How did you first hear about Homes England?

I wanted to expand my career experience from NHS and Local Government to Civil Service so decided to have a look at what was out there and found an interesting role in the newly formed Government Relations Team. That was my first awareness of Homes England.

What is your current role, describe your typical day.

I’ve since taken on the role of Head of Corporate Support to ensure that agile executive and business support is consistently provided across the agency. My role sits within the Risk team which means that I’m part of the Risk Senior Leadership Team where I have taken on a lead role helping to deliver the agency’s Risk Enhancement Plan. I’m also the Co-Chair of the Faith Network.
I don’t think there’s a typical day at Homes England but an example of a working day for me includes:

Working with key stakeholders and groups to finalise a review of the Corporate Support service
Ensuring that we are on track with Corporate Support Delivery Priorities; a good and clear service offer, establishing a strong professional community and creating a supported career progression path for the team
Checking in with the Corporate Support team to ensure everyone is ok, which has been especially important during remote working Catch ups and 1:1s
Leading a working group to deliver part of the Risk Enhancement Plan
Working with the Risk Senior Leadership Team to shape new ways of working
Feeling a little guilty that I don’t have more time to dedicate to the Faith Network

How has your role progressed since you started at Homes England?

Having been established as a successful Head of Business Improvement in Local Government, I wanted to broaden my experience to include Civil Service. I joined Homes England as a Senior Specialist in Government Relations as it would be give me exposure to MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) and allow me to play a role in influencing policy.
I recall being really impressed that at my interview for the role, our Chief of Staff was open about upcoming opportunities to progress within the agency. Some time into my role as Senior Manager Government Relations, I felt that I wasn’t using my full skills set and asked her if there was anything else I could get involved with.
That conversation led to me working on the Framework Document Review, this is a key document that sets out what we do as an Agency, the parameters in which we can operate and how we work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It was great experience and exposure to the wider agency. Within nine months at Homes England I was promoted to Head of Corporate Support, a role where my skills and experience are being used to conclude the Corporate Support Project.
I was promoted during lockdown and at a time when I had to temporarily drop to 2 working days a week while my husband and I worked out childcare for our toddler. The secondment to Head of Corporate Support has not only given me scope to deliver a key project for the agency, it has also given me the opportunity to be part of the Risk Senior Leadership Team, developing me further and enabling me to take on a high profile workstream within Risk.

What do you like most about your day-to-day job?

I love that I can genuinely say that I work in an organisation where I have the authority to put my team at the heart of my work – people matter at Homes England.

What surprised you most about Homes England?

I have been blown away by how agile and commercial Homes England is. I’ve worked in lots of public sector organisations that like to think they are agile and/or commercial but Homes England works at an incredible pace! We have the ability to bring the right experts together quickly and reconfigure resource and strategy as and when required. That’s no small achievement for an organisation this size!

Do you have any proud moments?

One of my main priorities when I joined Homes England was to establish a business partnering relationship and system with the Development Directorate. A really proud moment was being nominated in the Employee Recognition Scheme by the Land Advisory Team in Development Directorate for working in collaboration.
I feel really proud when I reflect on the journey of the Corporate Support Team since I took post in May. We are now a recognised professional community, we come together regularly as a newly formed team with a great agenda of updates, invited speakers and sharing best practice. We are also making great progress on our delivery priorities.
Another proud moment is being asked to pick up the high profile education workstream of the agency’s Risk Enhancement Plan despite not having a risk background.

How do you feel Homes England promotes a supportive and diverse culture?

Homes England have encouraged staff to establish staff networks, that’s a great step towards understanding the diversity that exists and the barriers to diversity.
The work on producing our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report has brought a real focus on acknowledging the issues we have and making a commitment to tackling them. Our CEO’s message is clear and it is great to hear that messaging from the top.
On a personal level I feel incredibly proud to work in an organisation where as a woman who displays her ethnicity and Sikh faith and had to temporarily reduce working hours in the early stages of lockdown, I can still be promoted and have my potential recognised and harnessed. When I told Nick, our CEO this, he said as an organisation, we have more to do. What a leader!

What advice would you give someone trying to decide whether to join Homes England?

If you want to work somewhere that puts people first, whether that’s its employees or the people we are accelerating housing for, then this is the place to be. Homes England is fast paced, offers a huge variety of roles and harnesses talent which means there’s a part of this organisation that will be perfect for you.
We have made a commitment to become an equal, diverse and inclusive environment. We want to work with people of all backgrounds because we know that encouraging people to have diverse thoughts isn’t the answer, employing a diverse workforce is.

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