About the job

Job summary

The Planning Capacity and Capability Team was established in 2022 to support and upskill town planners in local government in building the skills and resources needed to deliver a more efficient and sustainable planning system, which can adapt to and successfully implement change. The team and programme sit within the Chief Planner directorate.

A key part of the programme is the Planning Super Squad (PSS) which aims to build capacity and enable project delivery. PSS will be responsive to the needs of individual projects and undertake a wide range of bespoke tasks at all stages of the planning process. PSS will be made up of dedicated staff with extensive planning and development experience, including specialists in core areas as well as being able to draw on wider experience across the Department.

We are recruiting to a range of G6, G7 and SEO roles across multiple areas and specialisms, including professional planners, and regeneration specialists, project management and technical specialisms including viability, transport, heritage, archaeology and environment.

The Planning Super Squad will operate across England, in partnership with Homes England. You will be a trusted key point of contact for the Planning Super Squad Operational Team and you will need to have strong interpersonal skills to build strong and lasting partnerships at a local level with a range of stakeholders, including local authorities.

The team will work on all types of large scale development including new settlements, urban extensions and urban regeneration with a mixture of Investment Zones, freeports and hot spots for housing and regeneration delivery. The operating team will focus its combination of momentum, speed, capacity and specialist support into local authority services and projects. Whilst project delivery is the main focus of the team, it also has an important role, working with the PSS Core Team, in capturing and disseminating its learning and using this knowledge to assist the overall development of the planning system. The roles are high-profile and an exciting and unique opportunity to help build the skills and resource needed to support local planning authorities.

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities, we support through our work.

Job description

The Area Coordinators and National Specialists will work as part of a national team to:

· Undertake diagnostic analysis of individual projects to fully understand the issues involved and develop clear and effective packages of direct advice and support;

· Ensuring the buy-in of local partners with an ability to think creatively to help project delivery through direct advice and working with our delivery partner Homes England;

· Improve the quality of the planning process and its outcomes, by helping to bring forward large scale development and regeneration projects across all sectors of the planning/development community;

· Increase knowledge and expertise within local authorities and their partners to handle large scale development and regeneration proposals and to deliver high-quality new places;

· Help local planning authorities to build better relationships with the development industry and key stakeholders;

· Contributing to a rolling programme of project evaluation against added value measures;

· Contribute to establishing an improved planning system based on collaborative working between partners and stakeholders;

· Keeping delivery on track for timely delivery in line with wider planning reforms

The post-holder will be responsible for:

· Working with the PSS Core Team to establish and drive forward the implementation of the PSS project across an area in a way that secures continual improvement of the delivery of the PSS project;

· Working directly with key stakeholders, including local planning authorities, developers, landowners, statutory agencies and colleagues in Homes England to diagnose and propose solutions to a wide range of planning, development and regeneration issues;

· Providing a range of client-side support to local planning authorities such as commissioning baseline or other technical work or directing additional resources, where necessary, through the use of grants;

· Empowering the team and ensuring that colleagues who are based in different locations work effectively together in an inclusive, supportive and welcoming environment;

· Supporting the effective matrix management of specialist and other technical resources as and when needed to ensure effective and timely input using both in-house and augmented through the partnership with Homes England with access to their extensive consultants panel;

· Effective contribution towards a positive and collaborative team culture to facilitate and monitor continual improvements in quality and pace;

· Direct line management of less experienced staff, providing support and direction and building team resilience;

· Developing, implementing, maintaining and reviewing systems and services to ensure delivery of professional excellence.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

· Wide-ranging and cross-sector understanding of planning, development and regeneration issues;

· Excellent stakeholder management and enabling skills, co-ordinating across various groups/teams;

· The ability to present, produce reports and communicate progress effectively to a senior audience;

· The ability to synthesise complex, technical issues in a clear and engaging way for both internal and external audiences;

· Extensive experience of town planning or a related built or natural environment field, including regeneration skills or specialisms such as viability, transport, heritage, archaeology and environment;

· Possess excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills, with an ability to communicate clearly and succinctly and develop relationships with a wide range of stakeholders;

· Using sound judgement to anticipate problems and seek creative solutions, working collaboratively with colleagues;

· The ability to adapt quickly to new demands and work flexibly to deliver quality outcomes and providing advice in a fast-moving environment;

· You will have, or be eligible for, a recognised built environment qualification and/or membership of a built environment professional body.

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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

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. 

  

Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role. 

 

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. 

 

We are for everyone 

 

CV and Cover Letter Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. 

  

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

 

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. 

 

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

 

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing: 

 

Examples: 

Experience 

Technical

In your CV and covering letter, please include:  
 
a. why you are interested in the role; 
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required 

Your covering letter should be no more than 500 words.

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, behaviour, technical and strength based questions as listed in the advert. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

Candidates will be expected to deliver a presentation at interview stage, the details of which will be provided upon invitation.

 

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

 

Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description 

Technical: Yes

Strength: Yes 

Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace

 

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 
• Bristol
• Leeds
• Manchester
• Birmingham
• Wolverhampton
• Darlington*

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

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

 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus 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. 

At present, a minimum of 60% of your working time will be spent in your contractual office location. Requirements to attend other office locations or off-site meetings will be counted towards this. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process. 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. 

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

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.