Head of Casework Team (EIA) / (Crown Casework)

Job summary

Do you have strong leadership skills that you can bring to this role with the ability to coach and mentor your team? Are you a technical specialist in either EIA or development management interested in working on some of the most high profile and career-defining cases in England?

If so, we have two exciting opportunities for both Head of an EIA Casework Team and a Crown Casework Team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

The Planning Casework Unit (“PCU”), which works to the Chief Planner administers and determines applications relating to 40 different types of planning casework. This includes decisions on whether to call in planning applications, confirm a compulsory purchase orders, EIA screening, or whether to grant planning permission, among other things. These decisions may be very high profile and complex in nature, and cover a wide range of policy issues such as housing, prisons, design, energy, minerals or climate change. PCU advises the Secretary of State and other Ministers on those cases which require a Ministerial decision.

PCU is based in 10 locations across the country, and this post reports to either the Team Leader responsible for jurisdictional casework.

The post-holder will support the delivery of a high-quality service to Ministers, so that they can make informed, legally sound casework decisions, as well as managing casework decided under delegation. Ministerial casework often involves very high-profile and controversial cases and to advise on these cases the post-holder will need a high level of political awareness as well as sound technical planning knowledge and an attention to detail.

We are currently seeking particular expertise relating to Environmental Impact Assessment or experience in determining planning applications, both to support our Crown Casework team.

Job description

The post-holder will be responsible for advising on and determining a variety of planning casework. These include decisions on whether to grant or refuse planning permission for proposals or Crown development; jurisdiction cases (including whether to call in or recover applications or appeals for Ministerial decision); substantive decisions on compulsory purchase orders; EIA screening and scoping; requests for revocation, and a number of other case types.

The post-holder will form part of the senior management team within the PCU and be involved in key decisions on the management of the PCU, and will act as a leader of the wider teams they are part of. They will empower the team, and ensure that caseworkers who are based in different locations work effectively together in an inclusive environment.

Ministerial casework often involves very high-profile and controversial cases and to advise on these cases the post-holder will need a high level of political awareness as well as sound technical planning knowledge. They will present cases at Ministerial meetings and liaise directly with Ministerial private offices.

The post-holder will be responsible for:

• Leadership of a team: Contributing heavily to the leadership priorities of the PCU. Ensuring that clear expectations are set, and that the wider team has the right support and training in place to enable delivery at a high level. Ensure that wellbeing is supported and that the team are empowered to play an active role in the development of the Unit as a whole.
• Making high quality and timely decisions: Ensure that any decisions, Ministerial advice and briefings, offer sound, high quality advice and contain clear rationales to support recommendations, and in line with propriety standards.
• Case management: Owning and progressing a dedicated caseload, and maintaining the flow of cases within the team.
• Collaboration: Work closely and collaboratively with departmental colleagues, other government departments and statutory consultees.
• Propriety: Ensuring they and others act properly and maintain political awareness in dealing with some of the most high-profile and politically sensitive cases in England.
• Service improvement: Form a key part to a programme of continual service improvement, and identify opportunities to improve case handling and business delivery to promote the PCU as a centre for excellence.

Person specification

Knowledge and skills needed:

• Leadership: Ability to lead and manage a team, while promoting diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, including development opportunities.
• Communicating and Influencing: Can communicate effectively using plain language, with technical stakeholders and members of the public who may have little experience of the planning process, while being able to negotiate set outcomes.
• Making Effective Decisions: Strong analytical and decision-making skills, and ability to analyse and accurately interpret data and views from various sources to support decisions.
• Delivering at Pace: Ability to lead delivery of a large and complex caseload to high standards while meeting deadlines in a fast-paced and demanding environment

Essential Experience required:

• High level of technical planning or EIA knowledge gained through professional qualification and/or experience, particularly where it relates to planning decision-making or casework.
• Is a chartered member of or qualifies to apply for chartered/professional membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute or the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,167, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £16,271 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours , Experience , Strengths , Technical

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page.

In your CV and covering letter, please include:
a. why you are interested in the role;
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Leadership, Working Together, Communicating and Influencing.

• Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Candidates will be required to undertake a short written test in advance of the interview, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 09/02/2026 .

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 23/02/2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office:

London Office: + CTC

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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

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 : Lewis Thomas
• Email : lewis.thomas@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk