This Vacancy has closed.

Housing Standards Officers/Trainee Housing Standards Officers

  • Employer: Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Reference: R&P/23/261327
  • Published: Thu 09/11/2023, 9:52 AM
  • Closing on: Sun 26/11/2023, 23:59 PM
  • Working Pattern: Flexible Hours, Full Time
  • Hours: 36 hours
  • Salary: £29,318 - £39,186
  • DBS Check: No
  • Workplace: Hybrid
  • Location: Wirral, Cheshire Lines Building, Hybrid Working, Merseyside

Vacancy Location

More Information

Housing Standards Officers/Trainee Housing Standards Officers

There has never been a more exciting time to join Wirral Council. We’ve got ambitious targets to meet and to achieve everything we have promised to our residents, we need people who are ready to deliver the very best for our communities and show how they can #BeTheDifference. Our vision is to secure the best possible future for our residents, defined by the community prosperity we create and supported by our excellent people and services. If you strive to #BeTheDifference and want to be at the heart of our change and improvement journey, then this could be the perfect job for you.

It's an exciting time to join Wirral's Housing Services, we have a new opportunities within our Housing Standards team to drive forward our Housing agenda and passion to support our customers. 

In these roles, you'll be responsible for improving housing standards across the Borough by working pro-actively, providing advice and guidance, undertaking property inspections and enforcement activity to reduce hazards in a range of housing types in the private sector. We are looking for candidates who have a passion to drive up standards.

We have a number of opportunities available and would welcome candidates who are either starting their careers in housing or have already worked/are working in this field.

Both roles will require generic working across all private sector housing disciplines including selective licensing, mandatory licensing of houses of multiple occupation, property accreditation, the delivery of financial assistance products to improve housing and bringing back into use long term empty properties.

For those interested in a trainee HSO posts we are looking for someone who is keen to learn about property conditions and their impact on health, surveying, and the range of tools available to tackle poor conditions. In return we will offer you comprehensive training and support to enable you to grow into the role of Housing Standards Officer (HSO). Subject to performance and available resources, there may be the opportunity for you to progress to the role of HSO at the end of the 2-year fixed term contract. 

For those interested in the role of HSO we are looking for someone who has previously worked in this field before and is experienced in assessing property conditions and enforcement work. You must have a good understanding of the Housing Health and Rating System and a sound knowledge of housing legislation across all areas of housing standards, particularly Houses in Multiple Occupation. We will offer you the opportunity to work generically across all private sector housing disciplines in a professional team of like minded officers.

In both roles you should be customer focused with excellent interpersonal skills as well as experience dealing with the public face to face and over the telephone.

Above all you will be looking to improve the way we engage with our employees, residents, and customers to ensure they are at the heart of everything we do.

All vacancies are initially on a 2-year fixed term basis, however, there may be potential to extend the roles further for the successful candidates, subject to funding being available.

Interviews planned for early December.

Working at Wirral

You’ll also want to know what it’s like to work here so, as a start:

Our values are more than just pieces of paper on our walls! We’ve all played a role in developing these, so they reflect the immense pride we have in what we do, what matters to us, what inspires us and inform how we think, approach things and behave.

We believe in ensuring staff are well looked after, staff wellbeing is a priority for us. We’re serious about recognising and rewarding people for the great things they do. You’ll benefit from our track record of developing, growing and investing in our people.

We have a range of staff benefits including staff discounts, an excellent pension scheme which includes a generous employer contribution rate, immediate life cover and ill-health protection. We have a strong flexible working approach, hybrid working, family-friendly employment initiatives and an annual leave package starting with 28 days leave plus public holidays.

We have an inclusive, engaged culture, everyone has a voice, everyone is valued for their contribution and understands the role they play in delivering our strategic priorities.

Each voice is heard, each contribution valued. We embrace diversity in our workforce and recognise it is critical to our success. We support an inclusive culture that champions differences and nurtures a sense of belonging. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds, who share our values and our commitment to inclusion to apply for roles with us.

We want you to be your best at work, we create the conditions to help you thrive and we mirror this in our recruitment process. If you’d like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process to make it barrier-free and as accessible as possible please contact recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

Please note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies.

It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council's Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstances.

Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.

Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration.  Forms received via the post will not be processed.

All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK.  Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page.

The job description and other supporting documents will not be accessible once the vacancy closing date has passed so if a copy is required you should download it now.