Director of Law and Governance WCR 6

(Subject to Review), The role is exciting and challenging and one which will allow you to grow your leadership skills in one of the local government's most exciting legal services. The role will have the following key responsibilities:

• To provide effective inclusive leadership and management that
will contribute to the delivery of Westminster's Fairer Westminster plan supporting the continuous improvement of the Council.
• To work collaboratively to deliver the highest standards of legal and governance practice across the organisation and prepare services for future challenges.
• To act as Westminster City Council's Deputy Monitoring Officer in accordance with S.5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
• Work closely and collaboratively with the Chief Solicitor at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to ensure strategic and consistent leadership across the wider Bi- Borough Legal service.
Budget Responsibilities - Staffing £6.7m Procurement £0.2m Income £5.5m Other £1.2m What do we expect this role to achieve? To lead the Westminster Legal and Governance Service ensuring that it:
• Makes an active contribution to the leadership of the Council
• Delivers an effective, efficient high quality legal/governance advice, reflecting best practice to Members and officers.
• Delivers effective, efficient, best practice and legally
sound electoral services.
• Provide operational and day to day management of
electoral services, land charges and coroners services
• Provide governance advice as required
• Puts customers/clients at the centre of decision making and understand their business needs.
• Develops and maintains positive relationships with diverse elected members to ensure the Council's strategic priorities are effectively implemented and to support Members to undertake their strategic monitoring role.
• Act in the capacity of Deputy Acting Returning Officer, or
the appropriate roles, if so appointed by the relevant Returning Officer, ensuring that the election process runs smoothly and complies with all relevant legislation.
• Supporting the MO with the effective operation of the Councillors' Code
of Conduct including initial decision making on complaints.
• Fulfils the role of Westminster City Council's Deputy Monitoring Officer to the Executive Director of Corporate Services, statutory responsibility under S5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
As an influential Senior Leader in the Council, you will be responsible for:
• Attending and advising at formal and informal meetings of Westminster City Council as required by the Executive Director.
• Personal oversight and ownership of high profile/complex legal work/projects
• Working flexibly commensurate to the grade of the post including an office presence as required
• Promoting equity among all staff and ensuring that services are delivered in a way that promotes equality of access.
• Looking beyond the Council to identify new, inclusive and innovative ways of delivering services that provide high quality and good value for money.
• Driving the implementation of consistently high-quality
service standards and levels of customer service.
• Being a role model of the Council's behaviours and
leadership expectations.
• Maintaining an awareness of national policy on all
legal governance and electoral requirements.
• Challenging and signoff financial strategies and plans/budgets that support the effective delivery of strategic priorities; monitor the Westminster budget and ensure it is effectively controlled within cash limits, driving down spend where appropriate; hold managers to account to manage their
budgets and to provide services that are delivered or procured that represent value for money. ? Providing inspirational and professional leadership to staff, establishing and promoting an inclusive culture of personal development that enables staff to realise their potential, manage their careers and therefore improve outcomes. . Band/Salary range Band 6: £113,100 to £155,268 Work style Agile working (subject to the needs of the service) Office presence as required Your manager & team Reports to Executive Director of Corporate Services (Monitoring Officer) Direct Reports: 9: 4 x Principal Solicitors and Chief Solicitor Head of Governance and Councillor Liaison Business Manager Manager: Legal and Electoral Services Support Data Protection Officer Total FTE: approximately 160 (Joint responsibility for leadership of the Bi-borough Legal Service alongside Chief Solicitor at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea), This is a politically restricted officer post. The Local Government & Housing Act 1989 imposes restrictions on political activities for certain categories of local government employees. In accordance with this legislation, this post is politically restricted and as such the post holder must refrain from being a candidate for election, an election agent or sub agent, an officer of a political party, or sub-committee of such a party or canvass, speak to the public at large, publish written or artistic work or display posters in support of a political party or sub group of such a party Corporate standards
• Resources / Financial management
We expect you to manage delegated budgets, funding and resources in line with our processes and our Westminster Way
• Values and behaviours
Our values and behaviours are at the heart of everything we do. We expect you to work in this Westminster Way empowering, engaging and encouraging your teammates to deliver our corporate vision.
• Compliance
We expect you to ensure legal, regulatory and policy compliance in area of your specialism, identifying opportunities and risks and escalate/report where appropriate.
• Equality and diversity
We value equality and diversity as a city council and we want you to support and promote this in your day-to-day work. Additional values and behaviours for Managers People and Service Management
• Role model the Westminster Way:
o Demonstrate inclusive leadership o Take the lead in driving initiatives o Be proactive in being forward and outward looking, by regularly investing in own development.
• Driving forward performance by empowering staff to take the lead. Setting high standards, encouraging improvement and innovation. Supporting the team to achieve by adopting a coaching style of management
• Having regular employee led conversations to develop our people
- creating a safe environment for learning, taking time to understand their strengths and motivations, stretching them and coaching them to achieve.
• Managing budgets responsibly - planning, monitoring and adapting budgets to respond to changing priorities.
• Delivering the Medium-Term Plan
• Working within the democratic framework - understanding the democratic process and its role in public organisations, anticipating Member needs and responding to their feedback.
Please note there should be NO direct contact with the client regarding this role. Please raise questions via the messaging service or contact Westminster@teammatrix.com, This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced and motivated leader to join Westminster City Council as the Director of Law and Governance. In this dynamic and fast-paced role, you will be responsible for leading our legal and governance services, overseeing a high-performing team that includes legal services, committee services, elections, land charges, coroner services, member support, the mayoralty office, and information services. You will support and advise elected members and officers on complex, high-profile matters that span planning, capital programs, workforce change, new legislation, and implementing the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations. Reporting to the Executive Director for Corporate Services/Monitoring Officer, this position offers the chance to contribute to an ambitious and influential London borough., Provide effective, inclusive leadership that drives the continuous improvement of Westminster's Fairer Westminster plan. Collaborate across departments to uphold the highest standards of legal and governance practices and prepare services for future challenges. Act as Deputy Monitoring Officer in accordance with S.5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. Partner with the Chief Solicitor at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to ensure cohesive leadership across the Bi-Borough Legal service. Working Arrangements: This is a politically restricted post. We welcome part-time applicants, with a minimum requirement of three days per week. The role is hybrid, with an office presence required for formal and evening meetings.


• Substantial experience, evidenced by a solid track record
of success, leading high-quality Legal/ governance teams.
• A successful track record of engaging effectively with others at a senior level and building productive partnerships with key stakeholders.
• Substantial experience and demonstrable success in managing organisational change and of securing the support of others in the process.
• Experience of leading new ways of working and delivery of culture change in a large complex organisation.
• Demonstrable experience of personally advising on complex matters involving both Officers and Members.
• Demonstrable experience of carrying a complex caseload across a range of Council functions
Skills
• Ability to balance strategic leadership and direction with effective operational management.
• Ability to foster an open and trusting culture with the ability to lead change through others and inspire high levels of performance.
• Ability to apply discretion and initiative in dealing with complex issues.
• Authoritative and influential with high developed relationship management and networking skills, and the ability to foster good working relationships across the service and with Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea colleagues for the benefit of residents and communities in Westminster.
• Naturally engaging with an ability to inspire and command respect, trust and confidence of colleagues, Council
Members and other stakeholders.
• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills, able to
persuade others to alternative points of view.
• Ability to adopt best practice, modern, innovative
working practices, which enable the delivery of corporate priorities.
• Customer oriented, with well-developed networking and partnership skills, able to build relationships with a range
of stakeholders.
• Financial and commercial awareness and effective budgeting and financial management skills.
• Political sensitivity with an ability to make progress in complex policy areas and a strong belief in the value of local democracy and accountability.
• Commitment to the Council's values and behaviours with an ability to demonstrate personal leadership on the importance of diversity.
Knowledge and Qualifications
• In-depth understanding of law relating to local government
• Significant post qualification experience.
• Substantial experience of managing Legal and Governance Services
• Experience of Local Government governance arrangements
• Qualified Lawyer with a current practicing certificate., Proven ability to balance strategic leadership with operational management.
Capacity to foster an open, trusting culture, lead change, and inspire high performance. Strong discretion and initiative in handling complex issues. Highly developed relationship management and networking skills, fostering strong working relationships both within Westminster and with colleagues at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Excellent negotiation and influencing abilities. Political sensitivity and a belief in local democracy and accountability. Experience in a similar senior leadership role, including serving as Monitoring Officer. Screening Criteria for Applicants: Do you have successful experience in a similar senior leadership role, including serving as a Monitoring Officer? Are you comfortable with a politically restricted post? Are you available for an office presence when required, including for formal and evening meetings? Do you have experience leading and inspiring high-performing teams in a legal or governance capacity? Are you ready to start in January for an initial three-month period?

Director of Law and Governance (Deputy Monitoring Officer) What we value at Westminster Westminster City Council believes in creating a Fairer Westminster where people are born into a supportive and safe environment, grow and learn throughout their lives, build fantastic careers in world- leading industries, have access to high quality, affordable homes and retire into the community with dignity and pride. We work together to adapt to the changing needs of our communities - resulting in a dynamic atmosphere where ambition, diversity and creativity are celebrated. Our vision for the Bi-Borough Legal Services is to be a trusted partner and at the heart of the Council's activities. A first choice for our clients, partners, and employees. So, it follows that as the Director of Law for Westminster City Council, you will be leading an exceptionally talented legal service, working closely and collaboratively with the Chief Solicitor at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Our culture At Westminster we have a culture of openness, transparency and integrity - where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and develop to be the very best. The Westminster Way is the council's commitment to our staff and is underpinned by three pillars:
• Personal development: Everyone has talent.
We want everyone to thrive at Westminster and so we take the time to nurture talent - coaching and mentoring our people to be the very best.
• Value our people and diversity: Everyone is valued.
We embrace our differences, to bring new perspectives to the future challenges of our city.
• The Westminster Way of working: Everyone is a leader.
At Westminster we encourage everyone to develop themselves to have a growth mindset and an outward looking approach to provide the best service to our residents, businesses and visitors. We champion modern and agile working and an open and transparent outlook to the way we work. In order to do the very best for our communities, we believe that our workforce should be representative of the people we work on behalf of, our residents. That's why at Westminster we celebrate and embrace our differences. We are passionate about creating a workplace where all can thrive, and where every single person has the opportunity to develop, grow and to be valued for their contribution. Portfolio/responsibilities of this role Our vision for the Bi-Borough Legal Services is to be a trusted partner and first choice for our clients, partners and employees. The Director of Law and Governance is part of the extended Senior Leadership Team at Westminster City Council, leading a modern legal and governance l service with our communities at the heart of everything we do.

£433.81 per day 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E6QP Temporary