Energy Efficiency Enforcement Officer

Westminster City Council

Energy Efficiency Enforcement Officer

Reference: WCC617019

Salary range: £40,005 - £51,099 per annum
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: This job is available part-time, as a job-share, or full-time. This is because we want the best people for our roles and we recognise that sometimes those people aren’t available full-time. 
Contract type: Permanent 
Closing date: 7 July 2024
Contact details for Informal discussion: Matthew Willetts, Team Manager, via email: MWILLETTS@WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK

Apply link: Apply - Westminster City Council (environmentalhealthjobswestminster.co.uk)

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE POWER OF EMPOWERMENT

Environmental Health at Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where passionate and expert professionals go above and beyond for their communities every day. 

Natasha started her career in the NHS. She came to Westminster to do more for vulnerable people. When a family in her community reached out to her after their heating was cut off, Natasha took their situation seriously. Living in terrible conditions, and reaching desperation, they had nowhere else to turn. Natasha stepped in, holding the landlord to account and getting them to improve conditions for the family. These are the moments that make her the proudest. Now, she uses her expertise and experience to empower others.

The Role:

As a forward-thinking council, we have declared a climate emergency, with the aim of improving the environment for today’s communities and for the benefit of future generations. As an Energy Efficiency Officer within our Environmental Health Service, you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s residents by helping us reduce our carbon emissions. 

Working predominantly with rental properties in the private sector, you will play a vital role in this by ensuring Energy Efficiency improvements are being made in a vast array of properties, supporting work to alleviate fuel poverty. With your remit extending from Listed properties in Conservation Areas through to mixed tenure properties and pre-1900s stock, every day will present you with plenty of variety! Furthermore, we will provide you with the support you need to further your knowledge and career prospects, so there will be scope to work with development projects too. 

On a day-to-day basis, you will work with landlords, managing agents, residents and tenant groups to implement and enforce legislation and the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations. Raising awareness of the need to meet these expectations, you will be a trusted advisor to a wide variety of stakeholder groups, ensuring a fair outcome for all. Whether visiting properties to conduct inspections, advising residents of their rights or working with landlords to ensure they understand the steps that need to be taken – and then taking appropriate enforcement actions if the relevant measures aren’t put in place – this is deeply interesting work that will enable you to improve our residents’ quality of life, and the environment. 

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

We are looking for a versatile team-player who has the organisation skills to manage your own workload, combined with the willingness to support colleagues from other teams and departments such as Building Safety (High Rise/Cladding) and Empty Properties. With the flexibility to occasionally work outside normal hours (such as when you are meeting residents) you will have great relationship-building and communication skills, including the capacity to write reports and prepare legal documents. 

From a practical point of view, you will ideally have a relevant qualification in relation to Energy Efficiency in buildings, and you will have a background in inspecting private sector properties, including assessing cold homes. An HHSRS Certificate of Competence and an understanding of property energy ratings and EPC certification will be essential. With a good knowledge of the relevant legislation and enforcement actions (including serving legal notices, issuing civil penalties and pursuing prosecutions where relevant), we will expect you to know how to prepare schedules of works for property owners, with the ability to explain the need for them to meet these standards.  

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.   

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties  

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.  

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible. 

Closing date: 7 July 2024

Contact details for Informal discussion: Matthew Willetts, Team Manager, via email: MWILLETTS@WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK