Senior Housing Standards Officer/Specialist Housing Standards Officer

About the Role:

We have a new opportunity within our Housing Standards Team to drive forward our housing agenda and passion to support our customers as we implement the new legislation in the Renters Rights Bill.

Your Team: You’ll join a supportive Housing Standards Team that shares learning, carries out joint visits on higher risk cases and works closely with colleagues in legal and partner agencies to achieve the right outcomes for residents.

In these roles, you'll be responsible for mentoring less experienced housing standards officers in their development into confident enforcement officers across the Borough by working pro-actively, providing advice and guidance, undertaking more complex property inspections.

You will undertake more complex caseloads for statutory enforcement using relevant housing legislation, conduct interviews, brief legal officers, prepare cases for court and attend tribunals, court hearings and public enquiries as required.

About the Candidate:

We would like to hear from you if you want to help drive Properties, and private sector housing and have experience (or a clear interest in developing experience) across areas including Mandatory HMO and Selective Licensing, , Empty Properties, and our response to damp & mould complaints as well as being at the forefront of using our new renters Rights Act Powers, and the revised HHSRS.

Ultimately, we are looking for candidates who have a passion to drive up standards.

We would welcome candidates who have a demonstrable and strong track record in housing enforcement and want to develop their careers in a board multi-disciplinary environment where training and development of individuals is key.

You should be customer focused with excellent interpersonal skills as well a detailed practical knowledge of the legislative powers under the Housing Act; sound knowledge of building construction and competence using Information and Communication Technology, including Microsoft Office, & Teams and case management systems.

What we offer:

• Regular professional supervision, case discussions and support on complex enforcement activity
• Essential car user allowance
• Tools and Technology to support field work
• Ongoing Training and opportunities for, housing enforcement emerging legislation and leadership development skills
• CPD training for those registered with a professional body such as CIEH

Previous applicants - if you have applied before and your experience or circumstances have changed; we would welcome a new application.

For more information or an informal discussion regarding this vacancy, please contact Thomas Edwards, Housing Standards Manager, via email thomasedwards@wirral.gov.uk

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates. For this vacancy, candidates must have an existing right to work in the UK before commencing employment. Skilled Worker visa sponsorship is not available for this post. Eligibility to work in the UK will be verified in the final stages of the selection process.

If you are a Wirral resident, are unemployed or out of work, and require help with your application, please contact Involve Northwest’s employment and skills team on info@involvenorthwest.org.uk or contact 0151 644 4500 or 0151 652 4349.

If you’re already a Wirral Council employee, as part of our Talent Strategy, we’re committed to strengthening opportunities for our people to learn, grow, progress, and thrive. For many of you, this may be preparing and applying for your next role with us, and we're passionate about ensuring you feel supported throughout your internal recruitment experience. Please get in touch if you want to know more about some of the ways in which we could support you by emailing recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

Working at Wirral

You’ll also want to know what it’s like to work here so, as a start:

Our values are more than just pieces of paper on our walls! We’ve all played a role in developing these, so they reflect the immense pride we have in what we do, what matters to us, what inspires us and inform how we think, approach things, and behave.

We believe in ensuring staff are well looked after, staff wellbeing is a priority for us. We’re serious about recognising and rewarding people for the great things they do. You’ll benefit from our track record of developing, growing, and investing in our people.

We have a range of staff benefits including staff discounts, an excellent pension scheme which includes a generous employer contribution rate, immediate life cover and ill-health protection. We have a strong flexible working approach, hybrid working, family-friendly employment initiatives and an annual leave package from 28 - 33 days leave plus public holidays and options to buy up to 10 additional days leave.

We have an inclusive, engaged culture, everyone has a voice, everyone is valued for their contribution and understands the role they play in delivering our strategic priorities.

Each voice is heard, each contribution valued. We embrace diversity in our workforce and recognise it is critical to our success. We support an inclusive culture that champions difference and nurtures a sense of belonging. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds, who share our values and our commitment to inclusion to apply for roles with us.

We want you to be your best at work, we create the conditions to help you thrive and we mirror this in our recruitment process. If you’d like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process to make it barrier-free and as accessible as possible, please contact recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

Please note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies.

It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council's Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstances.

Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.

Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration. Forms received via the post will not be processed.

All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK. Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page.

The job description and other supporting documents will not be accessible once the vacancy closing date has passed so if a copy is required you should download it now.

We do not accept applications or CV’s from recruitment agencies, unless otherwise stated. Therefore, any candidates submitted via a recruitment agency will not be considered for this role.