Head of Institutions Oversight

Bristol, Darlington, Wolverhampton
Job Summary
In response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase II report, the Deputy Prime Minister called for “a profound change in culture and behaviour from those who develop, procure, design and manage buildings across the built environment, as well as the government, its bodies and wider institutions”. To realise this profound change, we need to understand institutional landscape, build deeper knowledge of the whole system and its interrelationships and then use this knowledge to inform and improve the way we work. Working at the intersection of strategy, policy development and implementation, the Head of Institutions Oversight will help to deliver the change necessary to reform the built environment sector. The role will use its insights to leverage and guide policy development across the Group. Located in the Institutions Division, part of the Building Systems and Insight Directorate at MHCLG, you will be responsible for embedding the department’s role as stewards of the built environment across the directorate and wider group. You will be a thought leader and critical friend, identifying priority work areas where government can influence the way institutions engage with other actors in the system to help realise the system-wide reform agenda that MHCLG is leading. Through your work, you will help to shape that agenda. You will also be responsible for the process to establish and appoint a Chief Construction Adviser (CCA), a new role recommended by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, as an independent adviser to the Secretary of State on all matters affecting the construction industry. This is a high-profile appointment and a critical part of the first phase of the government’s response to the Grenfell Inquiry, and will require both strategic thinking and diligent project management. Once in post, you will need to work closely with the CCA to influence others and realise change. You will need to manage complex and challenging stakeholder relationships: to establish your team as dynamic, informed critical friends within the department; to identify priority work areas and then to influence others make progress happen; to work effectively with SCS and ministers to realise change; to manage interests across other departments; and to build and maintain productive relationships with industry stakeholders. You will lead a team of 2 Grade 7s and an SEO to do this. This is a new work area, and you will have considerable scope to shape the way you and your team will work.
Job Description
You will lead and coach a small, high-performing team to launch and embed a new way of working – as thought leaders and stewards – on priority work areas, to steer and shape the way we work with and through institutions to deliver our reform objectives.
You will lead the planning and appointment of the Chief Construction Adviser, beginning with an interim appointment in 2025 and followed by a final appointment in 2026.
You will proactively work with teams and leaders across the department and with legal, analysis and Ministerial Private Offices, and build effective working relationships with colleagues in a variety of government departments with an interest in built environment policy, as well as with industry stakeholders.
You will manage and maintain stakeholder relationships, communicating with confidence, impact and influence to advance our reform programme through the response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. You will be capable of flexing your style, to understand and gain credibility with different audiences.
You will have exceptional leadership skills, that are evidenced through a proven track of delivering in conjunction with others and breaking down Departmental silos, beyond MHCLG, and bringing on team members.
You will role model open, inclusive line management which demonstrates excellence in building strong, high-performing and inclusive teams. You should exemplify these behaviours in all you do and be able to striking the right balance between support and accountability for team members.
You will lead and coach a small, high-performing team to launch and embed a new way of working – as thought leaders and stewards – on priority work areas, to steer and shape the way we work with and through institutions to deliver our reform objectives.
You will lead the planning and appointment of the Chief Construction Adviser, beginning with an interim appointment in 2025 and followed by a final appointment in 2026.
You will proactively work with teams and leaders across the department and with legal, analysis and Ministerial Private Offices, and build effective working relationships with colleagues in a variety of government departments with an interest in built environment policy, as well as with industry stakeholders.
You will manage and maintain stakeholder relationships, communicating with confidence, impact and influence to advance our reform programme through the response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. You will be capable of flexing your style, to understand and gain credibility with different audiences.
You will have exceptional leadership skills, that are evidenced through a proven track of delivering in conjunction with others and breaking down Departmental silos, beyond MHCLG, and bringing on team members.
You will role model open, inclusive line management which demonstrates excellence in building strong, high-performing and inclusive teams. You should exemplify these behaviours in all you do and be able to striking the right balance between support and accountability for team members.
Person specification
You will have good strategic thinking and solution-finding skills, and the ability to engage with both the detail and the big picture – and switch between the two effectively.
You will understand the policy development process and can use creative and strategic thinking skills to overcome policy issues and obstacles through to delivery.
You will have excellent communication skills, in writing succinct, clear advice, and in communicating difficult or challenging messages sensitively.
You will have excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills to communicate in a clear and honest manner to a diverse range of stakeholders. You will be a trusted adviser, with the credibility to influence and challenge effectively to gain consensus.
You will display good judgement to operate in a politically sensitive environment, and to understand and mitigate threats and risks.
You will be able to work proactively and independently, managing a busy workload of competing priorities, and make use of effective project management skills to ensure delivery against competing deadlines and priorities.
Alongside your salary of £64,679, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £18,737 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Selection process details
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.
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.
At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:
Experience
Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description paying particular attention to the person specification
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour: Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Developing Self and Others
Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Experience: Yes
Strength: Yes
Behaviours: Yes
Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.
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 £64,679 (National).
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.

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 MHCLG 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 further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
Location

• Wolverhampton
• Darlington*
• Bristol

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.

• 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.
Sift and Interview dates
sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 21/07/2025 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 to be removed from the reserve list.
Security Clearance Requirements
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC).
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 MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG 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.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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.
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.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact

• Name : Nick Nash
• Email :

Recruitment team

• Email :

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