Head of Neighbourhoods & Community Safety

Head of Housing & Community Safety

Role Summary

As the Head of Neighbourhoods & Community Safety, you will oversee, manage and be responsible for all aspects of these service areas within Town & Country Housing. You will have extensive and demonstrable experience of neighbourhood management (including contract management) and delivering a responsive Community Safety service to residents. This role will be based across our offices in Tunbridge Wells, Epsom and Canterbury.

Purpose:

• To coordinate and ensure the delivery of high quality Neighbourhood & Community Safety services in Kent, Sussex and Surrey

• Lead teams to deliver and promote excellence at all times whilst improving performance and resident satisfaction.

• Work positively with colleagues across the organisation and external stakeholders to deliver both group and organisational strategies and initiatives.

Salary: £69,546

Probation Period: £6 months

Hours of work: 35

Notice Period: 1 month

Contract: Permanent

Who are we?

Town and Country Housing are a housing association that covers Kent and Sussex, with our Head office in Tunbridge Wells. We provide more than 10,000 homes in 15 local authority areas and became a subsidiary of the Peabody Group in 2019. We currently have over 300 employees based at various locations across Kent and promote hybrid working.

Why Choose Us?

• Contributory pension scheme 4% to 10% matched contributions
• Hybrid working
• Free onsite car parking
• Life assurance of 4x annual salary (Terms and Conditions apply)
• 30 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays
• Two volunteer days per year
• Employee assistance programme (24/7 telephone advice, information portal & face to face counselling sessions)
• Corporate eye care scheme providing free eye tests and free VDU glasses or contribution towards VDU glasses
• Extensive annual Staff Wellbeing programme
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave provision
• Flexible annual benefits allowance of 1% of salary (for dental, healthcare, shopping vouchers, technology etc.)
• Annual flu vaccinations
• Access to an extensive range of corporate discounts on shopping, travel & days out
• Social events, including lunchtime walking, rounders, festive Fridays
• Travel loan

What will you be doing?

Role Specific Responsibilities

• Provide support and advice to the Assistant Director – Operations and the Operations Director as required.

• To lead, motivate and empower colleagues in the Neighbourhoods and Community Safety teams to deliver both organisational and personal goals.

• Ensure that effective strategies and arrangements for delivering these services are in place whilst also responding to changes in local, regional and government policy to ensure compliance with all statutory and corporate requirements and policies.

• Develop a clear performance management framework that encourages continuous improvement and manage this to achieve high performance at all times.

• To set both team and personal targets to ensure organisational KPI’s and LPI’s are met and to stretch and develop colleagues.

• Develop an organisational culture which is positive, forward looking and responsive to change. In addition, this must be both performance driven and customer focused with colleagues being valued and encouraged to innovate.

• To be responsible for overall budget management for Neighbourhood and Community Safety services. Analyse and advise on the impact of delivering services within the budget envelope. Produce periodic budget monitoring information by reviewing management accounts monthly and highlighting significant trends for further evaluation.

• To oversee all estate services contracts to ensure contract specification is met or exceeded at all times, and manage poor performance in line with the terms of the contracts.

• To ensure that all areas of Community Safety performance meet or exceed KPI’s, service standards, and policy commitments at all times.

• Analyse data from a range of sources to shape service improvements and improve resident satisfaction.

• Work strategically with project groups and other senior managers to develop appropriate plans that anticipate and respond to organisational changes, and ensure that the current and future business needs are reflected in policies and procedures.

• Build safe and sustainable communities to enhance the quality of life and opportunity for residents.

General

• To adhere to the equal opportunities policy and to actively promote equality of opportunity wherever possible.

• Recognise, respect and promote the different roles and diversity of the individuals within the business.

• To actively contribute towards key performance indicators and professional standards.

• Work in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Data Protection Law and be responsible for the integrity of personal information you process. This may include identifying anomalies in data and investigating and correcting them where appropriate. Ensure you attend training on data protection regularly.

• To be responsible for your own health and safety and that of your colleagues, in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and relevant EC directives.

• To take responsibility for your own development and professionalism, ensuring that you keep up to date with new developments and continuously expand and build on your knowledge.

• Attend and actively participate in training and other meetings and staff events as required.

• Be an effective member of your team, presenting a positive impression of your section and the business.

• This job description is a guide to the nature of the work required. It is not comprehensive and it is expected that other duties will be undertaken as this role develops and as may be reasonably expected.

• Take responsibility for recognising and recording customer complaints however they are made and ensure that any complaints allocated to you are responded to within policy requirements.

• Maintain professional curiosity in all interactions with residents, be aware of, report and record any potential safeguarding issues promptly and appropriately.

• Maintain awareness of budget requirements and value for money in the course of your role.

• Consider resident feedback and the resident voice in all service delivery, using data and insight to actively engage with residents to understand their needs, views and priorities and tailor services accordingly.

• This role may require the individual to travel to various sites across our housing stock and it is expected that an individual in this role has a full driving licence and access to a car with relevant insurance.

About You

Education & Qualifications

• Relevant professional qualification to the equivalent of a degree or equivalent level of experience.

Key Skills & Competencies

• Proven leadership skills at a senior level and an ability to persuade, motivate and support senior managers and to take forward change and integration.

• Substantial experience of developing cross-sector partnerships and working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders and multi-agency services both as a contributor and in a leadership role.

• Proven organisational and planning skills; be able to manage conflicting priorities and deliver to tight deadlines and under pressure.

• Experience of having led the successful translation of strategy into operational reality.

• Must be able to analyse and make sense of complex information.

• Demonstrable achievements in improving services for customers, motivating others to deliver excellent services.

• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain effective external networks.

• In depth knowledge of housing policy and good practice in the sector.

• Commitment to equal opportunities and customer engagement.

• Knowledge of national and local strategic priorities within Kent, Sussex and Surrey.

• To put the resident first at all times, strive to deliver service excellence and look to continually improve our neighbourhood and Community Safety offer to residents

Behaviours

• To work independently or as a team player in a team environment.

• Ability to understand and translate strategic priorities into operational models of service delivery.

• Strong communication and influencing skills, both verbally and in writing for a range of audiences.

• Personal commitment to a culture that emphasises continuous improvement through staff development and personal growth.

• Be open to new ways of thinking in terms of service delivery and problem solving

Equal Opportunities Statement

TCH is an equal opportunities employer committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity or paternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, or caring responsibilities.

We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join TCH.

We are recognised as a ‘Disability Confident Committed Employer’. As part of this commitment, individuals who disclose at application stage that they have a disability, will be invited to interview provided they demonstrate that they meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy. Candidates will be asked if they require any support or reasonable adjustments to enable them to fully participate in the recruitment process.

Applications

Please complete our online application form by clicking the Apply button below. We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward, so we strongly encourage early applications.

Applications close: Monday 29th January

Interviews on: Thursday 8th February.