If you experience technical issues during the application process we have found using a different browser or device in the first instance can be a quick fix.

If those don't work please email the Resourcing Hub at recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk with your application and/or CV before the submission deadline. Any applications received after the deadline may not be considered.

Job summary

Here at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.
We are at the forefront of helping the country to recover after the pandemic, helping to achieve a better life for more people and a stronger economy across the whole UK. 
Whether it’s through delivering safe, affordable and green homes, supporting communities in all their diversity, or investing in places across the whole UK, our work is at the top of the political agenda.
Our new second HQ in Wolverhampton and the government’s Northern Economic Hub in Darlington are a central part of becoming a more outward facing department that reflects the communities that we serve. If you are thinking of joining us, there has never been a more exciting time.
Summary 
DLUHC Finance is an exciting and varied place to work. We work closely with policy teams to develop government policy on issues ranging from the government’s Levelling Up agenda, the response to Covid-19, building more homes across the country, and tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.
Our focus is ensuring we make best use of taxpayer’s money to deliver for the public. The Finance Business Partnering function is at the forefront of this. We are split into two teams: Finance and Performance: Housing; and Finance and Performance: Corporate, Communities and Local Government. 
We assist policy and delivery teams in ensuring policies are value for money and deliverable and help them understand how well they are achieving their policy goals. As part of this, we work closely with policy colleagues and other teams in Finance, translating data and offering financial insights and advice to support them in understanding the implications of the financial data.
We are friendly teams, with a focus on development, supportive line management, and prioritise wellbeing. Successful candidates will have access to extensive professional development resources as part of the Government Finance Community, including support for career development. We are constantly seeking to improve how we work and welcome new ideas to shape this. We are looking forward to hiring people with a range of backgrounds and perspectives to bring new expertise and fresh thinking to our teams. 

Successful candidates will be a qualified or part-qualified accountant (a higher salary is available to successful CCAB or CIMA qualified candidates), or have significant experience working in a finance department and be willing to work towards qualification. Accountancy qualifications are a brilliant way that anyone can accelerate their career, so we sponsor our staff to gain these, with students working towards AAT, ICAEW, CIMA, ACCA and CIPFA. 

Job description

If you are looking for a Finance Business Partnering role that offers a variety of policy interventions and budgets this is the role for you. The post we are recruiting for is a stretching role, with scope for the candidate to lead engagement with senior officials across the department. As Finance Business Partner for Housing Markets and Strategy (HMS) you will have the opportunity to influence an exciting policy area which is at the heart of Governments Housing agenda. This role is part of a team that looks after key policies such as Help to Buy, Levelling Up Home Building Fund and Refugee housing as well as the Department’s Guarantees, Housing strategy and Modern Methods of Construction offering variety in what you will do day-to-day. 

Reporting to a G7 Senior Finance Business Partner, you will provide finance business partnering and management accounting support to the HMS directorate. You will be part of a small and collaborative team, working closely with the wider departmental finance function, as well as the wider organisation to deliver your objectives. The main responsibilities are:

•    Developing a firm understanding of your policy or corporate directorate and building strong and productive relationships with policy teams to ensure you become a trusted advisor.
•    Providing financial support and challenge, as part of the finance business partnering function, to promote effective decision-making. 
•    Acting as a liaison between finance and policy teams - ensuring that corporate procedures and policies are built into the management processes within the directorates.
•    Providing management accounting functions for your business area: General Ledger, SAP and Financial Systems. As well as supporting in the production of robust forecasts, including people forecasting, and facilitating senior responsible officer commentaries, ensuring that we are effectively linking our financial performance to the delivery of the Department’s objectives
•    Providing finance support and challenge for policy development, including reviewing and assessing business cases ensuring alignment with Green Book standards, Managing Public Money and other government guidance - offering advice, challenge and solutions where necessary.
Acting as a team player, supporting a matrix structure that allows for you to develop a strong and far reaching skill set whilst helping colleagues through busy periods and difficult issues. 

Person specification

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. As such if you require any accessibility alterations to the recruitment process, please get in touch with the vacancy holder. 

You will either be a qualified or part-qualified accountant (a higher salary is available to successful CCAB or CIMA qualified candidates) or have significant experience working in a finance department and be willing to work towards qualification.  

While it would be valuable to have an understanding of HM Treasury’s Managing Public Money and how the government assess policy and spend proposals, this is not essential. We welcome experience from different sectors. It is important that you have the ability to understand the risks associated with policy and corporate decisions and as a critical thinker, you will be someone who is able to apply a framework of value for money, feasibility, propriety and regularity to new ideas. As an effective problem solver, your ability to use data and financial analysis to drive effective decisions will be a key contributor to your success in this role. 

The essence of the role is to work closely with policy and the corporate teams, you will be able to demonstrate your ability to build enduring relationships with a range of partners from a solid foundation of trust and empathy. This will be central to delivering constructive challenge in a way which is effective. Your stakeholder engagement skills will be built on diplomacy, problem-solving and a “can-do” approach.

You will be highly motivated and an enthusiastic self-starter, with an ability to learn. An aptitude for working autonomously where required is essential and will help you take ownership of work. Demonstrating both the ability to approach things analytically and with a focus on key stakeholders and their behaviours. 

You will be a strong communicator, someone who can draw insights from data and bring complex concepts to life for non-financial expert colleagues. You will be comfortable working at pace, managing time and competing priorities effectively to maximise productivity. 

The department is a constantly evolving and changing, you will need to respond flexibly to this, but also be able to prioritise and organise your workdays to deliver key monthly tasks.

Offered benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Selection process details

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).  

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 

Experience (Lead Criteria): Thinking about your career to date, what skills, knowledge and experience do you have which make you the best candidate for this role?

Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing

Behaviour: Working Together

Behaviour: Managing a Quality Service

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progress straight to assessment/interview  

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

Behaviours

Strengths

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

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

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

Experience: Yes

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. 

SEO salary 

• The salary for this role is £40,390 (London) or £37,064 (National). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. 

• An additional accountancy allowance of £3,500 per annum will be awarded subject to qualification status.

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 

• Darlington

• Manchester

• Cambridge

• Leeds

• Bristol

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 15th May 2023 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 on 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. 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@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