Head of Community Empowerment Team

The Head of the Community Empowerment team leads the department’s thinking on how to give people power, resources and opportunities to shape their communities and neighbourhoods. This is an inspiring, complex and fascinating policy area: delivering with and through communities can be immensely rewarding and a very interesting policy design challenge., You’ll be leading a team of 14 who work across a range of policy areas including community wealth building, neighbourhood governance and parishes, community participation and infrastructure, and place-based working. In addition to delivering specific programmes of work, the team connects with the communities and parishes sector to understand issues, ideas and best practice, and draws on them to develop evidence-based plans for future work. The team also plays a role ‘community-proofing’ high profile programmes of work across the department, such as the Long-Term Plan for Towns announced in late 2023, by providing advice and connections with key stakeholders.
To succeed, you will need to build strong connections with other policy teams within the Communities and Integration directorate and within DLUHC, DCMS and other parts of central government. You will need to maintain an understanding of other relevant work happening across government in the policy area, so you can take a strategic, evidence-based approach to developing policy. At times you will need to influence other policy teams to deliver your own policy objectives. You and your team will need to build trusting relationships with communities stakeholders, including by visiting them in the places where they work, so you and the team have a sound understanding of the delivery landscape and the issues that are facing them. You will need to instil a culture of learning and sharing so that team members remain credible advocates for their policy work., + Shaping the future agenda of the team and its policies.
+ Delivering - by providing challenge, support and oversight of your team to ensure a constant focus on the policy objectives - a varied portfolio of work which currently includes:
1. The design of a Community Wealth Fund which will enable communities to change their neighbourhoods in a way which helps them thrive;
2. Changes to neighbourhood governance to enable communities to have more say over issues that affect them;
3. Working with local authority partners, voluntary and community sector organisations and DCMS to develop and share best practice in partnership working between local government and community groups;
4. Socialising the findings of the two-year, HMT-funded Partnerships for People and Place programme and its ideas for improving how government works in places.
+ Developing and delivering new areas of work in response to the needs of communities and to reflect Ministerial priorities, including overseeing the drafting of clear and compelling advice, briefings and other material.
+ Establishing a strategic approach to working with our external partners, to build trusting, reciprocal relationships which inform policy development and delivery.
+ Building the team’s policy expertise and capability by engaging with research, external partners and visiting places to bring the subject to life.
+ Investing in your team’s development, by understanding their ambitions, interests and development needs, and shaping work and finding opportunities to meet those needs as far as possible.
+ Working with the new DD and two other G6s to create a supportive, expert and connected new division., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Seeing the Big Picture
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Leadership, 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.
Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.
As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process.
We are for everyone
CV and Cover Letter Declaration
We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment.
Please remove references to your:
+ name/title
+ educational institutions
+ age
+ gender
+ email address
+ postal address
+ phone number
+ nationality/immigration status
You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter.
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors., Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.
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.
Learning and Development
The successful candidate will be encouraged to undertake a professional learning qualification as part of the role through a suitable apprenticeship, if this is in line with both business needs and the individual’s development needs. This is not a mandatory condition of accepting the role.
Location
+ Bristol
+ Manchester
+ Wolverhampton
+ Darlington

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• 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. 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.
Sift and Interview dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 28/04/2024 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.
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
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 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.

We particularly welcome candidates 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.
The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic advocate for listening to those in a wide variety of communities and places about their needs, while also applying the full rigour of the policy development process to potential government interventions.
You will have experience of working with external partners, and a good understanding of the structural challenges and opportunities of working at neighbourhood level and with community groups.
You will think strategically and be able to make a varied set of policy objectives cohere around a central mission for the team.
You will be able to articulate persuasively the team’s objectives and purpose, including to Ministers. You may have worked in government policy roles, the communities sector or have a strategy background with a keen interest in the issues we work on.
Essential criteria
Ability to maintain a strategic understanding of the broader policies and other factors which affect your policy area, and to help your team to navigate them to deliver your desired outcomes.
Ability to confidently handle data and evidence and the judgement to devise policy options which balance the best and boldest ideas with what will work within the wider delivery context.
Adept at building and maintaining very strong working relationships with partners across government and beyond, which enable you both to maintain a strong understanding of the policy landscape and delivery sensitivities, and to deliver through that network.
Track record as leader building high performing, inclusive teams with effective ways of building and sharing expertise and insights.
Ability to communicate clearly and confidently through a range of channels, and to understand and respond to others’ perspectives to enable continued progress.
A track record of driving successful delivery at pace and managing risks effectively – especially when the policy and/or political environment changes – across a varied policy programme.
Experience of working with or for community organisations or local government at a neighbourhood level and/ or on policy relating to neighbourhoods and communities in the UK.

This is a welcoming, committed and high-energy directorate. If you want an exciting and motivating role, with exposure to Ministers and senior officials across government, and with autonomy and the opportunity to develop and deliver interventions that will make a real difference to thousands of lives, then this is the role for you., Alongside your salary of £61,599, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 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 average employer contribution of 27%, At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:
In your CV and covering letter, please include:
a. why you are interested in the role;
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, behaviour and strength based questions as listed in the advert. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
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
Strength: Yes
Behaviours: Seeing The Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Leadership
Candidates will be expected to prepare a 5 minute presentation, details of which will be sent with the interview invites.
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 £61,599 (National).