Our aim is for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

The Church of England Pensions Board is a statutory charitable body, which looks after the welfare of those who retire from the stipendiary ministry of the Church of England, and their widow/er(s) and dependants by the provision of pensions grants and retirement accommodation.

The Board’s large Housing Department administers the provision of retirement housing for eligible clergy and their spouses in the form of mortgage loans, rented property, shared ownership, and supported Housing. The Church of England Pensions Board makes sure that those who have served or worked for the Church of England have a secure retirement. It currently runs 3 separate pension schemes with over 30,000 members for over 250 employers.

We also provide and maintain housing a range of housing options for retired clergy and eligible family members on both a rented and a shared ownership basis. Housing is primarily provided through rented properties located around England and Wales, supported living homes located in 7 schemes around England and shared ownership homes. Our core objective is to provide quality retirement housing while demonstrating good value for money.

We are now looking to recruit two Complex case and Void Managers. Each Post holder will be allocated to one of 3 regions as their primary working area. As the post holder will be required to visit properties within their region on a frequent basis, the post holder should be based in (or close to) their working region. The three possible regions (locations are primarily diocese names) are:

South West (including: Truro, Exeter, Bath & Wells, Salisbury, Winchester, Bristol, Gloucester, South Wales).

South East (including; Portsmouth, Guildford, Chichester, Southwark, London, Chelmsford, St Albans, Oxford, Canterbury).

Mid; (including: Ipswich, Norwich, Ely, Peterborough, Durham, Hereford, Litchfield, Birmingham, Chester, Derby, Southwell & Nottingham, Lincoln, North wales).

Within your application, please state which region(s) you are interested in applying for.

Find more about the service we provide here: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/clergy-resources/retirement-housing

As Complex Case and Voids Property Manager, you will deliver a customer focused and effective property and asset management service that meets the diverse needs of our residents across the rental portfolio.

You will work collaboratively with Business Partners and other professionals including maintenance partners, to ensure value for money and quality accommodation that meets decent homes standards, managing works within an annual budget of around £1.5m to £2m.

Both roles are offered on a two-year, fixed term-contract basis, either 100% worked remotely (please note that London weighing won’t be included in the salary if this option is chosen) or under a hybrid work type of arrangement, with one day a week worked from our office in London (to be discussed with the post holder).

Although empathy for the aim and values of the Church is important, we are welcoming applicants from all faith or none.

The Church of England is for everyone, and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minority Ethnic Backgrounds.

The interviews will be in two stages are expected to be held on the 25/26 May and on the 8/9 June 2022.

In return we offer a unique environmentwith opportunities for continuous learning, generous annual leave for work life balance, season ticket loans and a ra andnge of benefits including discounted entry to attractions and what we feel is a market leading package when it comes to our pension scheme.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The post holder will be required to work within both the Property Services Team and Housing Operations Team.

• The post holder will be responsible for the delivery of major works to our homes, which includes determine what works are required, appoint a suitable contractor/consultant, visit the property when necessary, determine the scope of works, seek quotations for the works and undertake post works inspections.
• For complex or multi-part building defects or disrepair matters, investigate the matters, instruct and supervise as required specialist consultants to undertake investigations and to appoint relevant contractors to deliver the works, oversee the works and update residents and ensure the works meet the relevant quality standards.
• To inspect all empty properties to recommend their retention or disposal against the needs of the portfolio, identify key works required prior to reletting.
• Support the management of refurbishment of our empty properties through our third party maintenance provider to ensure they meet our lettable standards on time and within agreed budget (includes onsite inspections for complex matters).
• Investigate and resolve complex repair or major works related queries or complaints within occupied homes.
• Manage, direct and work with external consultants to determine scope of works and enable instruction of the appropriate works with contractor(s), ensuring compliance with relevant health and safety regulations.
• Review cases to identify risks such as Health and Safety, disruption to residents, financial, reputation or noncompliance with the law/good practice.
• When applicable apply for Building control consent for works.
• Check, agree and sign off applications for payment of orders submitted by service providers.
• Track and maintain records of expenditure incurred, costs committed and forecast costs to be incurred against budgets. Provide regular reports.
• To support the active management and monitoring of value for money, performance and quality standards reviewing the effectiveness of refurbishment works in order to promote continuous improvement.
• Track, maintain records of and provide regular reports on our empty property programme, expenditure incurred, costs committed forecast costs to be incurred against budgets and other relevant matters.
• Ensure information on works completed is uploaded to relevant record systems within the organisation to inform future compliance related inspections and future planned maintenance requirements.
• Other tasks involve to assist as required with the general works of the Property team, to manage seasonal peaks in workload, to undertake viewings of properties being considered for purchase or to provide some assistance to our Supported Housing Schemes by providing technical advice or assistance in procuring specialist consultants/contractors.

The main duties and responsibilities of your post are outlined in the job description attached. This list is not exhaustive and is intended to reflect your main tasks and areas of work.

PERSON SPECIFICATION:

Knowledge and Experience:

• Knowledge and experience of managing work within occupied housing (essential) and a knowledge and understanding of older persons/Retirement Housing (desirable).
• Strong technical knowledge of construction and maintenance works within a housing setting, ability to make informed decisions based upon specialist information provided by others.
• Good understanding of building defects and remedies.
• Experience of delivering a customer focused service.
• Experience of engaging with residents and providing support during the delivery of works.
• Genuine skills in engagement and communication including negotiation and persuasion.
• Knowledge and ability to write reports and develop schedules of works.
• IT Literate with previous knowledge in Microsoft products and database systems (essential).
• Strong understanding of Health and Safety and Compliance regulations within a construction and housing setting including an understanding of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).
• Experience of void refurbishment works.

Personal Attributes:

• Ability to work with minimal supervision, whilst being organised and self-disciplined.
• Excellent people skills.
• Flexible and approachable with an attention to detail.
• Confident and responsible, making decisions and being accountable.
• Ability to cope with competing deadlines, to prioritise and set targets and to work in a structured manner.
• Self-motivated, has initiative, and a record of achieving agreed objectives within time and resource constraints.
• Adaptable, innovative and a problem solver.
• Ability to relate well to a variety of people and create, maintain, and enhance working relationships.
• Willing to learn new concepts and open to change.
• Ability to travel and to work flexibly to undertake visits and on occasion stay overnight away from home. Our properties are distributed throughout England and Wales; the post holder will be assigned to one geographical region and will be expected to visit properties on a frequent basis. It is expected that the post holder will be based within or close to their region.
• Valid UK driving license.

Education:

• Intellectual capacity associated with either study to ‘A’ level standard.
• An appropriate construction-related qualification (e.g. HND in construction, or degree) or relevant construction-related experience.

ABOUT US:

We in the National Church Institutions support the mission and ministries of the Church all over England. We work with parishes, dioceses (regional offices), schools, other ministries and our partners at a national and international level.

Excellence, Respect, Integrity

We follow these three values in everything we do, whether we are of Christian faith, another faith or no faith. To learn more about working for National Church Institutions and our benefits, please click here

As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.

As a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, we welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and to ensuring that everyone, job applicants, customers and other people with whom we deal, are treated fairly and not subject to discrimination. We will do whatever is necessary to provide genuine equality of opportunity. We continuously review our policies and processes to support our aim to create a workforce as diverse as the nation the Church of England serves.