Team Leader: Council Tax and Levelling Up

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 311407**Salary**:

- £49,697-
- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- Local Government finance**Type of role**:

- Policy**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Darlington, London, WolverhamptonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
This key policy role sits in the heart of the Local Government Finance (LGF) directorate in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC). The team is responsible for a policy that delivers over £30billion of funding to local councils to provide services, from adult social care to repairing potholes. The importance of the tax means that the team reflect on it from a number of perspectives - from protecting households from excessive increases, through to recognising the importance of council tax revenue on the sustainability of local councils. It attracts significant interest from Parliament, No.10, HM Treasury, and the general public.

The team is responsible for a number of high-profile areas of work, including:

- Deciding the maximum level of council tax that can be set each year by individual councils before they require a referendum. This involves extensive cross-Departmental engagement each year to establish the level of resources available to councils, a process that requires formal Parliamentary approval, with all of the handling challenges that generates.
- Ensuring the effective running of the council tax system, including responsibility for putting in place legislation, working with key implementation partners, and providing guidance for local authorities and council tax payers.
- Engaging with ministers in designing and implementing new council tax policy initiatives and supporting wider government policy objectives - for example to support the levelling up agenda, helping vulnerable households with bills, and in supporting the department’s objectives on housing supply.
- Supporting local authorities with their role on council tax, including billing and collecting council tax and the approach to council tax debt.

The scope of work can often be unpredictable and attracts significant Ministerial, Parliamentary, media and stakeholder interest. As such the team will need to be ready to respond to the constant policy change and both internal and external challenges. Because council tax accounts for a significant proportion of local government funding and operates in a highly political context; Ministers, No10 and HM Treasury take a keen interest in the work of the team.

**Job description**:
This role involves ownership of a number of key policy areas from policy development to implementation, showing leadership on council tax policy issues across the department and government to inform and influence policy debates, and a strategic focus of identifying opportunities for improvement and change. You will lead a dynamic team comprising 1 HEO and 1 SEO and work closely with two other Grade 7 lead branches in the council tax team.

**Responsibilities**:

- Developing the Department’s position on how council tax can be best used to support the government’s objectives to level-up the country. This will involve close working with ministers, teams across the department and across Whitehall.
- Leading on dealing with a range of Parliamentary activity, from delivering the legislation necessary to give effect to changes, through to briefing minsters on debates in both Houses on relevant council tax policy
- Policy ownership for council tax discounts and exemptions. This includes ensuring the current suite of exemptions and discount work effectively whilst also identifying areas for reform.
- Working closely with the Ministry of Justice on the approach to managing council tax debt and the tools available to local authorities on council tax enforcement. This will include agreeing with Ministers a formal Government response to a Select Committee inquiry into the issue.
- Leading the team’s broader responsibilities to ensure that Ministers receive excellent quality briefing, both in response to correspondence received on council tax issues, as well as delivering an effective rebuttal package for frequent press enquiries.

**Person specification**:

- Lead on policy thinking and translate policy proposals into legislation - specifically changes to strengthen the existing empty homes premium, introduction of the new second homes premium, and council tax offers as part of levelling up arrangements.
- Be a visible leader, providing leadership on council tax issues and represent them effectively across the department and Whitehall, and with external stakeholders.
- Operate at a strategic level, being able to draw in links and consider how council tax policy decisions fit with Min