About the job

Job summary

Shape the future of accommodation for asylum seekers in the UK.

Asylum, Support, Resettlement and Accommodation (ASRA) is a key area of the Home Office. We have one of the most challenging and important jobs in government: safeguarding the vulnerable and host communities, and keeping our border secure.

Job description

As Director of Non-detained Accommodation, you will lead on delivering new sites and creating new capacity to house asylum seekers who are not being detained by the state. You will be at the heart of a much-needed transformation. As a priority, you will identify and operationalise large sites and properties that enable us to end the use of hotels as asylum accommodation.

You will enjoy a varied and vital remit, with a tangible impact on the experience of seeking asylum. We will look to you to commission and assure the management of safe, secure and efficient accommodation and related services. As well as building a professionally driven property and facilities management function, you will design and manage a range of commercial partnerships.

Given the current economic climate, it will be important to maximise efficiencies through long-term strategies. Key to this will be the delivery of contracts for asylum support services which allow flex with changing demand. Along the way, you will build influential relationships with a wide range of stakeholders across government and the private sector – from Ministers to service providers.

To join us, you will need a track record of developing and maintaining complex public sector property and facilities management portfolios. You have managed significant operational risk and extensive public scrutiny. Experience of working with Ministers, stakeholders and partners is vital.

We expect you to demonstrate extensive financial and commercial management skills, plus a flair for delivering efficiency through innovation. Crucially, you also have the ability to lead, engage and inspire resilient teams to high levels of performance, across a wide geographical area.

In addition to the rewarding nature of the role itself, you can expect excellent benefits including a Civil Service pension.

Person specification

Essential Criteria  

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate their knowledge, experience, capability and behavioural approach to a high standard against the following key criteria:

• Inspirational and engaging leadership of large, diverse and geographically dispersed teams, building capability and raising employee engagement at all levels
• A successful track record of delivering results in a complex, politically sensitive environment with previous experience of working with Ministers at the highest levels of Government.
• Resilience in managing significant operational risk and extensive public scrutiny
• Experience of working and negotiating with internal stakeholders, other government Departments and external and commercial partners
• A successful track record of developing and maintaining complex public sector property and facilities management portfolios, bringing in extensive financial and commercial management skills. 
• The ability to lead a function which can plan, implement and monitor the delivery of stretching goals, identifying innovative ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources

Full details for this opportunity can be found in the candidate pack attached at the bottom of the advert.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £97,000, Home Office contributes £26,190 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

Online Application

Please follow the Job Advert instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply online, no later than 23:55hrs on Friday 22nd of March.

Provide some basic personal information:

A CV - setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, including details where budgets and numbers of people managed, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years;

A Statement of Suitability – (limited to 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification. 

Diversity Monitoring - as part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. See the https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy-2022-to-2025/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy-2022-to-2025-html

for more information.

It is essential that in your written application you give evidence, using examples, of proven experience. These responses will be developed and discussed with candidates invited for interview.

Failure to submit both a CV and Supporting Statement will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

For further information on SCS careers and the application process, please see below:

Home Office SCS Further Information 

Home Office Senior Leaders - Home Office Careers 

Home Office SCS Application Process 

Applying for Senior Civil Service vacancies - Home Office Careers

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 security 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.