Warm Homes Local Grant Project Officer

A fantastic opportunity to make a difference to homeowners’ who live in Canterbury, Kent and qualify for Warm Homes Local Grant (WHLG) funding by supporting them with home-based retrofits to enable them to reduce their energy bills and enjoy warmer homes.  

The Climate and Environment team in partnership with the Projects Team at Canterbury City Council are looking for a WHLG Project Officer to join them to deliver this high-profile, Government programme within the Canterbury District.  

This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference to the lives of individuals suffering fuel poverty within the Canterbury District who qualify for WHLG funding, re, Warm Homes: Local Grant – guidance for local authorities - GOV.UK. In addition to delivering energy saving measures to homeowners in fuel poverty, you will be helping to enable the Council to deliver the national and local climate change targets, re, Net Zero and Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan.  

The government is committed to delivering Warm Homes, and earlier this year issued its Warm Homes Plan, Warm Homes Plan - GOV.UK, which will deliver £15 billion of public investment to upgrade up to 5 million homes and lift up to a million families out of fuel poverty by 2030.  

To date Canterbury City Council has been awarded £1.5m of WHLG funding over 3 years and has an extensive pipeline of eligible and verified homeowners wishing to improve the energy-saving potential of their homes. Potential clients who are eligible for up to £16.6k for energy efficiency measures and up to 16.6k of low carbon heating technologies are generated from expressions of interest via Gov.UK and other means and your role will be to support these applications with eligibility checks and working in partnership with our delivery partner, ARAN insulation to support and enable delivery of the individual retrofits, through to completion and the awarding of Trustmark status.  To date 25 of the circa 90 homes that the Council plan to retrofit have been delivered and the Council are currently making a case to expand their portfolio. 

Canterbury City Council has also been awarded Warm Homes Social Housing Funding (WHSHF) which is being used to retrofit the council-owned housing stock and improve the lives of our Council tenants. 

Amongst other things, this job opportunity, ie WHLG Project Officer will support and enable a major Government programme in the Canterbury district, develop your knowledge and expertise in domestic climate and energy policy, your project management and reporting capabilities, and customer engagement skills. 

Salary available is  £33,622.29  

• A cost of living pay award is negotiated annually as a salary increase 

• Flexible, hybrid working - we understand the importance of a good work-life balance. 

• We offer a generous annual leave entitlement!  You’ll receive 23 days annual leave which increase with service, plus bank holidays,  PLUS 3 given days which are usually used over the Christmas period when our main offices are closed. You’ll also have the option to buy more annual leave. 

• We do not work on Bank Holidays. 

• A fantastic local government pension scheme. 

• We’ll support and encourage your career by providing excellent opportunities for training and development, as well as cover a Professional Body Membership fee where needed for the role.  

• Employee perks, including multiple retailer and lifestyle discounts to help you get the most out of your money and enjoy your free time. 

• An easier commute: free use of Canterbury’s Park and Ride, flexi bus tickets, and a cycle to work scheme. 

• Stay healthy: Access to free counselling, advice and webinars through our employee assistance programme, as well as contributions to the cost of Flu Jabs. 

About this environment/housing/project management job: 

This role seeks to support and enable delivery of the WHLG across the Canterbury District in order to transform the lives of those living in fuel poverty by making them warmer, reducing their energy bills and by improving the energy performance of housing across the district. This role also seeks to address the cause of global climate change, ie to reduce fossil fuel-related, greenhouse gas emissions. It straddles the climate and environment, housing and project teams and will be overseen by the Climate and Environment and Project Delivery teams.  

Here’s what you’ll get up to: 

• You will be supporting the delivery and project management of the WH:LG programme for Canterbury City Council in-line with the Government’s WH:LG delivery guidance, Warm Homes: Local Grant – guidance for local authorities - GOV.UK and Canterbury City Council policies and processes; 

• You will review applications and undertake eligibility assessments in line with the WH:LG delivery guidance to determine the eligibility of applications on the basis of household income, means-tested benefits and, or whether the applicants reside in one of the districts’ IMD areas, ie areas with indices of multiple deprivation; 

• You will effectively communicate with customers, contractors, partner organisations, colleagues and applicants in the course of supporting potential applicants through the eligibility process. Customer service skills are required to support applicants through the process of eligibility checks etc; 

• To support the data collection, collation and reporting required by DESNZ and Canterbury City Council on the WH:LG programme and associated policy outcomes, eg carbon savings; 

• To manage records for the WHLG, including tracking the progress of applications expenses, financial transactions etc., as needed. 

• To support compliance with WH:LG delivery guidance, including monitoring performance, delivery and risks and in the context of the project governance, including by alerting more senior colleagues to risks associated with delivery, fraud etc; 

• To support the wider Policy and Strategy Team with other work areas/tasks commensurate with the grade, as required. 

Working pattern: 

• The job is available on a full time basis.

• The contractual hours are 37 per week.

• We offer a generous annual leave entitlement!  You’ll receive 23 days annual leave which increase with service, plus bank holidays,  PLUS 3 given days which are usually used over the Christmas period when our main offices are closed. You’ll also have the option to buy more annual leave. 

• We offer flexible, hybrid working, with an expectation of working in the office one day a week once fully trained. During training there will be a need for more office-based working initially. 

• The role is available for an 18 month fixed-term contract basis with the possibility of extension, in the event of further funding being awarded. 

 Requirements for the WHLG Project Officer role: 

• Awareness of climate change and energy policy/delivery and energy-saving retrofitting approaches and standards, eg PAS 2035; 

• Knowledge of project management techniques 

• Experience of project management, controls and data management, risk management and reporting; 

• Experience of energy support programme delivery and/or policy (desirable).  

• Experience of managing the relationship with stakeholders at a working level, eg contractors and a strong customer focus to facilitate and enable positive interactions with the WHLG applicants 

• A-level / HND equivalents or equivalent, relevant work related experience 

• Qualifications in assessing the energy policy/delivery and, or project management ideally in an energy-related context (desirable). 

Due to the nature of this role, the successful applicant will be required to undertake a standard DBS check as part of their pre-employment clearances.   

 If you would like to find out more about the WHLG Project Officer role for Canterbury City Council role or whatit’s like to work for Canterbury City Council’s Climate and Environment and Projects team. For an informal chat about the role please contact Penny Bramwell penny.bramwell@canterbury.gov.uk or Anna Dale anna.dale@canterbury.gov.uk 

Anna Dale is our WHLG Project Manager and line manager for this position and very much welcomes your email. 

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We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in everything we do. We provide a safe and welcoming environment where everyone is valued, included and respected.  

Our diversity strengthens our ability to serve the diverse communities we support through our work.

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