Employer  Kingston Council

Location(s)  Kingston, Sutton

Contract Type  Permanent

Working Hours  Full Time

Grade  H/I

Hour Per Week  36

Salary Range  £34,809 - £44,628

Salary Basis  Per annum

Leave Entitlement  29 days

Application Deadline  20/08/2022, 23:55

Anticipated Interview Date(s)  Week commencing 5th September 2022

About the Borough  

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 marketplace 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.

About the Role  

We are recruiting a Senior Officer to our Licensing team. You will help maintain the safety of our community by undertaking a varied caseload consisting of licensing, public safety and health and safety regimes. The role encompasses a wide range of functions covering national and London specific regimes, administering licences and enforcing related legislation. You will take an active role in the borough’s general safety advisory groups and work alongside the lead officer in providing regulatory advice and guidance in relation to the borough’s sports stadia. This role provides an opportunity to further develop your mentoring and supervisory skills with some day-to-day supervision of officers within the team and deputising for the Lead Officer where required.  

We are seeking a committed and enthusiastic individual to join our licensing team working across our two boroughs. The team is responsible for a variety of public safety, health and safety and licensing regimes in connection with Alcohol and Entertainment, Gambling, Special Treatments, Street Trading, Animal Activities, Event and Sports Ground Safety. 

The role includes:

• Processing licence applications and associated paperwork through to issuing the various types of licences and permits.
• Carrying out on-site inspections to ensure compliance with conditions and legal requirements, including outside of office hours.
• Responding to and investigating complaints from residents and businesses.
• Preparing reports and appearing at Licensing Sub-Committees where contested applications are determined by a hearing.
• Being a mentor and providing support to members of the team.
• Taking a lead role in public safety, particularly in respect of events and sports ground safety, supporting the boroughs Safety Advisory Groups.
• Raising representations to licence and event applications, preparing and leading on formal action and the bringing of reviews and legal proceedings.

About Us  

Maintaining a healthy and safe environment is a key priority for both Councils and the Licensing Team works to make the Boroughs safer and do our part to regulate and support our business communities to grow in challenging times.

A small team of specialist officers, the Licensing Team has a wide-ranging remit to regulate various licensing and public safety regimes. The team works closely together and with internal and external partners to provide a high quality and responsive service. 

The work of the team is varied, and this role provides an opportunity for an experienced individual to support the management team to meet the demands of the service. Collaborating with colleagues, partners and stakeholders is a key part of the work, and you will be expected to manage a caseload and ensure key service targets and deadlines are met. 

Regulatory Services offers surroundings in which you will be supported to achieve your professional goals and the role provides an opportunity to further develop your skills and shape how the team delivers its statutory requirements. With offices in both Kingston and Sutton town centres, and modern remote working technology, the service works agiley, with occasional evening and weekend work giving scope for a healthy work life balance. 

About You  

You will be enthusiastic, committed, self-motivated and have a positive attitude. You must be a confident communicator with excellent time management skills and be comfortable dealing with members of the public, elected councillors and other enforcement agencies. You must be able to demonstrate your ability to adapt to changing properties and work accurately and diligently to tight deadlines. Supervisory experience in a current or previous role is highly desirable. 

A full driving licence and access to a vehicle is desirable.  We have bases in both Kingston and Sutton. Both Councils are currently reviewing future use of workspace and have adopted agile working practices as part of their programmes. 

You will:

• Be educated to degree level or have a relevant professional qualification or extensive experience in licensing and public safety, or closely related field;
• Have a minimum of two years experience in a licensing and/or public safety enforcement role; 
• Have practical experience of enforcement of licensing and health & safety legislation; 
• Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills and be proficient with ICT;
• Have experience in dealing with members of the public in a regulatory capacity, and be able to demonstrate good interpersonal and customer care skills
• Show good organisation skills, an ability to work under pressure and prioritise a heavy workload.

Our Offer To You  

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 and agile 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

Application Process  

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. 

Additional Information  

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.

Job Profile  

Senior Licensing Officer Role Profile.pdf – 86KB 

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