Child Maintenance Service - Work Group Leader

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department, it administers a range of working age, pension age, disability and ill health benefits to around 18 million claimants and customers.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) helps parents, who are unable to make a private financial agreement in support of their child(ren)'s living costs, ensure and at times enforce, the legal responsibility to provide financial support. Our mission is to 'get money to children' because it makes a real difference to children's lives.

Child Maintenance Service is not only undergoing a significant period of change as we drive a crucial transformation agenda, but in tandem, we continue to deliver a politically significant and fundamentally crucial service to millions of separated families around the country who depend upon the work we do. Our story over the last few years is one of impressive progress and improvement. Despite the progress we've made, we are unashamedly ambitious about what more we can achieve and the difference we can make for the families who need us.

Child Maintenance Service is an amazing place to work. Walk into any one of our service centres and you will be overwhelmed by the passion and commitment that our people have for supporting our customers.

CMS has some exciting opportunities as a Work Group Leader (WGL) at the Higher Executive Officer (HEO) grade. As a Work Group Leader within CMS you will have overall responsibility for leading, organising and performance managing around 80-90 people, including several small caseworker teams. These teams work within a Service Centre environment, their main task being serving customers by means of online services and telephony. They deliver a complex service to customers including collecting money. Each team is led by a Team Leader for whom you have direct line management responsibility.

We are looking for candidates to fill these key roles who have a passion for leading and delivering excellent customer service, who are flexible and versatile, able to make sound decisions, and drive and implement change in a high profile often high-pressured environment.

You will be an inspirational and resourceful leader, able to drive people engagement across your teams, setting high standards for people leadership throughout the business. Leading a team you will be accountable for managing workloads, effectively managing resources, and prioritising and addressing any risks to ensure performance targets and customer objectives are met. As a people manager you will support wellbeing across the teams, manage attendance and conduct regular coaching reviews confidently addressing risks to performance.

You will be an excellent communicator with the ability to influence and motivate people at all levels, supporting colleagues by communicating corporate changes and the long-term organisational vision with clarity and purpose. You will have the ability to understand and lead change, creating and role modelling a 'continuous improvement' culture that promotes and supports innovation and delivers improvements to performance and customer service/experience.

Manage escalated complaints within timescales and provide feedback to support continual improvement.

Operational leaders are accountable for creating an environment to support the flexible effective personalised delivery of customer services, quality and performance across their teams. They provide leadership and effective use of resource to ensure performance targets, quality and accuracy standards and customer objectives are met. Provide transformational leadership to the team and beyond - inspiring colleagues through difficult situations, transforming performance and building high performing teams. Key tasks will include the delivery of our people agenda which is balanced alongside strong performance management and our responsibilities regarding governance, risk, security and health and safety management requirements. Responsible for the day-to-day smooth running of an operational line of business (ie New Applications, Case Maintenance, Arrears, Enforcement).

Working for DWP will include benefits such as learning and development tailored to your role, an environment with flexible working options, a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity. CMS is committed to the Wellbeing of all colleagues, support includes Wellbeing conversations, dedicated Wellbeing Advocates in each Service Centre to develop and deliver health and wellbeing initiatives and our own Intranet site offering a wealth of information, guidance and support.

We Value Everybody is one of our five Core Values here in CMS. We have active National Network Groups for Race, Disability, Carers, Wellbeing, Faith & Belief and Age. Our monthly People Group meeting draws these groups together to listen, act, and update CMS Directors with our plans.

CMS Colleagues have the opportunity to join HASSRA, a vibrant and successful organisation that provides a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). It also has an important part to play in helping us achieve a healthy work-life balance and wellbeing in the workplace.

Working hours - The contracted working hours for the Department are 07:45 hours to 20:00 hours, Monday to Friday, and 08:45 hours to 17:00 hours on Saturday. Employees are contracted to work a specific number of hours per week within the above times. Employees will be required to work the number of hours per week for which they are contracted. For example, for full time employees this will be 37 hours net (42 hours gross including meal breaks). For part-time employees it will be less. Access to flexible working hours scheme will be available.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works 60% of the week in their DWP office and 40% of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Please note that for these vacancies we recommend that applicants seek specialist advice on their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship (if applicable) when considering whether to apply for any role. We can never guarantee sponsorship, requests will be considered in line with the relevant DWP guidance and Home Office policy in place at the time.

Applicants should only apply for posts in a location they can travel to and from daily within a reasonable time. Do not select a location unless you are prepared to accept a role there - you will spend 60% of your working week working from that office. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed.

On the commencement of your employment, you may be required to complete a period of office based full-time training and work-based learning which will take approximately 11 weeks. Afterwards there will be a 3 month period to consolidate your learning, again office based. Once complete, your opportunity to undertake hybrid working will begin.

Your evidence will be assessed against the following essential criteria. You must ensure you provide specific examples to demonstrate these criteria in your Personal Statement.

• Strong leadership and coaching skills.
• Lead by example and provide inspiration, direction and support to colleagues by communicating corporate messages with clarity and purpose.
• Excellent people engagement skills, focusing on building collaborative working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders across the wider team and Department.
• Lead, motivate and encourage teams to operate flexibly, continuously improving, seeking feedback, listening and acting on this, setting performance standards and empowering teams to succeed.
• Capacity to work flexibly to meet changing priorities, managing a diverse workload, and optimising resources to meet current and future customer expectations.
• Ability to critically analyse products and processes including Management Information, to identify areas for action, resolving issues and making suggestions for improvement.
• Confident decision making, taking a leading role in proactively managing agreed team performance, effectively managing resources, demonstrating a firm and fair approach to line management responsibilities in accordance with policy and procedures.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement of no more than 1250 words. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. Use your 1250 word Personal Statement to describe how you meet the Essential Criteria as detailed in the job advert. The CV is an on-line tool, there is no requirement to upload your personal CV. When giving details of your employment history, you should include details of work you have completed and projects you have been involved in. However the CV is not scored so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

Your Personal Statement should contain no more than 1250 words. The layout is entirely your choice, you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criterion separately; however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several of the criteria. Please share with us what makes you suited to this role. We would like to find out what you can do, the skills you hold and the life experience or passion that you have that could be aligned to the criteria listed within the Person Specification.

Due to the DWP's use of anonymised recruitment practices it is not possible for applicants to upload/attach a CV; any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form. When entering information relating to your employment history you will be asked to remove any personal details that could be used to identify you. This relates to name and contact details which might usually appear on your CV/Personal Statement. Failure to do so will result in your application being withdrawn.

The sift panel will use the information in your Personal Statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria outlined in the advert. Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Lead Criteria: Strong leadership and coaching skills. Lead by example and provide inspiration, direction and support to colleagues by communicating corporate messages with clarity and purpose. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift where all applications will be assessed and sifted against all the essential criteria outlined in the advert.

Unless you are otherwise informed, the final stage of the process will be a blended interview via Microsoft Teams. The blended interview will consist of Behaviour and Strength questions. The Behaviours being assessed at interview are: Leadership (Lead Behaviour), Changing and Improving, Managing a Quality Service, Making Effective Decisions. All elements of the interview will be via video link, and the whole process should take approximately 30 - 40 minutes. A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation at interview, offering a more inclusive approach. The Strength and Behaviour based questioning explores what the candidate can and has done, but also their potential.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made. Any move to DWP 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service/Disclosure Scotland on your behalf. For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

DWP takes development seriously. Our aim is for our colleagues in these roles to be appropriately skilled and qualified - as determined by the business. To support this aim you may be required to undertake a work based qualification, which may be in the form of an apprenticeship, which will support you in further developing your professional knowledge and skills for this role and your future career development. The qualification can be undertaken in work time, you agree to take this job on the basis that you may be required to undertake a work based qualification; a candidate's failure to participate fully in the professional programme, once appointed, may be a breach of their employment contract.

If you hold a level 3 qualification (2 A levels or equivalent) then please bring your certificates with you to the interview if you have them. Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the "Reasonable Adjustments" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process.