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Job summary

The Government has committed to eliminating rough sleeping in the term of this parliament, 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 fifth 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 in 2023/24 and beyond.  

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 with lived experience of rough sleeping and 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

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 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. 

The roles 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

Being place-based roles, the Advisers in the Rough Sleeping Initiative Adviser Team are located around the country and travel to visit local authorities. As this is a national programme of work the majority of advisers are based outside London, which is a position we would expect to continue. In line with the department’s principles of smarter working, individuals will spend time working in the office or in locations with stakeholders (on average 2 days per week or 40% of contractual hours).

Person specification

1.         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.

2.         Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of legislation, policy and practice relating to rough sleeping in England

3.         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.

4.         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

5.         Strong verbal and written presentation skills including the ability to able to speak at conferences and events

6.         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. 

7.         Significant 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.

8.         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.

9.         Experience of working within a political environment, providing advice and guidance to Elected Members/Boards and Senior Leadership Teams

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

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%

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. 

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 element) - Please set out the relevant senior leadership experience you have in relation to this role, as set out in the person specification.

Behaviour 1 - Changing and improving

Behaviour 2 - Communicating and influencing

Behaviour 3 - Working together

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 element 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 -  Changing and improving, Communicating and influencing, Working together

Technical - candidates will be expected to prepare a presentation, details of which will be sent on invitation to interview.

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

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

Behaviours: Changing and improving, Communicating and influencing, Working together

Experience:  Please set out the relevant senior leadership experience you have in relation to this role, as set out in the person specification.

Technical: Through the presentation at interview. 

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 7 salary 

• The salary for this role is £49,697 (National). 

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

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: 

• Bristol

• Leeds

• Exeter

• Birmingham

• Manchester

• Newcastle-upon-Tyne

• Nottingham

• Warrington

• Wolverhampton 

• 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. This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by: 

• HM Treasury  

• Department for International Trade

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy  

• Office for National Statistics  

• Department for Education 

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

 Being place-based roles, the Advisers in the Rough Sleeping Initiative Adviser Team are located around the country and travel to visit local authorities. As this is a national programme of work the majority of advisers are based outside London, which is a position we would expect to continue. In line with the department’s principles of smarter working, individuals will spend time working in the office or in locations with stakeholders (on average 2 days per week or 40% of contractual hours).

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place from 06/06/2023 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. 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. 

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 

Fixed Term Details

For external candidates – you will be offered an 18 month fixed term appointment with a possibility of permanency.  

For existing civil servants – you will be offered an 18 month loan opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your parent department to take up a loan appointment should you be successful. 

For Secondments - you will be offered an 18 month secondment opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your employer to take up a secondment opportunity should you be successful. 

For DLUHC employees - you will retain your existing contract.  

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

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 Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland

• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)

• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service

• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service

• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

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.