Essex County Council has an ambitious Independent Living housing programme to provide new contemporary homes for older people. The Independent Living Programme has ambitions to achieve savings for adult social care. This role is part of an exciting team working across the County Council’s responsibilities for housing growth, adult social care services and homelessness and rough sleeping.

The Independent Living Programme Manager will lead and drive the successful development and occupancy of up to eleven new Independent Living Housing schemes across Essex, predominately for Older People but supporting other care groups, working in partnership with registered providers. The role will work with commissioners to develop an approach to supported living for Adults with Disabilities and Physical and Sensory Impairment in Essex.

Delivering the Independent Living Programme, building and maintaining great working relationships with internal and external partners and stakeholders. With significant experience and knowledge of supported housing operations, management, options and funding solutions for vulnerable people, the role will deliver the pipeline of schemes, reporting directly to the Independent Living Board.

Role Responsibilities:

• Responsible for driving the Independent Living programme vision and programme plan of housing growth of additional homes for vulnerable people, translating this into delivery objectives which support the strategic aims of the Council. Lead the programme to deliver the business case benefits and outcomes.

• Responsible for the delivery of independent living project plan, to achieve average Adult Social Care savings through the programme.

• Builds strong working relationships with a range of district partners, developers and registered providers across key localities to drive delivery of agreed Independent Living pipeline schemes across the county.

• Responsible for delivering the quality housing development of individual schemes, working with specialist technical partners in accordance with the Independent Living Design Guide.

• Works closely with Registered Providers, Adult Social Care, Contracts and Commissioning teams to ensure positive and efficient occupancy of schemes, minimising the risk of voids.

• Develops, monitors and reviews relevant Independent Living policies and procedures, using industry and peer good practice methodologies

• Responsible for overseeing the co-ordination of the relevant tools to develop, monitor and analyse the effectiveness of the schemes and pipeline of proposals.

• Responsible for overseeing all independent living communication channels including the production of marketing materials, websites and events, working with internal and external partners

• Lead a small team and work collaboratively with consultants, to offer constructive solutions to progress the programme.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Educated to RQF level 6 (Bachelor’s degree) or equivalent by experience.

• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.

• Significant strategic and operational management experience of supported housing for vulnerable people, with experience of working in a registered provider or local authority housing environment.

• Experience and knowledge of capital housing development and the housing market.

• Substantial experience of good practice within Extra Care Housing and/or Supported Living.

• Experience of service development and delivery of supported housing for vulnerable people.

• Demonstrable track record of successful achievement of target KPI’s within a supported housing environment.

Closing date: 30th May 2021.

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As part of employment with Essex County Council should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please visit: https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. For more information please use the following link: https://www.workingforessex.com/working-here/pay-reward/ We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success. If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk or call us on 0333 013 5888 Lines are open Monday to Friday between 08:30 - 16:30.