Vacancy -- Casework Manager
Working for the Civil Service
The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
Vacancy Details
Purpose of Post:
Key tasks:
Operational Delivery
- Provide management oversight of the Casework Team function to ensure it works effectively and actively participate in PEDW Management Team to deliver PEDW’s Strategic Plan and core functions relevant to your area of responsibility.
- Ensure procedures are in place and managed to deliver effective casework processing within available resources, and ensure performance against targets (quality, cost and productivity) is monitored and assured.
- Provide casework advice and guidance to staff, appellants and other stakeholders, interpreting and applying current policy and legislation including deciding the validity of appeals, resolving procedural problems and seeking legal advice as necessary.
- Ensure improvements are delivered in the operational processing of casework by administrative staff through use of appropriate performance measures and data analytics to monitor and drive performance improvement.
- Respond orally or in writing to issues and complaints to ensure they are resolved effectively with lessons learnt to continuously improve processes.
- Manage staff resources and workloads, ensuring flexible and efficient working to meet agreed operational performance and quality standards.
- Pro-actively manage own work and where necessary, ensure your time and the team’s time spent on casework is accurately recorded for any re-charging purposes.
- Attend meetings in place of the Operations Lead where necessary.
- Monitor and ensure compliance with regulatory procedures, relevant caselaw and PEDW and WG (as appropriate) policies and procedures
- Ensure you and your team manage all “personal data” or “personal information” that you routinely receive, create or process within your area of responsibility to comply with GDPR legislation and departmental procedures.
Leadership & Management
- Role model Civil Service Leadership behaviours and coach others in your team to do the same at a level appropriate to their grade.
- Actively manage performance, attendance and conduct in your team in line with relevant PEDW and wider WG policies.
- Deliver strong performance and change management within your area of responsibility.
- Demonstrate the importance of continuous improvement.
- Champion inclusivity and wellbeing and encourage the views of all.
- Deal with conflict and issues within the team quickly and sensitively.
- Create and foster a team environment where members feel supported and developed to enable the team to fulfil their potential and contribute fully to the success of the organisation.
- Talent and ambition are nurtured within the team and staff are empowered to use their skills and knowledge to best effect.
Customer/Stakeholder relationships
- Promote the delivery of excellent customer service within teams.
- Establish and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
- Provide advice on casework matters on replies to MS/MPs
- Staff are kept informed on contentious and complex issues with operational implications
Workforce planning
- Resources are managed and coordinated to deliver service, work is prioritised to ensure statutory and other targets are met and corporate priorities are delivered
Financial Management
- Ensure that chargeable work is time recorded for re-charge as appropriate
Corporate Responsibilities
- Be a role model for Welsh Government Core Values.
- Make decisions that are in the overall interest of PEDW and the successful delivery of the Strategic Plan.
- Support change activities through active participation and communication to teams.
- Review and improve policies and processes to ensure ongoing efficiencies
- Secure and manage personal and organisational data in line with policies and procedures.
- Corporate groups and project teams are supported through active participation and communication to teams.
Development opportunities:
The post holder will be supported in undertaking CPD and training that strengthens their contribution to the team. The post holder will benefit from experience of working in a focussed operational delivery environment, that processes casework that is directly related to the Programme for Government, i.e.
- Build a stronger, greener economy as we make maximum progress towards decarbonisation
- Embed our response to the climate and nature emergency in everything we do
- Make our cities, towns and villages even better places in which to live and work
Closing Date:
Eligibility
Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:
Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.
Equality and Diversity
The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.
We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.
We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.
We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.
Disability Confident
A Great Place to Work for Veterans
Welsh Language Requirements
The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace.
The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.
Social Partnership
In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.
Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
• PCS
• Prospect
• FDA
This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
• pay
• terms and conditions
• policies and procedures
• organisational change.
Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.
The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.
Competencies / Job Specific Criteria
Competencies
Making Effective Decisions
- Analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions.
Working Together
- Establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders. Collaborate with these to share information, resources and support.
Delivering at Pace
- Promote a culture of following the appropriate procedures to ensure results are achieved on time whilst still enabling innovation.
Managing a Quality Service
- Successfully deliver high quality outcomes that meet the customers’ needs and gives value for money.
Job Specific Criteria
- Essential: Good communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly and concisely with all levels of staff and external stakeholders.
- Essential: Ability to prioritise workload to ensure delivery against statutory framework for environmental casework within PEDW’s responsibility.
- Essential: Computer literate, including working knowledge of Microsoft software (Word, Excel, Teams) and the ability to learn other systems required in the role.
Assessment Process
Recruitment and selection will comprise of 3 phases. A CV and personal statement based sift, a written scenario based test, and an interview.
Stage 1
Candidates must log into the system submit a CV of no more than two sides of A4 (anything further will be discounted) that captures work history, experience, and qualifications, and demonstrates how they meet the key job specific criteria for the role. The CV must specifically address the 3 job specific criteria being assessed. We would urge candidates to tailor their CV in light of the 3 job specifics.
Candidates must submit a personal statement that specifically addresses the 4 Competencies identified for the role AND the 3 job specific criteria. The evidence for each individual competency/job specific criteria should not exceed 300 words. Additional words will be discounted. You must provide evidence against each one or you may not be successful at the sifting stage.
Candidates that are deemed to meet the minimum criteria will be invited to the next stages.
Stage 2 and 3
Candidates successful at sift stage will be invited to interview and will be asked to complete a short written assessment ahead of their interview. Details of this assessment will be provided in emails inviting candidates to interview.
This written exercise will test 1 job specific element, and 1 competency. They will be marked by the panel as part of overall interview marking.
At interview candidates will be tested on the 2 remaining job specific criteria, and the 3 remaining competencies. The panel will then score all job specifics and competencies assessed at interview and via written assessment. A minimum score of 3 out of 5 must be achieved in all criteria in order to pass the interview.
Candidates that pass both the sift and the interview will then be ranked in merit order based on their interview and written assessment scores.
The highest scoring candidate will be offered the post.
Where more than one candidate has the same total score, their ability in relation to the following essential criteria will be used to determine merit order:
- Ability to prioritise workload to ensure delivery against statutory framework for environmental casework within PEDW’s responsibility.
Other Information
- Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
- Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
- For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
- Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.
How to apply
All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system. If you have an impairment which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to an impairment in order to submit your application.
To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system. Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account. Registration takes just a few minutes to complete. You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register. Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.
If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.
For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).
When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)
Grievance and Complaints
This vacancy is closed to applications.