Specialist Level 1 (Licensing)

Permanent, Full-time (37 hours per week)

Flexi-time scheme, Local Government Pension Scheme

Salary Scale H (£27,741 - £30,451)

Are you motivated to work for an ambitious Organisation, here to empower and inspire our communities to thrive?

Here’s some information about us

We are here to empower and inspire our communities to thrive.  Every staff member plays a part in our success and achievement through challenging what we do, how we do it and how we can do it better. Ideas are continuously encouraged, new ways of working are trialled and we apply learning through experience. Through our ‘one team’ approach, we work in an agile way to empower our staff to be able to make decisions that place our customers at the heart of what we do.

We are delivering our innovative and forward thinking Customer Connect Programme which is transforming the way we deliver services by maximising digital technology and putting customers at the heart of everything we do. The programme is improving services, enabling valued customers to do business with us in a simpler way. Our new operating model will see traditional roles working very differently. Continued development of our people is central to our success.

We are proud of South Lakeland District and we serve communities across a rural area that includes two national parks, with the majority of the stunning Lake District National Park in our district, as well as western parts of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. With friendly communities, low crime rate, cultural attractions and excellent motorway and West Coast Mainline links to the North West, South Lakeland rightly promotes itself as the ‘best place to live, work and explore.’

We Are South Lakeland.

Some details about the role

As a Licensing Specialist, you will work as part of our licensing service which issues and regulates licenses which we are responsible for as a local authority. You will be an authorised officer of the Council covering our regulatory responsibilities, this will include but is not limited to, licensed premises, hackney carriage & private hire and animal welfare licences. This will involve working with our Case Management Officers and having oversight of the processing of initial registration and licence applications, as well investigating complaints and taking enforcement action.

You, as the successful candidate, will be expected to provide advice to a wide array of audiences including Members, applicants, senior managers and other responsible authorities. You will also assist in the development of policies relating to licensing, and you will attend Licensing Hearings and give evidence at Court as required.

What we are looking for in you

The successful candidate should have:

• Up-to-date working knowledge of local authority licensing and registration functions, including hackney carriages and private hire, the Licensing Act 2003, Gambling Act 2005, and Animal Welfare Regulations 2018. This should be sufficient to provide technical advice on licensing enquiries to customers, colleagues, Councillors, and external organisations.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills, as you will be required to interpret, implement, and make effective use of Licensing legislation, guidance and technical information and be able to deal with complaints regarding all activities.
• Experience of licensing enforcement as you will be required to enforce the relevant local authority licensing legislation, liaising with the Police, Environmental Health, Fire Service and other responsible authorities as appropriate.
• Experience of gathering evidence for formal proceedings (prosecutions & formal cautions) in respect of breaches of licensing legislation.
• Experience in the preparation of reports, statutory notices and correspondence and be able to present these at Licensing Hearings and in court as required.
• Some experience of developing and implementing local authority licensing policy.
• A proactive approach in seeking out new opportunities to work with both partner agencies and local businesses to build on the successful work already undertaken by the team.

As a minimum you will be educated to A Level Standard/NVQ 3 (or equivalent), or have relevant experience of working in licensing. You will have good IT skills and preferably have experience of using specialist software such as Civica APP.

What we offer

• Being part of an innovative, forward thinking, supportive and solutions focused team
• Smart working – Working in a ways that gets the best outcomes
• Generous Annual Leave Entitlement (23 days holiday per annum + Bank Holidays (raising to 28 days after 5 years service))
• Flexi time – being able to accrue up to 13 additional flexi days + 5 additional banked flexi days per annum
• An attractive pension scheme

Equality of opportunity

We are fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want this to be reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us and we welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and identities including from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as these groups are under-represented at SLDC, particularly at senior level. As part of our commitment to employing disabled people, all disabled candidates who meet the minimum requirement for vacancies will be guaranteed an interview.

Would you like to join us, share and develop the experience and above all, make a difference…?

For further information including the Role Profile and details of how to apply, please visit us at https://www.southlakeland.gov.uk/your-council/job-vacancies/ We are unable to accept CVs alone for job vacancies, however, they can be attached to the application form.

To accompany your application, please upload a CV summarising your employment history, qualifications and relevant experience. Please note, we are unable to accept CVs alone for job vacancies.

Candidates that are shortlisted for interview will be informed by email.

Closing date for application: Sunday 06 March 2022

Interviews will be held:  Week Commencing Monday 14 March 2022