The Housing Ombudsman
- Body
- The Housing Ombudsman (THO)
- Appointing Department
- Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
- Sectors
- Business, Finance & Skills, Charity & Public Sector, Communities, Judicial, Prison & Policing, Regulation
- Location
- London, with travel around England
- Skills required
- Audit and Risk, Business / Commercial, Change Management, Communication / Media / Marketing, Legal / Judicial, Regulation
- Number of Vacancies
- 1
- Remuneration
- Up to £120,000 per annum (depending on skills and experience).
- Time Requirements
- Full Time
Campaign Timeline
-
Competition Launched
10/01/2018
-
Closed for Applications
Midday on 05/02/2018
-
Panel Sift
16/02/2018
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Final Interview Date
15th & 19th March 2018
-
Select Commitee Hearing
Cancelled
-
Announcement
5 July 2018
Announcement
An announcement has been made on the outcome of this appointment.
No appointment was made as a result of this campaign.
Date: 05/07/2018
Assessment Panel
- Panel Member
- Sally Randall
- Added
- 10/01/2018
- Panel Role
- Panel Chair
- Positions
- MHCLG, Director Social Housing Departmental Official
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- Panel Member
- Mick King
- Added
- 10/01/2018
- Positions
- Local Government Ombudsman Independent Member
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- Panel Member
- Eleanor Cannell
- Added
- 10/01/2018
- Positions
- Deputy Director, Partnership and Delivery Unit, MHCLG Departmental Official
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Vacancy Description
The Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is seeking to appoint a proven senior leader as Housing Ombudsman.
The Housing Ombudsman has responsibility for investigating complaints against social landlords in accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. In 2015-16 there were 3.9 million households living in social housing. Housing is an important part of everyone’s lives and issues relating to our homes can have a huge emotional impact. The Housing Ombudsman plays an important role in ensuring the fair resolution of disputes, aiming to resolve problems quickly and efficiently.
Rented housing plays a vital role in the nation’s housing and we are keen to see that tenants experience good standards of service regardless of whether their landlord is a local authority, housing association or private landlord. The Housing White Paper Fixing our broken housing market makes clear the Government’s ambitions to make renting fairer for tenants and the Housing Ombudsman has a vital role to play in making this happen.
Further, following the Grenfell Tower Fire tragedy the importance of providing redress to social housing has been underlined. The Secretary of State announced in September 2017 that the Government will bring forward a Green Paper on Social Housing in England. This will be a wide ranging top-to-bottom review of social housing, and will consider the experience and views of people who live in social housing, and the issues to be addressed going forward which will be important for the Housing Ombudsman in their role to provide effective redress for social housing residents.
The successful candidate will demonstrate strong leadership skills, an ability to provide clear strategic direction at a senior level, have sound economic and political awareness, a commitment to encouraging and championing local collaboration and a proven ability to generate practical, workable solutions in a constrained financial environment and in an area of work central to the Government’s housing agenda.
Person Specification
The Housing Ombudsman is a prominent figure, often dealing with challenging and sensitive issues. As well as being a skilled arbitrator, they must be resilient and command public confidence and the respect of tenants, leaseholders and landlords. The successful candidate will have a clear understanding of the role of an ombudsman and a commitment to the highest level of conduct, integrity, objectivity and independence, combined with both mature and balanced judgement and strong intellectual ability. They will be committed to equality of opportunity and the purpose and values of the Housing Ombudsman Service. The successful candidate will be a person who is comfortable in a change culture, is adaptable and flexible, and who understands and recognises reputational risk. He/she will also be comfortable in an ambassadorial role; acting as a high profile advocate for independent complaints handling.
Candidates will be assessed against the following criteria:
Essential Criteria
- Evidence of strong strategic leadership skills with the ability to lead an organisation of a similar size and complexity of THO.
- The ability to deliver organisational change and a proven ability to deliver and work with a number of stakeholders.
- Evidence of delivering a quality service and ability to work with senior partners in the housing sector as well as across Government.
- An understanding of the decision-making process in government.
- A proven understanding of the housing sector.
- Ability to think creatively and solve problems in a high level, challenging environment.
- Excellent communication skills, including being able to deal effectively with the media.
Desirable Criteria
- A track record of ensuring effective governance in the management of organisations.
- Experience of working within the housing sector or other related service
- Experience of complex casework and/or complaint handling.
This is a full-time post and as this is a statutory office appointment you will not be an employee of the Crown or the Housing Ombudsman Service. The preferred candidate, selected by the Secretary of State, will be required to appear before a Parliamentary Select Committee as part of the appointment process.
How to Apply
All candidates are required to complete and submit the following:
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- A Curriculum Vitae which includes your education and professional qualifications and full employment history (no more than 3 pages).
- Covering letter explaining how you meet both the essential and desirable criteria for the role (no more than 3 pages) – please refer to the person specification section of this candidate pack. It is vital that you provide evidence through worked examples to demonstrate that you meet each required criteria.
- Annexes
Please note that the above information and completed forms are required for each application. We cannot accept information and forms submitted with previous applications because your circumstances may have changed in the meantime and some of this information will be specific to the post being applied for.
Your completed application should be returned to the MHCLG Public Appointments Team, preferably in Microsoft Word, by email to publicappointments@communities.gsi.gov.uk by Midday on Monday 5h February 2018. Please include the reference ‘Housing Ombudsman’ in the title of your email.
We would prefer electronic applications but will accept hard copies by post to the Public Appointments Team, Partnership & Delivery Unit, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 1st Floor NE, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.