HEAD OF COMPLIANCE & ASSURANCE

Hays Exclusive | Head of Compliance & Assurance | Permanent | London Borough- Up to £74k+ DOE


Your new organisation

Waltham Forest, in north-east London, is one of the greenest boroughs north of the River Thames. It's made up of three neighbourhoods: Chingford in the north, Walthamstow in the centre and Leyton and Leytonstone in the south. Bursting with culture, innovation, energy and opportunity, Waltham Forest is a place people want to live, raise a family, start a business and work. We are an ambitious council currently working on projects with the Young Foundation and Marmot - Institute Of Health Inequality for example, and a successful council winning the Municipal Journal local authority of the year in 2019, and recently the 2022 MJ award for Leadership in Climate Emergency, . We have bold plans to improve our housing service delivery. Since the comprehensive redesign of Housing Services in February 2021 we have three reconfigured service areas. These are Housing Assets, Housing Operations and Housing Strategy & Options. Our transformed Housing Assets service is seeking passionate and enthusiastic applicants for this post, which is key in making our ambitions a reality. Building Safety has always been a top priority for the Borough and over the next 10 years £40m will be invested in improving homes to make residents feel safe and secure.

Your new role

This exciting and challenging new role will lead a team focussed on ensuring Building Safety, Health and Safety and Compliance. You will be providing dynamic, strategic and operational health & safety leadership to ensure that the Councils Housing Stock is maintained according to Health, Safety, Fire and Building Safety legislation and guidance, whilst preparing for the implementation of pending Building Safety legislation. Reporting into the Divisional Director of Housing Assets, this post directly manages seven members of staff including Building Safety Managers and matrix manages health, building safety and compliance across the whole housing assets division. On a day-to-day basis this role will cover, but not limited to:

• Planning and ensuring service delivery across health & safety, fire, building safety and compliance
• Developing the Housing Service's health & safety management system
• Ensuring policies, procedures and risk assessments are reviewed and remain fit for purpose
• Being first point of contact for all health & safety matters throughout Housing
• Supporting the Housing Service to manage key risks: fire, gas, electrical, asbestos, water, lifts etc
• Proactively working with London Fire Brigade (LFB) to ensure fire safety management compliance
• Investigate near misses and accidents
• Reviewing maintenance contractors' compliance with CDM, duty holder and health & safety requirements

This role will involve travelling around the borough as well as an office presence and flexibility for home working.

What you'll need to succeed

In order to be successful in this post you will ideally hold the NEBOSH Diploma (or equivalent) and either be CMIOSH or on the road to chartership. You will need to possess extensive and up to date knowledge of Building and Fire Safety as well as general health & safety legislation. Candidates with experience working in a property / development / housing / social landlord organisation are preferred, but all candidates must be able to evidence their experience of health & safety management, auditing and report writing for board/committee level.

When looking for applicants we are keen to hear from all candidates who fit the role profile criteria, however the Council is particularly keen to encourage and improve diversity. This is because we recognise that what people bring through their personal experiences, background and identity significantly enhances to the Council's ability to deliver services to our residents. Therefore, applicants who are women and applicants from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds are encouraged.

The Council is also a Disability Confident employer where those candidates declaring a disability, meeting the minimum criteria for the role, will be shortlisted for interview. Details are available within the application process.


Equal opportunities

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy [https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/waltham-forest-council-policies-procedures-and-rules-which-apply-employment]

How to apply

This vacancy is being exclusively managed by Ben Styles, Prianka Sivanathan and Erin Hawnt from Hays Recruitment. If you need any further information regarding the post, please reach out to them on 0207 258 8724.

Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk