Decent Homes Standard guidance lead / Social housing energy efficiency lead

The Social Housing Quality and Residents division leads on work to improve the quality of social homes and landlord services, and to empower residents to have a strong voice and hold their landlord to account. The division sponsors the Housing Ombudsman Service and also manages a Resident Panel through which residents engage directly with officials and Ministers. We are recruiting two SEOs to deliver this work. The first position will be for the guidance lead of the Decent Homes Standard. The Decent Homes Standard is being updated to reflect modern expectations of the minimum standard of rented housing. We are looking for a high-performing, autonomous, and well-organised individual to oversee inputs into this publication. They will also be responsible for the policy development and drafting of specific elements. This will be a stretching role working on a ministerial priority that will materially impact both the lives of renters and the ability of landlords to deliver good quality homes.

The second position is for a Senior Policy Advisor focused on energy efficiency in the social rented sector. This is a rewarding role which will involve leading the development of guidance to support social housing providers make homes cheaper to heat, more comfortable and less susceptible to damp and mould. The Government has published new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), setting long term ambitions to make homes warmer and cheaper to heat with lower carbon emissions. This will form part of an updated Decent Homes Standard (DHS).

Social housing providers will only have a few years to bring more than a million homes up to the new standard and they urgently need advice about how to meet it, what government ambitions mean in practice, where homes will be exempt from parts of the standard and how it will be enforced. This will help landlords to begin work on improving their stock more quickly develop investment plans for the next decade. You will need to work quickly to develop a package in tandem with social housing providers and other housing stakeholders, working closely with DESNZ and other teams across MHCLG.

We are looking for individuals who can demonstrate strong policy, project management and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to deliver high-quality outcomes in a fast-paced and high-profile environment. This is a policy area that attracts ministerial interest and as such the post holder may need to respond to changing priorities.

Successful candidates will be organised, adaptable and collaborative, with the confidence to lead complex pieces of work and build effective relationships across a wide range of stakeholders.

Essential Criteria

• Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to coordinate and deliver complex work involving multiple stakeholders, priorities and competing deadlines.
• Experience of policy development and analysis, with the ability to interpret evidence, assess options and develop practical solutions to complex challenges.
• Strong leadership and influencing skills, including the ability to work independently and engage effectively with senior stakeholders, building productive relationships across organisational boundaries to deliver shared objectives.
• Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to synthesise detailed and sometimes conflicting information into clear, concise and compelling briefings, guidance and advice for a range of audiences.
• Strong strategic thinking skills, with the ability to understand how individual policy decisions interact with wider government priorities, objectives and delivery considerations.
• Knowledge of or experience working in housing policy, energy efficiency, or a related policy area.
• Experience of working with external stakeholders, regulators or delivery partners to support policy development and implementation.