JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE OF POST:Interim Director of Service Development

Responsible to:The CEO and Board of Trustees

Responsible for:Five Service Managers and respective frontline delivery teams totalling c 75
FTEs

Job Purpose: To lead existing business as usual services during a period of transition, alongside implementing organisational change i.e.

  1. Introduce and implement a planning system that links strategy to staff appraisal, increasing accountability and focus across the charity.
  2. Develop financial acumen across the charity with, in particular, Service Managers.
  3. Update systems, policies and procedures and implement these across services
  4. Support the development of montoring and evaluation practice across the charity
  5. Maintain confidence with external stakeholders during the change process.

Salary and Scale: Salary PO 7/8 (expected salary point 57 £55,107 - includes Inner London Weighting)

Contract:August 2017 – July 2018 (12 month contract), full time 35 hrs per week.

MAIN TASKS:

1Planning and HR

  • Participate in the charity’s Senior Management Team and maintain effective communication between service teams and all other parts of the organisation.
  • Provide CSTM’s service delivery staff with a clear direction and day to day guidance, based on the charity’s strategy and core values.
  • Ensure that each service is meeting its objectives, meeting funding and contractual requirements and continuously improving.
  • Ensure good communication across the service delivery team through meetings, consultations and short life working groups.
  • Working closely with the SMT, produce and implement a staff development plan to support service staff through a process of transition and change in the organisation.
  • Work with the CEO and Head of HR and Administration to pilot a new organsiational planning system from September 2017, including supporting Service Managers to create team plans linking the charity’s strategy with its appraisal system .
  • Ensure all service staff are recruited, inducted, supervised, supported and appraised using consistent systems, taking any appropriate action in consultation with the Head of HR and Administration.
  • Participate in Joint Negotiating Committee discussions where appropriate.
  • Build the confidence of Service Managers to make operational decisions autonomously through coaching, training and other development opportunities.

2Financial Management

  • Work with the Head of Finance, Premises and IT to create a budget with clear cost centres based on services;
  • Provide support to service managers to understand and interpret their own budgets and how they link to plans, so that financial acumen in the charity is significantly improved;
  • Identify cost savings in service expenditure to improve the efficiency of the charity overall;
  • Help Service Managers to participate in financial reviews of expenditure and budget setting for the 2018/19 financial year;
  • Authorise expenditure and act as a cheque signatory within agreed limits.
  • As part of the SMT, help to produce 3 year financial projections for the charity;
  • Work with the Head of Fundraising and PR and Service Mangers to increase knowledge and understanding of funding sources and funder/contract management.

3Systems and Policies and procedures

  • Provide service staff with professional leadership and expertise, keeping up to date with relevant professional developments, technical and legal information and best practice, and applying this knowledge to service delivery.
  • Review operational policies and procedures, prioritising areas representing significant organisational risk (Equalities, Health and safety, Safeguarding, Data Protection) to ensure that CSTM meets its legal obligations in all aspects of service delivery.
  • Participate in and/or lead task groups working on issues which cross divisional boundaries.
  • Ensure policies are in place and that any training is provided for the service staff team;
  • Promote good practice in the use of Information Technology to support the CSTM’s service delivery activities.
  • Support the implementation of the IT upgrade planned for October 2017, including the logistics of buidlings closure and IT training with staff.
  • Ensure that client feedback and consultation takes place and that complaints are dealt with fairly and efficiently.

4Monitoring, Evaluation and Accountability

  • Work with the CEO to develop a new CSTM outcomes framework, theory of change and service model, which links the charity’s emerging strategy with existing monitoring and evaluation data collection systems;
  • Provide support to Service Managers and staff in developing understanding of data, regular review of performance with teams and continous improvement;
  • Have overall responsibility for ensuring that data and reports are produced to meet funding/contractual requirements and that results are shared with service teams for discussion and review.
  • Provide reports to the Board of Trustees on service delivery and progress against the interim strategy;
  • Attend Board meetings and other Trustee meetings as appropriate and at the request of the CEO;
  • Attend regular SMT meetings and wider staff meetings to support the charity’s transition process.

5External Relationships

  • Maintain and build the network of relationships with other agencies on which CSTM’s work depends, allocating networking and feedback responsibilities across the service teams.
  • Represent CSTM professionally and effectively with external stakeholders and take advantage of any opportunities which may arise to develop new projects or partnerships. Liaise with relevant statutory and non statutory agencies - including government departments
  • Maintain open, transaprent communication with Westminster City Council, St. Martin’s Charity and other key funders in relation to organisational change and frontline service delivery;
  • Assist the Chief Executive in raising CSTM’s public profile, taking part in meetings, forums, press, media and publicity activities as necessary
  • Attend relevant forums and external meetings as agreed with the CEO.

6General

  • Comply with all of the organsiation’s policies and procedures including Health and Safety, Equalities and Safeguarding;
  • Work consistently within the charity’s core values;
  • Undertake occasional duties as agreed with the CEO, commesurate with salary and level of seniority;
  • Assist in the promotion of the work of The Connection at St Martin’s to its visitors and funders.

Job descriptions are intended to give individuals clear guidance on what they are expected to achieve. However, they rarely capture all tasks and responsibilities. The Connection at St Martin’s is a small organisation and its work, by definition, is not neat. All staff are therefore expected to adopt a flexible approach and will occasionally be required to undertake other duties not detailed above but within the scope of the job.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

This person specification sets out the ESSENTIAL and DESIRABLE experience and abilities needed by the successful candidate for this post.

Knowledge and Experience / Essential/Desirable
Working in at a senior management level in an organsiation providing services for people experiencing servere and multiple disadvantage. / Essential
Detailed understanding of homelessness and, in particular, rough sleeping / Desirable
Writing and implementing detailed operational plans, setting and monitoring performance of delivery based on these plans. / Essential
Contributing to the development of 3 – 5 year organisational strategy / Desirable
Contract management and development of positive external stakeholder relationships / Essential
Financial management and budget review across multiple cost centres / Essential
Understanding of fundraising through Trusts, individual giving and company donations / Desirable
Working within a Senior Management Team and with a Board of Trustees. / Essential
Safeguarding and other key policy areas associated with service delivery with people who have severe and multiple disadvantage / Essential
Monitoring and evaluation based on outcomes including data analysis, report writing and contract monitoring. / Essential
Skills and Attributes
Strong organsiational skills and the ability to manage a complex workload / Essential
Resourceful and able to problem-solve / Essential
Leading, managing, developing and motivating managers and frontline staff through change. / Essential
Training managers to broaden their core management skills, capacity and confidence. / Essential
The personal gravitas and credibility to build confidence internally and externally / Essential
Good IT skills / Essential
Able to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends. / Essential
Work consistently within the charity’s core values: Aspirational, respectful, honest, empowering; open minded. / Essential

Background Information

The Connection at St. Martins is based at the Heart of London, near Charing Cross Station and Trafalgar Square. CSTM has been helping homeless people since the 1940s and is one of London’s largest homelessness charities. CSTM helps 4,500 people each year through five services for rough sleepers and people who are vulnerably housed. These include:

  • A Day Centre supporting 2500 people to engage in mainstream services
  • A Night Centre providing 750 people a year with access to emergency accommodation
  • Street Outreach for 2500 people a year to assist them off the streets quickly to minimise sleeping rough
  • Advice for 900 people a year so that they can access housing and overcome mental health problems.
  • Workspace helping 700 people a year to move towards into work, learning and volunteering

Connection at St. Martins has an annual turnover of £4.6m, a staff team of 115 and around30 regular volunteers. The fundraising team raise £2.5m a year and the charity benefits from the BBC Radio 4 Christmas Appeal, run by our partners - the St. Martin’s Charity. This gives the charity a very sound financial footing. There are close working links with Westminster City Council, including delivery of a large Street Outreach contract which is due to be re-tendered in the early Autumn of 2017.The Connection has a range of statutory and voluntary sector partners including the Police, NHS, The Passage, St. Mungos and our local corporate neighbours.

Having enjoyed a long period of continuous leadership, the charity’s CEO retired in April this year and the Director of Serices will be retiringshortly. A new CEO has joined the charity, alongside a new Chair of Trustees. This change in leadership brings an inevitable difference in style and approach. An interim strategic planhas been put in place to guide CSTM through to March until the new 3 year strategy is launched in April 2018. To deliver the new strategy, there will bechanges in the charity’s senior and middle service management structure. To support this transition, the charity will appoint an Interim Director of Service Development to work closely with the CEO and existing managers to oversee existing service delivery and prepare for change.

Alongside overseeing “business as usual” service matters, the Interim Director of Service Development will be largely focused on helping the services managers to:

  • introduce and implement a planning system that links strategy to staff appraisal. This will include learning to plan in a structured way in consultation with frontline delivery teams , ensuring everyone is accountable for delivery against individually agreed objectives;
  • Understand and manage their own service budgets including how they link to contracts, funding agreements and longer term fundraising plans;
  • Review operational policies and procedures, prioritising areas represneting significant organisational risk (Equalities, Health and safety, Data Protection);
  • Respond to a major IT upgrade planned for October – which will include a combination of on the ground disruption whilst hardware is installed and training with staff in using new software and associated systems;
  • Develop an ovearching outcomes framework, theory of change and servcie model, which links with existing monitoring and evaluation data;
  • Maintaining confidence with external stakeholders during the change process.

It is anticipated that this process will give the existing service managers the skills and insight to work within a new structure from July 2018. Alongisde the change work outlined here, the charity will also be creating an Innovation Team to take forward longer term work on personalisation and co-production, research, policy and new service areas (e.g. health and homelessness, women, non UK migrants).

The Interim Director of Service Development role requires someone with a very strong track record in service delivery with people who have complex needs (but not necessarrily within homelessness). The post holder must be able to hit the ground running and juggle the different areas of work outlined through good planning and time management. It is important to have experience of managing change, with an emphasis on providing training and personal development with middle managers to widen their skills, knowledge and experience. Finally, the post holder must be a positive role model with the personal credibility to build confidence in the charity both internally and externally while the change process progresses.