Planning Capacity and Capability Delivery Adviser

Job summary

We are MHCLG

We are looking for two enthusiastic team players with strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills who can manage and lead delivery across a fast-paced, wide-ranging and highly rewarding programme. The Planning Capacity and Capability team supports town planners in local government in building the skills and resources needed to deliver a more efficient and sustainable planning system, which can adapt to and successfully implement change.

The programme delivers a suite of interventions that:

• Provides direct funding support to local planning authorities to enable them to deliver projects now and in a reformed planning system
• Provides upskilling support to enable the implementation of our reforms
• Supports the recruitment of skilled built environment professionals to local planning authorities, providing immediate support alongside wider initiatives to ensure a longer-term pipeline of talent.

This is an exciting time to join the team, as more than 200 councils in England are undergoing reorganisation alongside a significant programme of planning reform, including changes set out in the Planning and Infrastructure Act and the draft National Planning Policy Framework.

With the Government’s ambition to recruit an additional 1,400 planners and boost planning capacity, this role offers the opportunity to support the sector through a period of change by strengthening capability, shaping policy implementation, and helping ensure reforms are delivered effectively with minimal disruption.

Job description

Role 1: Local Authority Grant Funding and Monitoring Adviser

Responsibilities will include:

• Supporting Delivery: leading the design, delivery and monitoring of funding interventions to support local planning authority capacity and capability. This includes working closely with strategy, policy, commercial and finance colleagues to understand the most effective interventions to support capacity in the sector, co-designing and managing projects in conjunction with external stakeholders, preparing advice to senior officials and / or Ministers.
• Collaboration: Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues in the delivery chain, local government, the private sector and wider MHCLG teams that interface with planning and local government strategy and improvement.
• Working strategically: Work with teams across the Planning Directorate and Chief Planner Directorate to co-ordinate and maintain a strategic overview of funding support to local planning authorities. This includes developing and implementing strategies and develop options to take forward learning and new projects around skills development.
• Quality control: Ensure that any decisions, Ministerial advice and briefings, offer sound, high quality advice and contain clear rationales to support recommendations.
• Evaluation and learning: Work collaboratively with our User Research team to ensure monitoring arrangements are effective. Ensure that delivery and partnership with key stakeholders meet appropriate standards and are in line with established governance requirements, particularly given many of the relationships are through direct funding.
• Contributing to the leadership priorities of the wider Capacity and Capability team: Ensuring that clear expectations are set with those you will task manage, and that the team has the right support and training in place to enable delivery. Ensure that wellbeing is supported and that the team are empowered to play an active role in the development of the team. Manage change in a positive and inclusive way.

Role 2: Local Government Reform Delivery Adviser

Responsibilities will include:

• Sector coordination: coordinating clear messages from the planning sector to input into central Local Government Reform (LGR) policy, processes and products
• Stakeholder engagement: Establishing and supporting the effective running of a sector group of key stakeholders from the Planning Advisory Service, Local Government Association and others to fully understand the cumulative impacts of reform
• Good practice, innovation and capability: supporting the identification and dissemination of good practice, including approaches to establishing a new planning culture, ensuring the right skills and capacity are in place through the development of new authorities, enhanced digital and data capabilities, and access to wider place-making expertise within larger teams.
• Evaluation and learning: contributing to a rolling programme of project evaluation against added value measures as necessary
• Contributing to the leadership priorities of the wider Capacity and Capability team: Ensuring that clear expectations are set with those you will task manage, and that the team has the right support and training in place to enable delivery. Ensure that wellbeing is supported and that the team are empowered to play an active role in the development of the team. Manage change in a positive and inclusive way.

Person specification

• Experience of working in a fast-paced team to deliver a grant programme or equivalent.
• Strong stakeholder management and enabling skills, with experience of coordinating across multiple groups/teams.
• Excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and succinctly and build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Ability to present, produce reports, and communicate progress effectively to senior audiences.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret complex data.
• Strong numerical skills and knowledge of financial processes.
• Ability to use sound judgement to anticipate problems and develop creative solutions, working collaboratively with colleagues.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment while managing multiple tasks.
• Ability to adapt quickly to new demands, work flexibly, and deliver high-quality outcomes in a fast-moving environment, including providing advice as needed.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,004, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,747 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 Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, 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 , Strengths

Stage 1: Sift

• Behaviour (Lead Behaviour): Seeing the Big Picture

• Behaviour: Delivering at Pace

• Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing

• Behaviour: Making Effective Decisions

There is a 250-word limit per question.

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!)

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

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 interview.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Seeing the Big Picture, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Making Effective Decisions

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

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 22nd June 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 6th July 2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

Disability Confident Scheme (DCS)

We are a Disability Confident employer.

We apply a fair and proportionate interview process for all candidates. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to progress candidates who apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and meet the required minimum selection criteria.

However, where high application volumes are received, progression to interview may be limited to those who best meet the role criteria. In these circumstances, the benchmark required to proceed to interview may be raised for all candidates.

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

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Internal Fraud Database

• Appeals and Complaints

• Fixed Term Appointments for:

• External Candidates

• Existing Civil Servants (Including Loans)

• Secondments

• MHCLG employees

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 : Rebecca Douglass-Smith & James Farrar james.farrar@communities.gov.uk
• Email : Rebecca.douglass-smith@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