About the job

Job summary

The adviser role includes regular face to face contact with local authorities, stakeholders and civil service colleagues in a variety of locations across the country and can require extensive travel commitments and overnight stays.  This means it is highly likely that you will undertake official business from sites other than your official DLUHC office, alongside homebased working in accordance with DLHUC policies.

The Government has committed to ending rough sleeping and to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act. This is an exciting time to join a high-profile team and provides a great opportunity for excellent individuals to work collaboratively across sectors and help influence the shape and delivery of rough sleeping services and make a real difference to thousands of lives.

The Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) has just entered its sixth year. We have made great strides working with local authorities, their partners and stakeholders to reduce the number of people sleeping rough in England. We are looking for someone to join the team and lead these partnerships to greater success.

We are now recruiting for two Rough Sleeping Advisers to join the existing team working with local authorities, their delivery partners and community stakeholders to further develop and deliver local strategies to reduce rough sleeping. The adviser will also contribute to development of policy and planning for delivery of government rough sleeping and homelessness priorities.

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. We would also love people with lived experience of rough sleeping or homelessness to apply.

Job description

This role shall involve: 

• Working directly with up to 30 local authorities to deliver the government’s target to end rough sleeping.
• Delivering support to local authorities that is relevant to local context and issues.
• Providing guidance and advice to local authorities on delivery of RSI funding, to ensure the programme is delivered to timescales, provides value for money and has a tangible impact to reduce rough sleeping.
• Providing information and advice for senior officials and Ministers, on the delivery of RSI interventions, identifying areas of concern and barriers to reducing rough sleeping in addition to useful practice.
• Providing targeted challenge and support to help local areas to improve practice and performance.
• Supporting the development and sharing of effective practice. • Supporting implementation of improved data collection, as well as learning from experience around the country to inform on-going policy development.
• Delivering presentations, workshops and events, disseminating good practice information and advice
• Effective recording and sharing of key information to support programme management and policy development.

Person specification

We are looking for candidates who understand the challenges and complexities around rough sleeping and the impact it has on the people affected.

The successful candidate will:

• Have a minimum of 3 years’ leadership experience within a rough sleeping service, including a track record of working in partnership to achieve consistent and sustainable improvements in provision and outcomes for or people experiencing rough sleeping.
• Have a commitment to transforming services to reduce levels of rough sleeping and will have experience of managing or working in rough sleeping services and experience of working with local authorities to improve the delivery of services and improve outcomes for rough sleepers and people at risk of sleeping rough.
• Be an expert in the field of rough sleeping, with an understanding of the factors which contribute to individuals becoming homeless and sleeping rough, and a proven track record in developing and delivering services which effectively prevent rough sleeping and support vulnerable people away from the street and into safe accommodation.
• Have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of legislation, policy and practice relating to rough sleeping in England.
• Have excellent knowledge and understanding of local government, key partners and stakeholders, their roles and interests, and the operational and political context in which services are provided to rough sleepers and people at risk of homelessness.
• Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including ability to motivate and inspire individuals and groups and to support the development of partnerships around shared commitments to improve outcomes.
• Have strong verbal and written presentation skills including the ability to able to speak at conferences and events.
• Have an excellent understanding of equality and diversity and issues surrounding disadvantage and discrimination, and the ability to advise and support local authorities to provide excellent customer care to all sections of their community.
• Have a experience of working with local authorities, commissioned providers and community stakeholders to improve the delivery of services, and to achieve better outcomes for people experiencing rough sleeping.
• Experience of working within a political environment, providing advice and guidance to Elected Members/Boards and Senior Leadership Teams.

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 Ability.

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 - Changing and Improving

Behaviour 2 - Communicating and Influencing

Behaviour 3 -  Working Together

Experience (lead Sift): Please set out how you meet the person specification requirements on experience, which includes having a minimum of 3 years’ leadership experience within a rough sleeping service, including a track record of working in partnership to achieve consistent and sustainable improvements in provision and outcomes for or people experiencing rough sleeping. 

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

 

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

Behaviour –Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together

Technical- Yes

Candidates will be expected to prepare a 5 minute presentation.  Details of this will be sent with interview invites

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

 

Behaviours: Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together

Experience: Yes

Technical: 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 posts can be offered as a secondment on existing salary, or as a permanent contract within the salary ranges £51,934 - £61,562 (National) and £57,091- £66,677 (London) depending on location and experience. For existing civil servants, standard terms and conditions on lateral transfer and promotion will apply. 

 
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 
• Wolverhampton 
• Leeds
• 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. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C  1/3/2024 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

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.