Strategic Lead - Rough Sleeping WCC618712

Job Details:

Salary range: £74,688 - £103,830 per annum  
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP   
Hours per week: 36  
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: 10 November 2024  
Contact details for an Informal Discussion: Heather Clarke, Director of Housing Needs, via email: HCLARKE@WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK 

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ROCHELLE’S COMPASSION

Housing in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where kindness is key and community connection comes first.

Our people lead with empathy, always. Nobody lives those values better than Rochelle. Building on her experience from the frontline, she now consistently leads the team, thinking creatively and ensuring they go above and beyond for the local people they work with.

Take Peter, a man struggling to settle into his new flat after a lifetime on the streets. Faced with loneliness, and a distrust of authority, he found it difficult to adjust to his new reality. Rochelle was not only his housing officer; she was a friendly face in good times and bad, and the support system he needed to get him back on his feet. The work she did with him was invaluable. And the change almost immediate. Now she’s on a mission to change more lives, and to transform the way that anti-social behaviour is looked at throughout Westminster. 

The Role:

As Strategic Lead (Rough Sleeping) you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. We’re committed to reducing rough sleeping across our borough through innovative multi-agency approaches, and when you join us in this vital role you’ll lead policy, strategy, commissioning, relationship management and oversee operational delivery. Representing Westminster and its unique situation as you feed into discussions on national policy development relating to rough sleeping, you’ll also lead the development of local policy solutions, and implement the strategies required to deliver positive outcomes.

As an active and highly visible leader, you’ll coordinate a partnership approach to reducing rough sleeping by developing cross-sector collaboration with partners from the public and private sectors, as well as commissioned service providers, housing associations, charities, central government bodies and health services. And as you work to ensure delivery of the most effective and best value for money interventions, and represent the directorate across the department, government and externally, you’ll build an important evidence base of what works to tackle rough sleeping.

You’ll have a total focus on client experience and customer satisfaction, providing outstanding corporate leadership to ensure effective communication with all the stakeholders we work with, and foster a strong culture of standards, performance and accountability. Committed to developing a leadership team that is proactive, ambitious and drives new ways of working, we’ll also expect you to contribute to the development of directorate-wide strategic and financial plans.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

As an expert in the field of rough sleeping, and with plenty of leadership experience at a senior and strategic level, preferably with a local authority, voluntary sector organisation or government homelessness service, you’ll have a proven track record of delivery and service improvement. It’s important that you have well developed understanding of the operational and political context in which rough sleeping services are provided, and be capable of providing advice, guidance and support to achieve better outcomes for homeless people.

We’ll expect you to have comprehensive knowledge of relevant legislation, policy and practice, a good understanding of the factors that cause homelessness, and how prevention, intervention and accommodation options can be developed, funded and delivered. You should also have experience of working in a complex political and service environment with senior managers, partner organisations, communities, public agencies and statutory bodies, and be ready to use all your interpersonal and communication skills to inspire, motivate, develop and coach your colleagues.

Your exceptional leadership skills will allow you to manage complex, multi-disciplinary teams while driving high standards and delivering resident-centric services, and you’ll be able to analyse financial and performance information, understand business contexts and extract key facts to deliver improvements and opportunities. With this in mind you’ll have a track record of managing large budgets, business planning, quality and performance management, and your innovative mindset will see you translating strategic objectives into operational plans. 

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a global majority background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background, you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.   

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.  

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.