Job description

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government aims to help create great places to live and work right across the country and to back communities to come together and thrive.

Our Single Department Plan sets out the following priorities, to:

• Fix the broken housing market;

• Grow local economies;

• Build integrated communities;

• Support effective local government;

• Ensure an effective response to the Grenfell Tower fire;

• Support local government, local economies and the housing sector to get ready for EU Exit, so that the department can continue to deliver its policies; and

• Maintain MHCLG as a great place to work.

Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires candidates to have been living in the UK for the past 3 years. See page 20 of the MHCLG Candidate pack for a list of conditions which may affect your eligibility for our vacancies.(Link at bottom of this vacancy).

Candidates who meet the requirements but are not offered a post at this time will be retained on a reserve list for a maximum of twelve months and may be offered alternative posts as they become available. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Due to the length of time CTC checks can take, our HR Shared Services team will contact reserve list candidates for London based roles to commence CTC checks. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gsi.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

The team

The Homelessness Research and Evaluation team are working in a high profile area and are regularly called upon to provide advice to Ministers and senior policy officials. This is because the Government has committed to do more to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, which includes a public commitment to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027. Over £1billion through to 2020 has been allocated to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. The Homelessness Reduction Act has also been introduced, which places new legal duties on local authorities to provide preventative assistance to all homelessness households and at an earlier stage. Also, there is a Rough Sleeping strategy to reduce rough sleeping.

The post is based in the Homelessness and Troubled Families Team, a multi-disciplinary team of statisticians, economists, social researchers and operational researchers. The team provides analysis that helps to improve the quality and efficiency of local public services. This includes research, evaluation, statistics and economic advice on homelessness, troubled families and domestic abuse services. Specifically, the post which will be based in the Homelessness Research and Evaluation team includes two Grade 7 researchers, 2 senior researchers and a research officer.

The team has a reputation for being innovative in the use of analysis and for providing high quality outputs. We value each and every member of the team and continually strive to up skill and provide analytical solutions to policy issues. We aim to be authoritative in delivering our analysis whilst being creative and open to new ideas. We also work flexibly enabling team members to gain experience and collaborate across a wide range of policies and analytical projects.

All analysts in MHCLG are based within the Analysis and Data Directorate. The directorate is made up of a number of multi-disciplinary teams responsible for delivering evidence across the range of core Departmental priorities, for example on housing, planning, local government finance and local economic growth. The services we provide are always in high demand − including from senior officials, ministers, and their special advisers, both here and in other government departments (most notably Number 10, HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office) − and have been highly influential in shaping and designing policy.

The Directorate offers a fast-moving, friendly and intellectually stimulating environment, where you can make a real contribution to maintaining this high quality evidence base used for formulating government policy.

The role

Homelessness is a cross-cutting issue which requires evidence and analysis to be joined-up on a range of issues such as the availability and affordability of housing, on welfare reform, and on support for vulnerable people with complex needs. This will require the post holder to network with other analysts in the Department and outside, and also develop good relations with academics and other researchers working in this area.

The post holder will play a pivotal role in designing, commissioning and managing new programmes of research on homelessness and rough sleeping. A key focus will be on the evaluation of our current and future programmes, as well as providing ad-hoc research and policy advice. The post holder will apply project and programme management skills to ensure that key projects which make up our current research and evaluation programme are completed successfully.

Other responsibilities include:

• Scoping, designing and commissioning new research on homelessness and rough sleeping to help deliver better outcomes;

• Improving the evidence on ‘what works’ to reduce homelessness.

• Help to develop a strategic programme of research and analysis to fill important evidence gaps on homelessness

• Conduct in-house research, and undertaking analysis of new data sets that the team has set-up to give fresh in-sight into patterns of rough sleeping and homelessness, and the wider social, economic and fiscal costs associated with homelessness.

Opportunities

This is an excellent position in a high profile area. There are many opportunities for a self-starter who wants to develop their social research and technical skills including:

• Playing a pivotal role within a high-performing multidisciplinary team, building the evidence base on homelessness and supported housing;

• Working closely with senior officials within MHCLG, across government and independent academic experts.

• Applying project and programme management techniques to deliver high profile research outputs.

• Applying and develop strategic thinking skills, particularly around the development of the evidence base to inform the rough sleeping strategy.

• Applying and developing excellent analytical and evaluation skills.

• Develop and supporting other analysts in the team.

Person Specification

The post holder will have experience of working in high-performing teams producing top-quality analysis to multiple customers and tight deadlines. You will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Excellent research and analytical skills, with an understanding of what method is most appropriate to answer a particular question.

• Creative analyst who can see the potential of data, and has the vision to see how it can be exploited to answer strategic policy questions.

• Strong project management skills (evidence of delivering complex analytical projects/ programmes is desirable)

• Knowledge of impact evaluation methodologies (experience in carrying out impact evaluations is desirable)

• Strong communication skills and the ability to build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

• Confidence in communicating difficult decisions and persuading senior officials using evidence effectively

• Strategic thinker who can identify what evidence and analysis will be required to meet policy priorities

Analysts in MHCLG use a range of statistical packages for data manipulation and analysis, including SPSS and STATA, and SQL databases for data storage. Training in the software required for the specific role can be provided.

We take the development of our people very seriously, equipping and enabling them to make an impact by ensuring high quality evidence and analysis is at the heart of the policy-making process. We are committed to good management and professional development staff. All statisticians have access to a statistical mentor outside of their line management chain.

The roles available requires intellectual curiosity; self-confidence and belief in your own abilities and judgement; good communication, analytical, numerical and problem solving skills. You should also be able to manage a quality service, collaborate and partner with others and deliver results at pace.

Team working is essential to the success of analysts in MHCLG and you should be able to deliver your goals and objectives by working with others. If you believe you have the right skills for this role, we would like to hear from you.

Candidates are advised to be aware of the different experience and qualification requirements for entering the Government analytical professions at different grades. Information on the different grades is available in the download - Application Guide for Analytical Candidates.

If you narrowly miss out on passing the interview for this post, you may be offered an alternative analytical role at a lower grade. This opportunity will allow you to develop your skills and experience to progress your career within MHCLG.

Candidates who meet the requirements but are not offered a post at this time will be retained on a reserve list for a maximum of twelve months and may be offered alternative posts as they become available.

Your application

Your application will need to give specific examples of when you have demonstrated particular skills or qualities for each of the competencies listed below. These competences have been identified as critical for success as an SEO Social Researcher in MHCLG.

Your initial application must provide examples of projects in your previous career that demonstrate the breadth of your ability in each competency area in the application form and you must be prepared to discuss these in detail with the interview panel. One of the best indicators of how you are likely to perform in the future is to find out about how you have dealt with tasks, challenges and situations in the past.

Candidates should also describe why they are suited for an SEO Social research role in MHCLG as part of their application – demonstrating broader interpersonal and work management skills in addition to their technical capability which is covered in the competency examples.

Your responses to these competences will be used to assess your initial application for the role. For each competence, please ensure you have provided sufficient information – it is not enough to send a CV or list of bullet points. Your examples can come from any situation, such as your studies, paid employment or voluntary work. Each example should set out what you have done, how you completed the work and the results this delivered. Candidates are advised to be aware of the different experience and qualification requirements for entering the Government analytical professions at different grades.

The competency framework for the Government Social Research (GSR) is provided as a download to this advert. Please refer to this when making your application.

Your examples can come from any situation, such as your studies, paid employment or voluntary work. Your example should set out what you have done, how you completed the work and the results this delivered.

You are advised to use the Situation, Task, Action and Result or STAR model to help you ensure your examples are clear and show you in the best light possible. Each example should set out what you have done, how you completed the work and the results this delivered to allow our panels to assess how you meet the required competences. More information on the STAR model can be found here: STAR Model

Please refer to the competency frameworks and the MHCLG candidate pack – both provided as downloads in the job advert to ensure you are familiar with what is required under each competency. You will not be expected to meet every single aspect of every competency, but must demonstrate a good range or depth for each competency to be successful at the sift stage.

Your interview will comprise competency-based questions on the competencies – core and professional - listed in the job advert. You should be able to discuss a range of examples of how you meet the required competencies that are different to and complement the examples given in your application form.

Competences

The recruitment process will focus on your professional competences and on three core Civil Service competences. These are as listed below and you'll need to be prepared to demonstrate how you meet these competences. Please refer to the competency frameworks for more information on the standards required.

Social research competences For the professional competencies you need to meet the standards for a Senior Research Officer in the Government Social Research (GSR) service. These professional competencies include:

• Social research: technical skills

• Social research: using and promoting social research

Candidates should note that they are only required to provide evidence against the professional competencies and Delivering at Pace on their application form but all competences will be tested thoroughly at interview. Therefore before interview candidates should refer to the civil service competency framework and prepare examples of the Civil Service competencies at Level three HEO or SEO equivalent listed below to talk about at interview.

• Delivering at Pace

• Leading and Communicating

• Making Effective Decisions

Successful candidates must be a member of the Government Social Research service or meet the entry qualifications for this.

If you are not currently a member of a government analytical profession you will be put through the membership process for your chosen profession as part of this application. You must pass the membership process for your application to be successful. If you do not pass the profession entry test your application will not be taken further.

To be eligible to join one of the government analytical professions you must have the relevant qualifications. For this post these are:

Government Social Research: 2:1 degree in a relevant social science subject with a substantial social research methods component

or

2:2 degree with a relevant postgraduate qualification in social research - relevant social science disciplines include Area and Development Studies, Economics, Demography, Economic and Social History, Education, Human Geography, Linguistics, Management and Business Studies, Environmental Planning, Political Science and International Studies, Environmental Planning, Political Science and International Studies, Psychology, Science and Technology Studies, Social Anthropology, Social Policy, Social Work, Socio‐Legal Studies, Sociology and Statistics, Methods and Computing

Contact point for applicants

Jon White - 030 344 42623 Analytical.Recruitment@communities.gov.uk