About the job

Job summary

Local government plays a critical role in addressing the biggest strategic challenges facing the country. Local authorities deliver vital public services that we all see, and use, every day: social care for adults and children, caring for some of the most vulnerable in society; running schools and ensuring every child gets a good education; regenerating our high streets; and keeping our streets safe and clean.  

 

The Local Government Finance Directorate is responsible for ensuring that all local authorities in England have the funding they need to deliver these services alongside a range of other key Government priorities: achieving net zero, delivering high quality, affordable housing, supporting our community and faith groups, and ensuring building safety.  

 

Our Directorate tackles the biggest policy questions facing local government to ensure the sector is sustainable, effective, and productive. This is an exciting opportunity to join the Local Government Finance directorate and be responsible for answering these policy questions that have a tangible impact on people’s lives.  

 

Our work is high-profile and demanding, but incredibly rewarding. We work closely with Ministers and other Government Departments to get stuff done and have a positive real-world impact.  

 

As well as being a high performing Directorate, we are also a friendly and diverse group of people from all walks of life. We have a strong corporate identity built on collaborative and flexible working and a commitment to ensuring our staff are happy and supported to be their best. We take flexible working seriously and are committed to being a friendly and supportive place to work. Currently, many of the directorate are based in London. We are actively growing our presence in Darlington and Wolverhampton. 

 

We are looking for a brilliant leader to join our Local Government Funding Strategy division as Head of Fiscal Events for local government.

Job description

The successful candidate will have the following responsibilities: 

 

• Lead a high performing team of 10 policy professionals, working closely with analysts and other expert teams to deliver complex and cross-cutting programmes of work; 
• Lead the department’s negotiations with HM Treasury to secure funding for Local Government at Fiscal Events; 
• Own the department’s understanding of and strategic approach to addressing the cost pressures facing local authorities, jointly-owning the associated figures and evidence with analysts; 
• Lead the strategic planning and cross-government programme delivery of Fiscal Events for local government, including Spending Reviews; 
• Lead negotiations with other Departments to influence their policy work in order to ensure local government has the resources and capacity to deliver priority cross-Government objectives (including Defra's environment and waste reforms, the Home Office reforms on asylum and immigration), and sustainable local public services such as libraries and leisure centres; 
• Lead engagement and collaboration with teams across the directorate, department, wider government and the local government sector on spending pressures and Fiscal Events, including delivering difficult messages when required;
• Lead on the Local Government “Finance Cell” which supports the Department’s response to emergencies and disasters, working with the Resilience & Emergencies Division; 
• Play an active role in the leadership of the Division and Directorate, working particularly closely with the two other G6 teams in the division: the Settlement and Distribution team; and the Strategy and Reform team. 

Person specification

The postholder will have: 
 

• Strong, inclusive team leadership skills, with experience of setting direction across multiple projects or workstreams, whilst maintaining strategic oversight and appropriate technical understanding of your team’s work;  
• Strong, inclusive programme/project leadership and delivery skills, with the ability to provide shape and structure to fast-paced, complicated programmes of work, bringing expert and non-expert stakeholders with you; 
• Experience negotiating with and/or influencing others, building strong relationships, and utilising quantitative and qualitative evidence in order to achieve particular objectives; 
• The ability to work with complexity and ambiguity, finding routes through complex problems, data and systems, and communicating the most important information and evidence for senior stakeholders to support recommended solutions;
• Sound political judgment when navigating difficult choices and trade-offs, or operating in a negotiations environment.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,599, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 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 Strengths.

We are for everyone 

 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

  

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.  

 

We are for everyone 

 

DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

 

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 

 

Behaviour 1 (lead behaviour) Leadership  

Behaviour 2 - Seeing the big picture   

Behaviour 3 - Making Effective Decisions   

Behaviour 4 - Communicating and Influencing    

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

 

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

Behaviour – Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing    

Strength - Yes

The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

Candidates invited to interview will be asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation.  Details to be given with interview invites

 

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

 

Behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing and Seeing the Big Picture

Strengths: 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 6 salary 

• The salary for this role is £67,889 (London) or £61,599 (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. 

  

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• London 
• Darlington* 

 

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 W/C 26/01/2024 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. 

 

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance): 

Important note 

 
Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. 
 
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the DLUHC Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC). Thank you. 
 
Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by DLUHC. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. 

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. 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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.