Universal Credit Work Coach Team Leader

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Oldham; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 45,000

Job description

Chester, North West England, CH1 3AQ : Crosby, North West England, L22 0PB : Kirkby, North West England, L32 8RW : Manchester, North West England, M15 4UW : Salford, North West England, M6 5PL : Oldham, North West England, OL1 1LH

Job Summary

• Do you have a passion for delivering exceptional customer service, helping positively change lives in your local community?
• Do you enjoy working full time on site, leading and coaching a team to deliver quality service in a face-to-face office environment?
• Are you looking for a public service leadership role at the centre of operations, leading the delivery of Universal Credit on the high street?

If so, we would like to hear from you!

This rewarding role in Universal Credit operations offers a range of benefits including competitive salary, pension, flexible working, employee discount schemes, and a range of development programmes including professional learning and accreditation.

There are currently 7 vacancies available across the range of locations covered by this advert. A reserve list will be held initially for 3 months, with a view to extending to a maximum of 12 months to fill potential future Work Coach Team Leader vacancies in the North West.

Job Description

Work Coach Team Leaders are accountable for creating an environment to support the flexible, effective, personalised delivery of customer service to those receiving support via Universal Credit.

You will lead a team of 12 -15 Work Coaches to support a caseload of customers to move closer to, or into work, ensuring performance measures are achieved and quality standards are met.

This is a fast-paced role, where you will be faced with challenging circumstances whilst supporting some of the most vulnerable in our society, requiring resilience and strong, adaptable leadership skills.

Leadership behaviours that show a caring, inclusive, flexible, adaptable approach will be key to your success. Enabling your teams to explore options and identify solutions to achieve successful business outcomes is critical for this role.

You will gain knowledge of the local labour market and sustain various relationships across the organisation, other government departments, and partner organisations to support the effectiveness of your team and the service provided to customers.

You will be responsible for managing the workload of your team and undertaking first line manager tasks such as regular discussions with your team members relating to wellbeing, performance, development, and career aspirations. Your role also includes applying and making decisions in line with DWP People Policies.

In this role we are looking for people who will:

• Inspire front-line teams to deliver the best for our customers.
• Encourage innovation and deliver high performance using data insights and coaching techniques.
• Be leaders who will communicate with clarity and purpose.
• Make fair, sound decisions.
• Understand the strategic landscape and localism plans to deliver successful business outcomes through collaboration with external stakeholders.
• Manage multiple tasks and prioritise effectively.
• Lead people through change, ensuring our teams are adaptable and flexible to support efficiency and improve service delivery.

Person specification

Key Criteria (to be covered in the Personal Statement)

Candidates Must Be Able To Demonstrate The Following

• Strong leadership and coaching skills, with the ability to inspire, encourage and influence teams. (Lead criteria)
• Ability to create an engaging and inclusive environment, empowering others to deliver excellent customer service through coaching, listening, and acting on feedback.
• Ability to critically analyse data and insight, to identify areas for action and involve others in developing solutions.
• Ability to work flexibly and at pace to meet changing priorities.
• Confident decision making, with a firm and fair approach to line management responsibilities using people policy and procedures.
• A commitment to continued self-development and to recognising and supporting the development needs of others.
• Experience of building collaborative working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders to achieve business objectives.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Developing Self and Others
• Changing and Improving

Leave and Working Arrangements

• Generous holiday allowance of 23 or 25 days for new starters dependent on grade based on full-time work pattern, which increases to 30 days over time, in addition to public/bank holidays.
• Flexible working options, including full-time, part-time, job share, flexi-time and hybrid working for some roles.
• A range of family friendly policies such as generous maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

Personal Development and Well-Being

• Excellent learning and development opportunities.
• A culture encouraging inclusivity and diversity with a range of local and national employee networks.
• A comprehensive wellbeing offer which includes support for mental and physical wellbeing.
• Support for volunteering and charitable giving activities, including time off.
• Sports and social activities.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Stage 1 – On-line Assessment

You will be invited to complete a Management Judgement Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 14th April 2025. If you fail to complete both the online test and the written application before the deadline your application will be withdrawn.

Stage 2 – Written Application and Sift.

The written sift will be conducted using evidence from your Personal Statement and will be assessed against the Key Criteria above.

In no more than 1250 words, your personal statement needs to set out evidence of how your skills and experience meet the Key Criteria requirements.

The layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criteria separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several Key Criteria. You do not have to explain the full process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.

Stage 3 - Interview

If you pass the written application sift with the required score you will be invited to a blended interview and will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs account.

Interviews will take place in person w/c 12th May 2025 in Manchester City centre, Merseyside, and Chester.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend an interview, please ensure you state this on your application form when asked to do so.

Further Information

Find out more about Working for DWP.

Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention.

Important

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, especially those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : Greater Manchester Recruitment Team
• Email : [e-mail]

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]