Licensing Enforcement Officer

About the role

Purpose of the job

To assess and take the requisite action in relation to licensing applications and to undertake compliance and enforcement activities and actions in accordance with law, statutory guidance, codes of practice and policy to ensure the Council meets its statutory obligations. The role requires the post holder to be knowledgeable and competent in the practise of all the Team’s licensing responsibilities and to lead in one of the following subject areas: Animal Welfare Licensing and Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing.

• To undertake licensing inspections, audits, investigations and other enforcement or administrative activities relevant to the Team’s responsibilities and in accordance with law, statutory guidance, codes of practice, PACE and RIPA in line with the principles of risk assessment.

• To use a range of enforcement tools to obtain compliance, including verbal and written warnings, enforcing licence conditions and penalty points, and issuing suspensions and revocations and formal notices in consultation with the Licensing Enforcement Team Leader and relevant senior managers.

• To gather evidence in accordance with PACE and RIPA, conduct PACE interviews, prepare prosecution files, liaise with legal advisors and senior managers, and attend and give evidence in court in accordance with law, policy, and guidance.

• To respond to service requests and investigate complaints relating to premises, vehicles, drivers, and activities for which the service has a licensing responsibility in accordance with law, policy, and guidance within agreed timescales.

• To act as technical lead in Animal Welfare, Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing or Licensing Act 2003/Gambling Act 2003, to involve providing advice on associated licensing matters to businesses, the public, Elected Members, internal and external partners, and agencies.

• To prepare and present licensing reports to the Licensing & Appeals Committee (or sub committees thereof).

• To support senior managers in the development of policy, procedures, guidance, and training materials where it relates to their lead area/s of responsibility.

• To liaise with other services, authorities, and agencies to ensure joined-up and effective delivery of the licensing enforcement function and to undertake outreach and partnership working with the licensed trade

• To undertake personal learning development to maintain up-to-date specialist technical knowledge, including training programmes, conducting own research, and reading as required, to ensure the Council meets its statutory obligations.

What will you be doing?

General responsibilities applicable to all jobs

1. Demonstrate awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behavioural, physical, social and welfare needs.
2. Comply with the Council’s policies and procedures including (but not limited to) safeguarding, financial regulations, promotion of equalities, customer care, agreed audit actions and health and safety (ensuring that reasonable care is taken at all times for the health, safety and welfare of yourself and other persons).
3. Understand the councils commitment to Corporate Parenting and take responsibility to support this commitment. Enable the council to be the best corporate parents possible to children and young people in our current and previous care.
4. Carry out any other duties which fall within the broad spirit, scope, and purpose of this job description and which are commensurate with the grade of the post.

The job description reflects the major tasks to be carried out by the post holder and identifies a level of responsibility at which they will be required to work. In the interests of effective working, the major tasks may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changing needs and circumstances. Such reviews and any consequential changes will be carried out in consultation with the post holder.

About you

The post holder will be required to carry out programmed work outside of normal working hours and must be prepared to undertake unsocial hours duties without notice where circumstances demand immediate intervention. Flexitime, time off in lieu and flexible working hours are available to meet this requirement.

Our Benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our Key Commitments

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

North Northamptonshire Council re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant in June 2024 which highlights the Council’s pledge to support the Armed Forces community. The council obtained the silver status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and we are now currently working towards achieving Gold status.

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)