We are seeking a dynamic and experienced individual to lead our Housing Allocations and Quality team, ensuring the transparent, fair, and lawful allocation of housing within the Council’s framework. This is a senior leadership role that requires strategic oversight, team development, and the ability to implement high-level policies and frameworks for housing solutions.
This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore subject to an enhanced DBS certificate. It is also a regulated activity and will be subject to a Children and Adults Barred List check.
West Northamptonshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Our benefitsWe offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:
- Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.
- Cycle to Work scheme.
- Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.
- Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
- Car Lease scheme
- Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.
- Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
- Ongoing training and development opportunities.
- A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).
- Our West Ways of Working – We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.
- Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.
What will you be doing?As the Housing Allocations and Quality Manager, you will be responsible for leading and empowering a dedicated team, ensuring the effective administration of the Council’s housing register.
You will ensure that recruitment decisions, team management, and day-to-day operations align with our organisational directives and legal requirements. Encompassing both operational management and high-level decision-making to ensure the transparent allocation of council housing and nominations to registered providers.
You will oversee the implementation of statutory reviews under Parts 6 and 7 of the Housing Act 1996, ensuring decisions are compliant with up-to-date legislation, case law, and policy. This includes working within statutory timeframes and ensuring the integrity of decisions. Additionally, you will develop and implement the Housing Solutions Quality Framework, ensuring that freedom of information requests, complaint investigations, and reviews are handled with a problem-solving approach, aiming to resolve issues at the earliest point of contact and prevent escalation.
In this role, you will also manage a holistic housing solutions triage function that addresses all aspects of housing need, including homelessness and access to the housing register.
Regular policy reviews will also be a key responsibility, ensuring that the team’s work complies with current legislation and incorporates best practices. You will ensure consistency in the implementation of new policies across the service and reflect lessons learned from service inquiries and complaints.
You will proactively strengthen partnerships with other Council departments, external statutory bodies, and voluntary organizations to address housing needs. Working closely with software providers and internal IT teams to maintain and enhance the Council’s housing allocations system, ensuring data is handled accurately and in compliance with GDPR and other regulations.
Finally, you will be responsible for planning, controlling, and monitoring budgets related to the housing allocations system and team management. This includes overseeing a budget of approximately £100-200k for choice-based lettings, managing a team budget of around £650k, and working with the Head of Housing Solutions to manage the multi-year grant funding for the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which currently totals £2.3 million over three years.
About youYou will possess excellent leadership, negotiation, and influencing skills to effectively collaborate with partners, third parties with vested interests, and senior management across the organisation. This includes the ability to develop, support, empower, and motivate a team to perform at a high level, ensuring they achieve the goals outlined in council strategies and service plans.
You will have an advanced and authoritative knowledge of legislation, policies, procedures, and practices related to homelessness, housing allocations, landlord-tenant law, immigration, welfare rights, and relevant case law.
Additionally, your extensive understanding of local, regional, and national policies surrounding allocations, nominations, housing needs, and homelessness will be essential. Finally, you will demonstrate a deep knowledge of the dynamics and complexities of the public sector, particularly within local government, and how these factors impact service provision, staff, and key stakeholder relationships.
About usAt West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.
Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.
Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU
We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner
The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.
If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.
West Northants Council, where careers thrive.
