Chief Inspector of Crown Premises Fire Safety

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in 4 days

Health And Safety

Full time

£81,000 - £103,000 per year

Job summary

The Chief Inspector of Crown Premises Fire Safety reports to the Fire Director in MHCLG. The post holder is responsible for implementing the legal requirements set out in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 with respect to the inspection of Crown and public premises in England. The Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate (CPFSI) comprises persons authorised by the Secretary of State who have powers under the 2005 Order to inspect and enforce fire safety in Crown and government premises (over 10,000 buildings including prison sites).

Job description

The post holder will provide oversight and strategic leadership to the team of 12 and the budget of £1.12m, and will also be responsible for ensuring that senior stakeholders, such as prison governors, act upon fire safety recommendations made by the inspectors. The post holder will also provide strategic engagement with the National Fire Chiefs’ Council (NFCC) and other bodies conducting similar work to CPFSI, such as the Defence Safety Authority based at the Ministry of Defence.

Key accountabilities

The responsibilities of this role include:

Provide leadership for the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate, setting strategic direction for the team and ensuring that it is has the necessary resourcing, training and structures to discharge its statutory responsibilities.
On occasions to accompany team members on Inspections
Act as the strategic lead for CPFSI in its interactions relating to inspection and enforcement, for example with prison governors and senior managers in HM Prisons and Probation, as part of the wider representational role with senior stakeholders.
Advise Ministers and senior officials in MHCLG and other relevant Government Departments and their agencies of key emerging issues and recommendations from the programme of inspection of fire safety in Crown and public premises. Develop synergies with other relevant inspectorates and enforcing authorities (e.g. HMI Prisons and the Defence Safety Authority).
Provide general advice and input as required to Ministers and officials in MHCLG on fire policy, operational and response issues where that doesn’t cut across the independent role of the Inspectorate.
Take an active role in the overall leadership and governance of the Fire Directorate as a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be first and foremost an empowering, effective and skilful leader, capable of adapting their style between leading a small, highly-skilled and motivated team and providing leadership across a very broad Crown premises fire safety landscape. They need to be a highly effective and adaptive communicator who is comfortable and effective at engaging across a very broad stakeholder landscape, including at very senior levels within government, the wider public sector and with private companies.

They also need to be an experienced, qualified expert in fire safety enforcement who can both deploy their own skills and experience and ensure the continuous professional development of the team of Crown Inspectors.

The role will require regular travel across England to take part in inspections and maintain contact with the team, who are located across the country.

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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Essential Criteria

Strong track record as a confident and collaborative leader, showing pride and passion for public service, creating and engaging others in a shared vision, valuing diversity and inclusion.
The ability to communicate the purpose of the organisation with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm
Sound judgement and the ability to use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice, including knowing when more information is needed and when to challenge others.
Strong influencing skills, with the ability to build, nurture and maintain relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, both internal and external
Experience of delivering challenging service objectives with professional excellence, expertise and efficiency.
Level 4 fire safety diploma or equivalent

Desirable criteria:

Wide knowledge, understanding and/or experience of fire policy and operational matters.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £23,465 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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply

Please click the Be Applied link to provide the required information and complete your application through the Be Applied website by 23:55 on Sunday 18 January 2026.

You will be asked to enter some personal details, upload your CV and to provide your responses to the role’s advertised essential criteria.

When prompted to upload your CV, please upload a single document consisting of:

a CV (including the names of 2 referees and your current remuneration) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities, achievements and your academic qualifications, specifying subject and degree level achieved. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
a statement of suitability explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria provided in the person specification. (max. 2 pages)

Please remember to save these two items in one document. Both items will be assessed to determine sift outcomes.

Please note that only completed applications through the Be Applied route will be considered and that any further progress updates will be sent through Be Applied. For an informal discussion about the role, please contact the Recruitment team by emailing scs.recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

The selection panel will be made up of:

Peter Lee, Director, Fire (Hiring Manager)
Two additional panel members, TBA

The panel will be joined by one of our staff representatives from a pool of volunteers as part of our commitments to diversity and inclusion.

Selection process and assessments

During sifting, both your CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the role’s Essential Criteria. These Essential Criteria will also be used to form the basis of the panel’s questions in your final interview.

If a role lists Desirable Criteria, these will only be used to determine the merit order of candidates who rank evenly when assessed against the Essential Criteria.

Shortlisted candidates may also be invited to give a short presentation or complete an exercise at the beginning of their final interview. Further details will be provided to shortlisted candidates when invited to interview.

All of the evidence presented as part of the process will be considered in the final assessment.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment

Contract

This is a permanent appointment. This role is full-time and is suitable for a job share. MHCLG encourages flexible working.

Location

Bristol, Cambridge, Darlington, London, Manchester and Wolverhampton.

During the application process you will be asked to express a location preference, from the advertised locations. Any offer made will be based on that specific location. Please note that, as your normal work location, costs cannot be claimed for travel to and from your base office location.

Salary

For external appointments, remuneration for this role will be £81,000 - £103,000 p.a. plus a bonus opportunity depending on performance (within the normal Civil Service pay arrangements) and attractive pension.

For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If appointed on promotion you would get the higher of 10% uplift or the new minimum for SCSPB1 (£81k pa). Please also note that, if successful, any existing specialist allowances you currently receive will not automatically transfer or be retained upon moving to this role.

Future pay awards will normally be made in line with current SCS performance-related pay arrangements.

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 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this.

Near Miss Offers

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.

Security Clearance

In addition to the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), all Senior Civil Service staff are required to have at least Security Clearance (SC) prior to starting the role.

For more details of vetting levels and requirements please refer to the Cabinet Office HMG Personnel Security Controls.

Complaints Process

Please see candidate pack slide 23 for details.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

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

Salary range

£81,000 - £103,000 per year