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This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned.

Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.

Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.

Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.

We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.

Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.

As the Head of Affordable Housing Delivery, you will provide the opportunity to deliver new homes on Council owned land and this role will support your professional development and provide a clear focus on the council’s future housing strategy and working with different stakeholders to make this come alive and be delivered. The role is an excellent stepping stone in your career to an assistant director or director role.

You will be accountable for the effective delivery of new homes and be supported to achieve this by working with colleagues across the Place directorate and other council teams. The role will be working with a management team in the Place directorate that is leading the transformation of this essential service.

As the Head of Service, you will have two main areas of focus:

• A corporate leadership focus, working as part of a wider organisational network that supports the council’s ongoing transformation.
• A functional focus, with leadership responsibility for services, resources and people.

The role will:

• Design the future plans of the Council’s Housing Service. Participate in the development of our 30 year housing business plan, ensuring that it reflects the aims and aspirations of both Members and tenants and that it is sustainable over the long term.
• Our housing service generates income of approximately £35m per year and currently has a capital investment programme plans for improvement of homes totalling £15m.

The role reports directly to the Assistant Director of Homes and will be part of a housing management team with responsibility for delivering the whole range of housing services to tenants and leaseholders. For this role, you will need to come into the office once a week but can work remotely for the remainder of the week.

If you join Kingston Council as one of our Housing Heads of Service you will play a key role in achieving our ambitions.

The Council is focused on progressing its thinking to deliver the best possible outcomes for its communities. To do this the Council needs officers who thrive in a networked organisation and who can work corporately, across complex networks and systems and provide strong operational leadership within a strategic context.

Kingston is a successful place because throughout its history it has adapted and changed. It has built on its past by embracing the future. The Council wants to continue that journey and has identified the outcomes it wants to strive for with its communities in the new Corporate Plan 2019 - 2023.

• A sustainable approach to new homes, development and infrastructure which benefits our communities in a well maintained borough.
• A safe borough which celebrates our diverse and vibrant communities, with local priorities shaped through participatory democracy.
• Healthy independant and resilient residents, with support for those who need it most.

Corporate Plan 2019 - 2023 - https://www.kingston.gov.uk/downloads/file/3020/kingston_councils_corporate_plan_2019-23

In order to successfully deliver the responsibilities of the role, you will need to:

• Have a degree or equivalent professional qualification, preferably in a relevant discipline
• Have exceptional leadership skills, modelling a strong performance culture and constructively building achievement, confidence and skills in others
• Have significant experience and a proven track record of achievement in leading and managing Housing-focused services and activities
• Display commercial confidence and the financial management skills to bring about demonstrable improvements in efficiency, value for money and income generation
• Be politically astute and able to build high levels of credibility and impact quickly, working within networks to delivering through and with others
• Demonstrate commitment to own personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the role
• Demonstrate a high level of innovation and creativity.
• Demonstrable experience and a proven track record in the following;

For more in depth information about the role, please refer to the Job Description at the bottom of the page.

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year
• Flexible working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, tolerant and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

We are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident employer, and are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.