develop their homelessness strategies and governance, to make the most effective use of MHCLG funding and to collaborate effectively with partners to prevent homelessness.
* Providing targeted challenge and support to help local areas to improve practice and performance and holding authorities to account for delivery.
* Supporting implementation of improved data collection, as well as learning from experience around the country to inform on-going policy development.
* Delivering presentations, workshops and events, supporting the development and dissemination of good practice information and advice.
* Effective recording and sharing of key information to support programme management and policy development
The Homelessness Adviser role includes regular face to face contact with local authorities, stakeholders and civil service colleagues in a variety of locations across the country and requires regular travel and in some circumstances overnight stays. This means that advisers undertake official business from sites other than the assigned MHCLG office, with travel to other locations and offices, alongside homebased working in accordance with MHCLG policies.
As The Homelessness Adviser Your Responsibilities Will Include
* Visiting and working with local authorities across England, providing advice, support and challenge that is relevant to local context and issues.
* Supporting work to embed the Homelessness Reduction Act, including helping local authorities build a preventative problem-solving culture and deliver services to meet local need across family and single homelessness and rough sleeping.
* Working with local authorities to deliver the government’s manifest commitment to get back on track to end all forms of homelessness. This will include supporting Local Authorities to reduce the number of families in unsuitable temporary accommodation and B&B, reduce the number of long term rough sleepers and to deliver sustainable accommodation and support solutions.
* Supporting local authorities to develop their homelessness strategies and governance, to make the most effective use of MHCLG funding and to collaborate effectively with partners to prevent homelessness.
* Providing targeted challenge and support to help local areas to improve practice and performance and holding authorities to account for delivery.
* Supporting implementation of improved data collection, as well as learning from experience around the country to inform on-going policy development.
* Delivering presentations, workshops and events, supporting the development and dissemination of good practice information and advice.
* Effective recording and sharing of key information to support programme management and policy development
The Homelessness Adviser role includes regular face to face contact with local authorities, stakeholders and civil service colleagues in a variety of locations across the country and requires regular travel and in some circumstances overnight stays. This means that advisers undertake official business from sites other than the assigned MHCLG office, with travel to other locations and offices, alongside homebased working in accordance with MHCLG policies.
Person specification
* An expert and leader in the field of homelessness, with an understanding of the factors which contribute to individuals and families becoming homeless and a proven track record in developing and delivering services which effectively prevent homelessness and support vulnerable people.
* Experience of working within a political environment, providing leadership at a senior and strategic level, preferably within a local authority. This will include a track record of providing advice and guidance to Elected Members / Boards and Senior Leadership Teams, delivering statutory homelessness services and working in partnership to achieve consistent and sustainable improvements in services and outcomes for homeless people.
* Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of legislation, policy and practice relating to homelessness in England.
* Excellent knowledge and understanding of local government, key partners and stakeholders, their roles and interests, and the operational and political context in which services are provided to people at risk of homelessness.
* Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to present verbally to a variety of audiences and in writing, the ability to motivate and inspire individuals and groups and to support the development of partnerships around shared commitments to improve outcomes.
* An excellent understanding of equality and diversity and issues surrounding disadvantage and discrimination, and the ability to advise and support local authorities to provide excellent customer care to all sections of their community.
Alongside your salary of £54,531, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £15,797 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%
Selection process details
As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage.
Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).
Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions, for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.
When Writing Your Application, Remember
* The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.
* Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.
* If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)
At sift, we will be assessing
Experience (Lead Criteria): Please set out how you meet the person specification requirements on experience, which includes having experience of delivering homelessness services at a senior management and strategic level.
Technical: As of 31 December 2024, there were 81,063 households with dependent children in temporary accommodation of which 4,330 household were in B&B accommodation. Of the households with children in B&B, 3,110 had been resident for more than the statutory limit of 6 weeks. This is up 5.1% from 2,960 on 31st December 2023. What steps could local authorities take to reduce or eliminate the use of unsuitable B&B accommodation for families?
Behaviour: Seeing the Big Picture - What do you think Local Authorities should include as the top 3 priorities within their homelessness and rough sleeping strategies to drive their work to respond to and prevent homelessness over the next three years?
Behaviour: Changing and Improving - Please give an example of a piece of work you have led that has resulted in sustainable improvements in services and outcomes for homeless people.
There is a 250 word limit per question.
In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour: Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together
Technical
Strengths
The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
Candidates will be expected to deliver a presentation at interview stage, the details of which would be provided upon invitation.
In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Behaviours: Seeing the Big Picture, Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together
Experience: Yes
Technical: Yes
Strengths: Yes
We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
Grade 7 salary
* The salary for this role is £54,531 (National).
* For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.
This role can either be offered on a permanent contract, or as a secondment.
Fixed Term Details
For Secondments - you will be offered a 12 month secondment opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your employer to take up a secondment opportunity should you be successful.
For MHCLG employees - you will retain your existing contract.
Benefits
Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:
Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:
* Darlington*
* Leeds
* Manchester
There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.
* Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.
For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.
Sift And Interview Dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place w/c 14th July 2025 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details in a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. The candidate pack contains information about the CS Commissioners appeals and complaints procedure.
Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see - Internal Fraud Register
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
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) (opens in a new window)
* nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
* individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
* Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
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.
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
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 attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
* Name : Gemma Thompson
* Email : gemma.thompson@communities.gov.uk
Recruitment team
* Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk
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