Job Description

Details

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Reference number

418076

Salary

54,531
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Grade 7

Contract type

Fixed term

Loan

Length of employment

FTA or Loan until end of March 2027

Business area

(Group: Corporate Group) [Directorate: People, Capability and Change]

Type of role

Human Resources

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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Bristol, Darlington, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Wolverhampton

About the job

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Job summary

Are you an experienced HR professional who thrives on driving outcomes through inclusive and empowering leadership?


Do you excel at communicating clearly and managing projects with precision and impact?



If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a HR service lead to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!


As the HR Service Lead, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the future of MHCLG HR service design in readiness for the move to Unity Government Shared Services in 2027. You will work closely with stakeholders across Unity and MHCLG corporate function to ensure the new service model meets MHCLG's operational and strategic needs. This role requires a strong understanding of HR service delivery, digital platforms, and change management.


MHCLG is a small policy department and this role offers a unique opportunity to transform our HR service - working with autonomy and creativity to deliver. Our ambition is to make it easier for colleagues to spend more time on work that makes a difference. To be successful in this role, you will be proactive, curious and solutions focused - passionately championing corporate transformation. We are looking for someone with a transformative mindset who is a self-starter and comfortable navigating ambiguity. The successful candidate will be required to work flexibly across the HR workstream - proactively spotting emerging issues and working to collaboratively resolve.

Job description

As the HR service lead your responsibilities will include:

Unity HR Service Design:

Lead the overall MHCLG HR service design for the Unity transition, ensuring alignment with departmental requirements and strategic objectives.

Stakeholder Collaboration:

Engage with key stakeholders across MHCLG to design a fit for purpose HR operations model.

Operational Model Development:

Review and confirm the HR operations target operating model, ensuring it reflects MHCLG's needs and future ambitions.

Service Integration:

Lead the design and integration of the end-to-end service - factoring in the handoffs between the future retained HR function, the intelligent client function, and the Unity Business Service, ensuring seamless service delivery.

Impact Analysis:

Own and deliver impact assessments on MHCLG's HR services, identifying risks, dependencies, and opportunities for improvement.

Subject Matter Expertise (SME):

Act as the SME for Employee Central self-service transactions, providing input and feedback to the Unity programme to ensure effective adoption and usage.

Case Management:

Influence and shape the approach to HR case management in collaboration with the Head of the HR Service Centre.

Activity Mapping:

Own and lead activity mapping exercises to inform the overall service design and ensure accurate transition planning.

Digital Transition:

Oversee migration activities to ServiceNow, working closely with the HR Digital Product Manager to support a smooth transition ahead of Unity cutover.

Person specification

Essential Skills and Experience:

Experienced HR professional with an outcome-focused and inclusive leadership style. Driven, with strong judgement, a hands-on attitude and flexible but strategic approach. Strong team player, adaptable and flexible, adjusting to the requirements and priorities of the team and wider HR function as required. Strong experience of transformation of HR services. Ability to build strong and trusted internal working relationships across an organisation to deliver required result. Analytical mindset with the ability to conduct impact assessments and activity mapping. Excellent communication and project management skills. Comfortable managing complex projects and handling ambiguity.

Desirable:


Knowledge of HR systems, particularly SAP Success Factors and ServiceNow.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:


Leadership Communicating and Influencing Changing and Improving

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 54,531, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes 15,797 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%.

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.


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: In your CV and covering letter, please outline how you meet the essential skills and experience required and why you are interested in the role.


Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page.

We do not consider direct CV applications - you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following Success Profiles:

Behaviour

:

Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Changing and Improving.

Experience:

Candidates will be asked to prepare a short presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Strengths:

The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

In the full campaign we will test the following Success Profiles:

Experience Strength Behaviours

Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.

Grade 7 salary

The salary for this role is 59,946 (London) or 54,531 (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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.


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

Location

Bristol Darlington
Liverpool London Manchester Wolverhampton

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.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 11th August 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 recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.


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.

Security Clearance Requirements

CTC (Counter Terrorism Check)

All MHCLG colleagues must meet the Baseline Personnel Security Standard. This is a series of basic security checks to confirm identity and employment history. In addition to the BPSS, successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. CTC security checks 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).


Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.

Fixed Term Details

External candidates:

you will be offered a fixed term appointment until end of March 2027.

Existing civil servants

: you will be offered a loan opportunity until end of March 2027. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your parent department to take up a loan appointment should you be successful.

MHCLG employees:

you will retain your existing contract.

Before starting your application it's very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules

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 .



See our vetting charter .
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) 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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 .
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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
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Contact point for applicants

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Job contact :

Name : Jennifer Cowing Email : Jennifer.Cowing@communities.gov.uk
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Recruitment team

* Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk