Chief of Staff, Best Value Intervention

Group: Local Government and Public Services Directorate: Local Government Oversight & Improvement, Are you a resilient leader who can work with confidence during challenging situations? Are you passionate about improvement? Can you develop strong relationships with senior stakeholders to drive positive change? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for two Chiefs of Staff for Best Value Intervention to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you! Local authorities are independent of central government and are responsible for providing local services. However, our Secretary of State has powers to intervene in exceptional circumstances where there is evidence of significant and systemic failure by an authority to secure best value for local residents. In October 2023, a five-year intervention at Birmingham City Council was announced with the appointment of six Commissioners, who hold wide powers and provide support to the council in its efforts to secure continuous improvement. On 12 November 2024, a broad and supportive three-year intervention package for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets was proposed, including directing the Council to work with a work with a Ministerial Envoy (and deputy), whose role is to act as advisors, mentors and monitors to the Council. Interventions of this kind are rare and underline the importance of having well-functioning local councils which provide essential statutory services local residents rely upon. MHCLG is seeking to appoint two Chiefs of Staff to support the Commissioners and Envoys in their work. There will be one position for London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council and one position for Birmingham City Council. You will be expected to attend your designated council on a regular basis. These expectations will be kept under review, but are likely to be around 2 days a week., There shall be one Chief of Staff for Best Value Intervention for Birmingham City Council and one for London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council. As a Chief of Staff for Best Value Intervention, your responsibilities will include: + Managing all aspects of the intervention as needed on behalf of the Commissioners, including commissioning work, acting on their behalf and representing their views, and ensuring the effective delivery of a governance process to hold the council to account and track progress. + Providing advice to the Commissioners/Envoys as needed, including on the scope of their role, appropriate routes to resolve issues, relevant policy considerations for the Department, and drawing on lessons and best practice from other interventions. + Ensuring the interventions has access to appropriate services, information and expertise, and overseeing the smooth running of all practical arrangements as needed to ensure the Commissioners/Envoys can perform their duties effectively. + Providing direction to the Commissioner support team and any council staff assigned to work with the Commissioners, role modelling integrity and professionalism at all times and supporting the continuing development of others. + Developing and maintaining positive working relationships with the Council’s senior management team, wider local partners, the local community and stakeholders within central government. + Ensuring that all communications relating to the intervention, by Commissioners or the council, are of high quality and appropriate, including preparing timely reports for the Secretary of State that give an accurate account of progress., 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 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. Sift and Interview dates Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 6th January 2025 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@communities.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 MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC). 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 MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. 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 MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules Candidate Pack Information Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 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 MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG 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.Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

These are demanding leadership roles that requires resilience and the ability to operate confidently and independently in a difficult context. We are looking for someone comfortable delivering at pace, able to influence senior officials and council leaders, that can demonstrate discretion and good judgement in an uncertain and contested environment. The roles allow for flexible working, however, regular in person working in either Birmingham or Tower Hamlets approximately twice a week is required., + The ability to work under pressure to urgent or shifting deadlines, including the ability to work flexibly on quickly changing or multiple priorities. + Experience and confidence in working with senior external stakeholders and senior civil servants. + Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience of translating complex messages into quality written products for a range of audiences, and the ability to influence different stakeholders. + Proven leadership and management skills, with the ability to work across an organisations to drive improvement. Desirable Criteria + Knowledge and experience of Local Government.

Alongside your salary of £64,679, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £18,737 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. + 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 employer contribution of 28.97%, Your CV should be no more than 2 pages and your covering letter should be no more than 500 words referencing how you meet the essential skills and experience required for this role. The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviour based questions as listed in the advert. Candidates will be expected to deliver a presentation at interview stage, the details of which would 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 Behaviours: Leadership, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Managing a Quality Service Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role. We do not consider direct CV applications – 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 £71,284 (London) or £64,679 (National).