Adjudicators (3.5 required) Dispute Resolution Team April 2018 Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 1 of 11 2018
Thank you for downloading this application pack. Enclosed within this document you will find: The role profile for Adjudicators Benefits Our vision, core values and strategic objectives Our primary outcomes Our website www.housing- ombudsman.org.uk has details about what we do and how we do it. If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan McIntyre, our advising consultant on 020 7588 5407 or jmm@cjagroup.com If you decide to apply, please ensure that you demonstrate that you have the knowledge and competencies in the role profile within your covering letter / supporting statement. Your covering letter / supporting statement should be no more than two sides of A4. Indicative recruitment timetable Stages Dates When you will hear if successful in continuing through stages Closing date Sunday, 15 th April (Midnight) Longlisting From 15 th April By 2 nd May Watson and Glaser Critical Thinking online assessment 25 th April to 2 nd May By 11 th May Telephone interview 14 th May to 23 rd May By 1 st June Strengths online assessment Assessment Centre 25 th May to 6 th June 11 th, 12 th or 13 th June Those invited to the Assessment Centre will be asked to complete a strengths online assessment. The Assessment Centre will require half day attendance between the Monday and Wednesday Notification of successful candidates By 22 nd June Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 2 of 11 2018
Role Profile and Person Specification Job Profile Adjudicator This is intended to reflect the Purpose, Key Result Areas and Competencies relevant to the role held by the employee and should be considered in conjunction with the organisation s current Vision, Values and Primary Outcomes. Purpose Expert in local / early resolution, identifying cases for intervention and assisting parties to reach resolution through proactive intervention. Expert in investigation, able to identify cases for investigation, carry out investigation and make impartial, evidence based decisions without supervision. Lead on projects or research to support the development of casework policy and expertise. Act as an ambassador for the Housing Ombudsman Service and the promotion of our dispute resolution principles. Accountable to Supervision of work Working relationships Key result areas Standards applicable to role Knowledge and Skills Dispute Resolution Line Manager Supervision of casework quality ensuring own and others meet the casework quality standards. Landlords, tenants, tenant panels, MPs, Councillors, dispute resolution team members (refer to section 1 in the narrative) and other members of the organisation. Customer satisfaction Dispute resolution Compliance Value added Appropriate decisions Optimise learning Quality assured Positive behaviours Casework quality standards, customer care standards, policy, jurisdiction, guidance, legal framework and dispute resolution principles. Apply their expert knowledge of housing law, customer care, the role of the Ombudsman, dispute resolution and complaint handling to deliver early resolution of complex cases or, where appropriate, determine a case by way of formal resolution. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 3 of 11 2018
Competencies (skills & behaviours to be able to do the role) Taking action Being pro- active in identifying and resolving problems, anticipating others needs so they can be addressed before becoming a big issue. Working autonomously, progressing issues in a timely manner and making independent decisions; seeking to use your own initiative. Reacting appropriately to situations, appreciating the wider impact of decisions made by others as well as yourself. Organised Planning and prioritising activities, managing a multiple task workload. Letting others know about progress and if there are any risks that may cause delay, seeking to exceed your delivery targets. Also being aware of, and help organise, the team case load, highlighting any resource issues and helping others manage their workload. Talking to others Speaking confidently, clearly and fluently using professional, objective language, avoiding jargon or criticism. Actively listening to and probing others with questions to explore their needs. Adjusting your approach in conversation (e.g. tone of voice, volume, level of language, empathic language) in response to their reactions, using your discretion. Being aware of your impact on others in conversation. Working collaboratively Seeking to understand others' motivations and reactions of others. Encouraging others to share their views and listening to them. Looking to achieve a better outcome by working with others on issues, actively supporting collaborative working. Seeking to learn Engaging in self- development activities, spotting what needs to change and looking to address these to bring about improvements within yourself. Pro- actively seeking to learn new techniques and technology. Able to make meaning of information and probe for additional information to reinforce your learning. Pro- actively helping others in their learning, for example sharing knowledge and skills, helping them improve their quality of work and helping others have more effective discussions around complicated cases. Seeking improvement Spotting what needs to change and looking to address these to bring about improvements both within the organisation and whole system. Pro- actively scan for and consider the merits of use of new and emerging techniques and technology to improve system and processes. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 4 of 11 2018
Pro- actively helping others in their learning, for example sharing knowledge and skills, helping them improve their quality of work and helping others have more effective discussions around complicated cases and dispute resolution. Able to influence mindset and behaviour change in others. Is able, having attempted to achieve an objective or problem solve on different occasions, to modify the objective or underlying norms and polices in the light of experience or possibly even reject the objective and redefine it ( double loop learning ). Ensuring others and your work is of a good quality, seeking and giving feedback. Objective analysis Probing information and assumptions to separate opinion from fact, identifying and gathering the key information. Logically weighing up the information and evidence. Intervening early and reacting appropriately to situations as they arise. Drawing well- reasoned conclusions and solutions from the information, considering the consequences of your decisions. Analysing highly complicated situations, spotting the wider impact to resolve underlying issues. Effective writing Excellent writing skills and your documents are error free, logically structured and clear. Your writing demonstrates a reasoned balance of the information and the path of your decisions and conclusions are easy to follow. Influencing others by articulating complex arguments and decisions well in writing. Adjusting your style of writing appropriately for your audience. Able to write complicated bespoke documents. Effective conversations Speaking to others as a means to achieve a resolution, adjusting what you are saying according to their response. Facilitating effective conversations using a variety of techniques (e.g. role modelling, seed sowing, coaching) to bring people together to work towards a common goal. Articulating complex arguments, handling objections effectively and negotiating difficult decisions verbally. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 5 of 11 2018
Key Strengths (energised by and contributes to high performance in the role) Playing to strengths is part of our people management philosophy and understanding how individuals deploy their strengths forms part of our selection process. Additional ad- hoc activities It is essential that all employees contribute to the achievement of the business plan, and other projects and activities from time to time that are broadly consistent with those outlined in the role profile and grade. Equality and Diversity All employees must uphold the standards set out in the organisation s Equality and Diversity Policy in respect of promoting equality of opportunity, diversity and inclusion. Health and Safety All employees are required to ensure their own actions reduce risks to health and safety for themselves and colleagues and that health and safety requirements are met in areas of responsibility as set out in the organisation s Health & Safety Manual. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 6 of 11 2018
Our Core Values and Behaviours Our core values and behaviours will be role modelled by HOS colleagues with the expectation that others who work with us will be committed to carry out our values. We act fairly and impartially We are open and accountable We empower and respect those we work with We are proactive and take responsibility for achieving results We work as One Team within HOS and collaboratively with others We are curious, always seeking to learn and improve Fairness and impartiality is central to all we do. We are committed to acting without discrimination or bias, fairly and ethically at all times and implementing fair systems and processes. We act in an open and transparent way. We are accessible ensuring information is made widely available using multiple channels. We create a climate of support and accountability which helps us to be open to challenge and scrutiny, answerable for our actions, and to take individual and collective responsibility. We are held to account by Parliament, government, our customers and other stakeholders for the quality of our service and for delivering on our commitments. We respect and value those we work with. We respect the skills and experience of others. This helps us to offer the right level of support and guidance to empower those we work with, enabling responsibility to be taken, informed decisions and choices to be made and high standards to be achieved. We take a proactive approach, taking responsibility to deliver the best results we can and to achieve our goals. We are always striving to exceed expectations and targets. We work together as one team to a shared vision, common goals and targets. We maintain consistency in our actions, messages and behaviours. We work with others nurturing a collaborative approach, respecting others views and sharing ideas. We learn from outcomes to make continuous improvements. We ask probing questions invite and act on feedback and are consistently striving to learn and improve, seeing learning as central for improvement. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 7 of 11 2018
Rewarding career, rewarding benefits The satisfaction of knowing you've played a central part in helping others to increase trust in dispute resolution and to improve landlord and tenant relations is rewarding in itself. Here at the Housing Ombudsman Service we will also reward you with the following benefits package including: Annual leave - Minimum 25 days annual leave plus statutory Public Holidays on joining the organisation, rising with long service. Annual health check - Access to a free annual health check. Career average pension scheme - Opportunity to join the Local Government pension scheme on a final salary. Flexible working - Flexi time scheme which provides for employees to balance work commitments and personal needs. Gym membership free on site gym membership. Maternity/Paternity and Adoption leave - Good leave benefits for those employees starting a family. Personal development allowance - Supporting staff to develop their skills through personal development planning and training opportunities. Season ticket travel loan - Interest free public transport season ticket loan. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 8 of 11 2018
Our Vision Our Vision: 'Housing Matters: Fairness Matters We understand the importance of housing to people's lives. We ensure the fair and impartial resolution of housing complaints, locally where possible. When things go wrong we put things right and encourage learning from outcomes. We help improve landlord and resident relationships. We role model the service we expect of others. Our core values and behaviours We act fairly and impartially We are open and accountable We empower and respect those we work with We are proactive and take responsibility for achieving results We work as One Team within HOS and collaboratively with others We are curious, always seeking to learn and improve Our strategic objectives Our strategic objectives are: 1 We will deliver an accessible, high quality and timely complaints handling service 2 We support landlords and residents to resolve more complaints locally 3 Our decisions will be recognised as fair, impartial and effective 4 We will support landlords to learn from outcomes 5 We will be an accountable, well run organisation, using our subscription monies wisely. Our Corporate Plan 2016 to 2019 has more detail on how we will deliver our strategic objectives. Our Dispute Resolution Principles We follow our dispute resolution principles in all our dealings with landlords, tenants and designated persons at any stage of the dispute resolution process. The principles are: Be fair follow fair processes and treat people fairly Put things right Learn from outcomes We offer support to the people who contact us to resolve their problems. We treat people as individuals, respecting their diverse backgrounds and needs. We do what we can to give access to our Service in a way that suits each individual. We try to make sure that the people who use our Service understand our role and the way that we work. Our decisions are not only fair and impartial; they are clearly set out, explained, and reasoned. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 9 of 11 2018
We constantly review the quality of our work and seek customer feedback so that we can improve our service. Evidence of an excellent service helps us to persuade our customers that our decisions can be respected even where they do not give them what they wanted. Primary Outcomes of the HOS s Vision Tenants and landlords have increased trust in dispute resolution. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 10 of 11 2018
Landlords and tenants relationship are improved. Landlords and tenants have a positive view of complaints. Designated Persons are able to play their part in resolving disputes fairly. Stakeholders are engaged in the formulation of our strategy, dispute resolution principles, and delivery mechanisms. Adjudicator Candidate Pack Page 11 of 11 2018