About the job

Job summary

The Office for Local Government (Oflog) will help to drive improvement in local government – responsible for a wider range of critical and everyday services – in order to improve outcomes for the public. It will do this by providing authoritative and accessible data and analysis about the performance of local government, so that local leaders can benchmark themselves against their peers and communities can more effectively challenge their authorities. 

In particular, Oflog will:

- Inform: by improving access to data Oflog will enable citizens, local government, central government, and civil society to be better informed about the performance of local government.

- Warn: Oflog will make it easier to spot potential failure before it happens, helping to prevent the significant financial and service implications of failure on local citizens and the taxpayer.

- Support: Oflog will support local government to improve performance: championing best practice, improving data capability and rationalising a complex data landscape.

Oflog is currently an office of DLUHC, meaning all staff are DLUHC civil servants. Oflog is a mixed-discipline team, including policy and local government experts, and analysts from a range of disciplines. Whilst supporting the aims of Oflog, successful candidate/s will have an opportunity to shape the developing organisation and its culture. 

These Policy Lead roles sit in Oflog’s emerging Support pillar and will be instrumental in developing, and then delivering, our Analysis and Insight function. Working closely with analysts, you will help Oflog become a centre of excellence in ‘what works’ in local government.

Job description

In line with our draft corporate plan, key responsibilities will likely include:

• Leading the development of Oflog as a centre of excellence in ‘what works’ in local government.
• Engaging the sector to understand where in the existing sector support landscape Oflog could best add value.
• Working closely with the analyst team (including statisticians, social researchers, data scientists, economists, etc). 

Based on this engagement and policy development on Oflog’s role, further responsibilities could include activity like identifying, celebrating and encouraging good practice. This could include webinars, research and reports on best practice, signposting and, perhaps, convening communities of practice. We also aspire to use the power of data and analysis to identify and share good practice in ways that were not possible in the past.

Person specification

We are looking for individuals that are motivated, flexible, and passionate about helping the local government sector to improve.

Essential criteria:

• Experience in developing and implementing public policy.
• Experience working with research and data to assess evidence and recommendations.
• Ability to work well with analyst colleagues, with a solid grounding in the use of data.
• Ability to communicate with stakeholders and influence at all levels of an organisation.
• Ability to deliver through others, including external partners.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment, including with colleagues outside of your immediate team.
• Strong problem solving skills, with the ability to develop innovative solutions to complex policy issues.
• Strong oral and written skills, including the ability to communicate detailed information succinctly and clearly.
• Excellent organisational skills. 

Desirable criteria:

• Knowledge and understanding of the local government sector.
• Experience producing public products (e.g. research reports, case studies, blog posts)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £51,934, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £14,022 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Selection Process Details 

As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process. 

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions, for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

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

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!) 

At sift, we will be assessing 

Seeing the Big Picture (lead behaviour) 

Making Effective Decisions 

Leadership

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

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 assessment/interview. 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour – Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing 

Experience - yes

Candidates will be expected to prepare a presentation at interview, details of this will be sent out with interview invites. 

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Behaviour – Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing 

Experience - yes

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

Grade 7 salary 

• The salary for this role is £51,934 (National). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

BENEFITS: 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 
Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

Learning and Development 

The successful candidate will be encouraged to undertake a professional learning qualification as part of the role through a suitable apprenticeship, if this is in line with both business needs and the individual’s development needs. This is not a mandatory condition of accepting the role. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Wolverhampton 
• Darlington* 
• Leeds
• Manchester
• Bristol 

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place from 25th July 2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

Reserve List 

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details in a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see - Internal Fraud Register 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.