Team: Housing
Job Family: CBG16 - Managing
Salary: £66,806 - £71,672 per annum pro rata
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: Working from home and any CBC offices, including Priory House, Shefford. You will be expected to attend a CBC office location on a monthly basis, and as needed to carry out your role
Contract Type: Hybrid - Permanent
Closing Date: 5th June 2023
Interview Date: 19th June 2023

About Us

Central Bedfordshire is an ambitious authority, determined to be an exemplary one. Our strategic location and high quality of life mean we are one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

As a council we face the same challenges every business does - investing in the right places and delivering great results. Except for us, it’s all about our 289,000 residents. We’re totally focussed on helping to improve their lives and making Central Bedfordshire a great place to live and work.

We have set values and principles to represent the way we work and how we operate as an organisation. You can view a list of these in detail on our website.

This is a great time to join us on our journey.

About the role

How far will you go so that everyone locally can access and afford a warm, safe, and secure home with the opportunity to enjoy a better life belonging to an inclusive, thriving community?

We are looking for an exceptional housing professional who can lead a diverse range of customer- focused interventions in the local housing market. The successful candidate will possess the vision and creativity to improve the quality and accessibility of services in ways that transform the lives of vulnerable and marginalised people. Your values will be etched upon your leadership approach, and you will inspire colleagues, stakeholders, and customers alike to strengthen partnerships through co-production as well as promote operational connectivity with health and social care services. Unmistakably, this is a senior leadership role; and you will be encouraged to be at the leading edge of service innovation and expected to provide services which offer value for money.

The successful candidate must be a great manager with strengths in workforce development as the role is responsible for circa 80 team members. You will join an ambitious Senior Leadership Team who are passionate about inclusion, fairness, and equality. You will lead several flourishing teams:

• Homelessness Intervention Team – embracing prevention and never gate-keeping!
• Housing Demand Team – Council’s advisory services, Housing Register and Allocations
• Private Sector Housing Team – Licensing, DFGs, Regulatory services, Improving homes

You will also lead transformational projects as a member of the leadership team and contribute to the Council’s cross-cutting change agenda. Your career will develop through new experiences, and we will nurture your potential, just as we expect you to develop talent within your teams. Ideally, you will have a strategic mind, as well as substantial experience of managing one of the statutory housing services. You will understand that the way in which you do things is just as important as what you do. You will model our values in the way you work with others; that means caring about people, respecting people, listening to people and above all else, doing the right thing.

Central Bedfordshire Council manages 5,500 homes and is on track to manage 10,000 homes by 2040. We are well under-way with our transformation journey, building upon solid foundations in performance management and workforce development. We are committed to providing excellent housing services and keeping people safe in their homes, whilst making the best use of resources. Our strategies are evidence based, relevant, and properly resourced so that Central Bedfordshire continues to be a great place to live and work: a place we are proud of as well as a place to call home.

Why might you be interested in the role? We’d like you to apply because you’re …

• An exceptional communicator who thrives on leading transformational change.
• Comfortable in a political environment and have exceptional relationship management skills.
• Collegiate and collaborative in your approach, especially when you are under pressure.
• Passionate about a person-centred approach to services and improving lived experience.
• Enjoy working closely with peers to achieve a ‘one team’ culture with aligned objectives.
• Believe that people are our greatest asset, and you like to inspire the people around you.
• You will have substantial experience of working within the statutory housing services.
• You will always put our customers first and at the centre of the decisions you make.

If you are interested in this role and want to apply, we ask that your CV is three pages or shorter in length.

What we can offer you

As well as joining a friendly, dedicated, and hardworking team you will have access to numerous benefits, including:

• A hybrid working arrangement giving you the option to work from home and access any CBC office location. We recognise and value the importance of supporting our employees to balance their home and work life and to be able to work in the most efficient way.
• A £250 one-off hybrid worker payment to help you adapt your home for safe and suitable working conditions
• A comprehensive IT package to support you to work safely and effectively
• The ability to work abroad for up to a month a year
• Generous family friendly policies and practices
• A welcoming and inclusive environment that empowers differences
• Friendly and supportive staff networks
• Annual leave allowance 25 days + statutory holidays rising to 32 days with length of service.
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). This is a valuable part of our rewards package for employees and includes Life Assurance. You can find out more on the Bedfordshire Pension Fund website.
• An exceptional Employee Assistance Programme which helps support employees with workplace changes as well as other work, family and personal issues
• A huge variety of courses and role-specific training and learning to help you succeed and develop
• Access to discounts on top UK retailers and local retailers

In Children’s Services, we are dedicated to providing the best possible service to our community, and have won a number of achievements to reflect our hard work. You can view a list of these on our website.

Central Bedfordshire Council has its own vision and values that are integral to everything we do. Our area vision is to make Central Bedfordshire 'A great place to live and work’.

Sustainability matters to us. We aim to lead by example in tackling climate change. Read more about the action we’re taking on our website: Climate change – tackling it and our strategy

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies detailed within this Recruitment Pack

For queries related to the recruitment of this vacancy, please contact: The Recruitment team at recruitment@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or on 0300 300 8000.

Central Bedfordshire Council is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to improving the diversity of our workforce to better reflect the communities we serve.  Therefore we welcome applications from everyone. In addition we are a  Disability Confident employer, we are working to become a Disability Confident leader in our community.

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.

If you require assistance to apply for our roles, help with writing your CV, interview techniques or careers advice please contact our team of careers advisors at ncs@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk Our service is confidential, impartial and free for all.