Commercial Licening Officer in London

Community Safety and Resilience Service covers several key frontline and strategic areas for the Council, including improving public safety, delivering frontline statutory enforcement services, community safety functions and assurance of safe housing in the private rented sector. Vital to this is compliance to public protection and environmental matters across the Borough.

As a Commercial Licensing Officer, you will carry out licensing functions to enable the Council to meet its statutory obligations, in respect of licensing act, gambling act, markets and street trading and other commercial licensing including inspection, enforcement, education and advice. You will have effective leadership, interpersonal and communication skills. The Council expects its leaders to show openness, honesty and commitment, and, of course, to deliver results. This post will be expected to work collaboratively across Community Safety & Resilience to deliver the outcomes placed upon the division, ensuring flexibility of approach and a "can do" attitude.

Job Purpose

To play a key role in the design and operational delivery of a wide range of Licensing focused initiatives; which deliver positive community safety outcomes on behalf of the citizens, stakeholders and partner organisations and implement and enforce appropriate legislation in order to establish and maintain a fair and safe trading environment. Post-holders will be required to respond to service requests, carry out routine inspections and conduct detailed investigations in order to address breaches of the relevant legislative framework and contribute towards the effective delivery of the Council’s Licensing policy.

Responsibilities

• To play a key role in the design and operational delivery of a wide range of Licensing focused initiatives; which deliver positive community safety outcomes on behalf of the citizens, stakeholders and partner organisations.
• To carry out a broad range of duties in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 and associated and other applicable legislation/statutory guidance, delivering a best practice based approach which contributes towards the relevant service targets and policy aspirations.
• To act as an authorised officer for specified legislation and undertake inspections, visits and regulatory activity to ensure compliance with all relevant Licensing, gambling and consumer protection related legislation.
• To investigate licensing and gambling related complaints and deliver proactive and preventative activity designed to improve levels of statutory compliance within the borough.
• To manage a caseload of licensing compliance related matters and liaise extensively with the relevant Responsible Authorities, Licensees, Legal Professionals and other Community Safety colleagues (and others as applicable) to deliver effective outcomes which align with the relevant policies, procedures and Community Safety service plans.
• To produce licence review documents/representations, give evidence to the Licensing Sub Committee and local Magistrates courts and promote the licensing objectives in line with the Council licensing policy.
• To provide advice and information to the public, local businesses, Members, other Council Officers, and external public bodies or officials with regard to all activities carried out by the Licensing Service.
• To be responsible for the assessment of the technical suitability of premises where appropriate in respect of a range of activities to ensure compliance with relevant legislation, rules of management, codes of practice and guidance.
• To assess representations received under the Licensing Act 2003, Gambling Act 2005, London Local Authorities Act 1990 and the Highways Act 1980 to ensure they are relevant.
• To assist with mediation in suitable cases.
• This will be a large part of the daily workload and includes meetings, examination and evaluation of plans, preparation and authorisation of letters, licences and Committee reports, identification of contraventions, enforcement reports, statements and the maintenance of records.
• To respond to enquiries and provide advice on licensing matters to the public, Councillors, Members of Parliament and others.
• Attend and provide advice to Committee meetings.
• The postholder will at all times carry out the duties of the post with due regard to the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy.
• The postholder may be required to meet the needs of the council during times of civil emergency.
• Work flexibly in undertaking the duties and responsibilities of the post as directed by the Commercial Licensing Manager, the post holder will also be required to work outside of normal hours, including attending evening meetings, evening operations, visits and inspections and regular weekend and evening working.
• Take responsibility, relevant to the post, for ensuring that Council statutes and government legislation are upheld.
• This includes, amongst others; Management Compliance Charter, Environmental Policy, Data Protection Act, Race Equality Action Plan, Quality Assurance Plan, Health & Safety, Sustainable Construction and Recycling.
• Carry out the duties of the post in accordance with the Data Protection Act, the Computer Misuse Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act, and other relevant legislation, as well as Council policies, procedures, standing orders and financial regulations.
• Take responsibility appropriate to the post for tackling racism and promoting good race, ethnic and community relations.
• The post holder is required to hold an enhanced DBS certification from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

This is a career graded post. The post holder will be required to demonstrate through the appraisal process and/or testing, the additional skills gained through training and experience and will be expected to take on work of increasing complexity and to work with a decreasing level of supervision. Progression will depend on meeting the relevant requirements and the grade being available funded to allow.

Personal Attributes

• To undertake any other duties as may be required relevant to the job role and purpose.
• Personal credibility to provide professional and supportive leadership to a large team.
• Consistently takes accountability for own actions and holds others to account.
• Has the highest levels of personal and professional integrity and can gain the respect and confidence of colleagues, Senior management, the community, other stakeholders and staff.
• Uses personal credibility to foster engagement with staff to enable their contribution to service development, improvement and to ensure the directorate achieves strong levels of performance.
• To actively promote and uphold the Council’s Code of Conduct, Priorities and customer service standards.
• To take responsibility, appropriate to the post for tackling racism and promoting good race, ethnic and community relations.
• To ensure that the Council’s policies and procedures in relation to Equality of Opportunity are always implemented in the discharge of the duties of the post.
• To ensure that the diversity of staff and service users is respected and ensure that the services provided by the unit reflect the needs of all sections of the community, including different faith groups.
• Has a collaborative approach to developing solutions and improving services.
• Committed to own personal development and that of the workforce.

Person Specification Criteria

• Qualification: at least 2 Advanced level qualifications, and Maths and English at GCSE.
• Professional and nationally recognised qualification in one or more of the disciplines.
• Holds a full UK driving licence.
• Evidence of ability to attend events and meetings outside normal working hours, including early morning inspections under warrant (raids) and contribute to the Council’s response to civil emergencies.

Key Knowledge

• Specialist knowledge of licensing related legislation and associated best practice, statutory guidance and procedures; and membership of the Institute of Licensing.
• Direct knowledge of the application of legislation, policy and practice within one or more of the disciplines including environmental health and public health disciplines.
• Evidence of understanding and significant professional knowledge of licensing legislation including assessing licence applications and giving advice and guidance on licensing matters.
• Understanding of the political context of environmental health and regulatory enforcement of local government.
• Knowledge and understanding of standard Microsoft Office software (or equivalent) and database systems.

Experience

• Experience of working in any of the disciplines, or closely related disciplines.
• Experience of working with a range of stakeholders from public, private and third sector organisations.
• Direct evidence of relevant and substantial experience in one, two or more disciplines and managing a complex caseload.
• Direct evidence of undertaking licensing enforcement and interventions of commercial premises.
• Ability to work efficiently and effectively in a demanding and pressurised environment independently and as part of a team.
• Evidence of at least 1 year’s experience in the delivery of a similar Licensing or regulatory role within a public sector organisation.
• Experience of working creatively with internal and external agencies to develop innovative solutions to complex problems.

Core Values and Behaviours

• Equity: Listen to the views of others and ask for their opinions making sure that everyone in my team inputs into the things that matter. Ensure fairness and justice is at the heart of my decision making and support to my team and others. Take time to build trust, building the respect of our stakeholders and ensuring as a team we take accountability for doing what we agree to do. Develop others and ensure we work as one team for Lambeth, encouraging everyone to play their part. Take positive action to ensure everyone in my team has opportunities to learn and grow at work. Encourage everyone to be themselves at work and value who they are. Be inclusive and actively celebrate diversity, recognising everyone in my team as individuals.
• Kindness: Treat each member of my team with respect and dignity just as I would want for myself. Encourage each member of my team to do their very best work and am available to them to provide support and guidance. Personalise my support to each team members and look out for them, lending a hand wherever I can. Encourage everyone to try and learn from mistakes and use integrity to take action with my team to put things right together. Work with empathy seeking to understand each and every member of team, their unique perspective and circumstances and ensure everyone is heard. Take the time to communicate, being honest, open and genuine and taking the time to get to know team members as individuals. Show compassion and patience recognising that everyone in the team has unique experience and celebrating the great work they do for Lambeth. Look after the health and wellbeing of my team members and encourage open and regular discussions about the issues that impact on them, working together to find solutions.
• Accountability: Encourage and support my team to do the right thing even when it’s tough and we communicate our decisions in a timely way. Ensure my team and employees take individual and collective accountability for performance and delivery, making sure that they have clear plans and performance objectives. Ensure my team plan ahead, getting the basics right and take swift action when problems arise. Encourage my team to be risk aware and ensuring that our decisions and actions are informed and understood and communicated to others. Provide regular, timely and constructive feedback to my team members on their performance and behaviours and act quickly when performance is not on track. Share my learning, knowledge and skills with others thorough coaching and mentoring and encourage others to do the same. Ensure that my team and I put residents, communities, customers and their needs at the centre of everything we do. Encourage my team to learn and grow and ask questions to find the information they need to do their jobs.