Location: Can be offered on either office- or home-based

Fixed term until 31 March 2027 (open to secondments from councils)

About us

The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. We work on behalf of our member councils to support, promote and improve local government.  
We are a politically led, cross-party organisation that works on behalf of councils to ensure local government has a strong, credible voice with national government. We influence and set the political agenda on the issues that matter to councils to help them deliver local solutions to national problems.  
We also provide councils with the tools and resources to respond to challenges present and emerging, and support improvement across the sector.

We value diversity and encourage applications from all sections of the community to this high-profile role.

About the role

After a successful six years of getting landlords to remediate high rise blocks with unsafe cladding, JIT, the national fire safety Joint Inspection Team, is recruiting three Environmental Health Officers. The contract is for up to 31.3.27, but there are ongoing discussions with Government about extending the JIT team beyond then.

This is a unique opportunity to be at the cutting edge of making buildings safe, and working with key regulators.

The JIT is a multi-disciplinary team comprised of a fire engineer, a building controller, Environmental Health professionals (we use Housing Act 2004 legislation to do HHSRS risk assessments of the fire safety in blocks), intelligence officers, and legal advisors.

Most of the team’s work involves site inspections (up to two days), preparation ahead of the inspection, and follow up work, including drafting reports and helping councils to enforce using Housing Act 2004.  The team also delivers training courses to local authority staff to help them undertake their own enforcement.  The team is based in London, but there are opportunities for home working. Hotels and travel to site inspections are paid for by the LGA.  The JIT team is funded by Central Government, but is independent in all professional judgements - our clients are local authorities.

Environmental Health Officer, salary £65,032 - £75,539 pa (including London Weighting).

If you would like more information or a chat about the role, please email Brian Castle brian.castle@local.gov.uk

About you

You will be an experienced EHO comfortable with enforcement in residential blocks.  You will need to be energetic, flexible to new challenges, and able to get on with lots of people.  The role involves staying away for up to two nights in hotels whilst on site inspections, (paid for by LGA).

You must have the right to work in the UK, the LGA are unfortunately unable to offer sponsorship visas. Evidence for the right to work in the UK will be requested at the interview stage. 

To apply

If you would like to be considered for the role, please complete the online form and include a supporting statement detailing how you meet the criteria for the role before the closing date.

We are specifically assessing candidates against the following criteria:

1.    MSc, BSc or diploma in Environmental Health or sufficient directly relevant experience in Private Sector Housing work and experience with enforcement in HRRB in local housing authorities.

2.    Substantial experience of using HHSRS and addendum, taking enforcement action and giving evidence in Tribunals and Court. Some working knowledge of PAS9980, FRA and cladding reports.

3.    Reasonable knowledge of the built environment relating to blocks of flats.

4.    Experience of preparing responses for First-tier Tribunals, or other legal action.

5.    Excellent verbal and written skills.

6.    Ability to create and sustain effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders.

Closing Date:        5pm, 28 September Interview Date:     17 October, interviews will be in-person

We use anonymous recruitment, which is the practice of hiding candidates’ identities. This process involves removing any identifying information from candidates’ applications which includes names.

At the LGA we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit.  

***The LGA are proud to be awarded a “Disability Confident Leader”.  Please contact us via ***Recruitment@local.gov.uk  if you require a reasonable adjustment, which is a change to the format or conditions of the recruitment process to accommodate any disability-related needs you may have.

Our benefits

• LGA annual leave entitlement is 29 days, rising to 31 days after three years’ service and to 33 days after five years’ service, plus all UK public holidays (pro rata for fixed term and part time contracts).*
• Flexible & agile working – office-based staff are required to work in the LGA’s London office two days per week as a minimum, subject to business need and this may vary significantly between different roles and from week to week.
• Future development – face-to-face and virtual courses are scheduled in line with developmental goals
• The LGA offers 24/7 access to a free, confidential employee assistance programme managed by Health Assured. This service is also available for Dependants.
• Family friendly policies

For more of LGA’s benefits and working with us, please view our webpage https://www.local.gov.uk/benefits-and-working-lga

Our values & behaviours

Our Values and Behaviours are there to give us an understanding of who we are as an organisation and who we want to be. They are a framework to help us understand:

• how we work with each other
• how we work with our members and stakeholders
• our expectations for ourselves and each other

Our values are:

Collaboration – We value collaboration, to pursue shared goals by encouraging and utilising diverse perspectives and working with internal and external colleagues across the organisation.

Inclusion – We value inclusion, where everyone feels valued, understood, and supported to contribute meaningfully.

Ambition – We value ambition, reflecting our desire to achieve best possible outcomes for local government, communities, and individuals.

Respect – We value respect, to ensure fairness, recognition, and shared accountability.