This details the main duties and requirements of the post and should help you to understand the nature of the role.
Join us
Our curiosity, creativity and purpose inspire everything that we do. We strive to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive culture at Progress Housing Group to continue our mission to ensure everyone has a place to call home and the opportunity to live their best life.
Help with the application process
The person specification describes the skills, experience, aptitudes and qualifications that you will need to carry out the role. Please look at this carefully so that you know what the job involves and the range of expertise required.
Ask yourself why you are interested in the job and whether you feel that you meet the requirements.
We will use your personal details to contact you in the event that you are shortlisted for an interview. Please ensure that you write clearly and provide as much information as you can about how we can contact you.
If you are not a British national or the holder of an EU or EEA passport, you will need to provide evidence that you have permission to work in the United Kingdom. If you are selected for an interview, you will be required to bring with you your original passport.
You will need to provide details of your educational qualifications and any professional memberships, together with the grades and dates of award as appropriate.
If you are selected for interview, you will need to bring the original certificates for any qualifications that are relevant to the post that you have applied for.
If you have attended any additional courses or training that you feel would support your application, please provide more details.
Please provide us with the name and address of your employer and a brief description of your current role. If you are not currently in employment, please leave this section blank.
Please provide details of your full employment history, starting with your most recent employer. You should include any employment undertaken from the date that you left full time education.
Please give a brief description of the duties you have carried out so that we can get an idea of the type of work you have done previously. It need only be brief; for example, if you have previously been a clerical assistant you may wish to state that you used various computer systems or filing systems, etc.
If you have had breaks in between employment periods, please explain the reason for the break e.g. care duties, education etc. If you wish, you may choose to provide further information about any career breaks within your supporting statement.
The 'supporting information' section is really your opportunity to sell yourself. You can include any information here that is not already covered elsewhere on the form, which supports how and why you would be suitable for the job.
This is about demonstrating the required skills, knowledge and experience. Include specific examples, such as:
- Duties and responsibilities
- Your skills, knowledge or experience relevant to the post
- Apparent gaps in your career profile
- Any voluntary work you have carried out
- Achievements in and outside of work
- Publications or presentations
- Activities outside of work that demonstrate relevant skills.
Please provide the names, positions, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses of two referees. Ideally, we would like both of your referees to be employers, but we recognise that this is not always possible.
Where possible, your first reference should be your current or most recent employer. Your second reference should be your most recent previous employer. If you have been employed with your present employer for less than three years, you will also need to provide details of a previous employer.
If you’ve just finished full-time education and have not been employed before, please provide the name of a course tutor or head teacher and any other suitable professional who you think might be appropriate.
It is our policy to request references following an offer of employment, which is conditional on receipt of all satisfactory pre-employment checks. Occasionally, we will request references in advance of interviews, and you should, therefore, indicate on the form whether this is acceptable to you.
Sometimes, we may feel it is appropriate to request a further reference from one of your previous employers, for example, if you only worked for the referee you have provided for a short period.
If you are shortlisted for an interview, we will contact you with the location and offer you a selection of dates and times so you can choose your own slot.
The selection process may include a practical test, a written exercise or a presentation as part of your interview. Details of these will be sent to you with your interview details, together with any additional information you may need.
We will let you know if you have been unsuccessful in your application.
We wish you every success with your application and thank you for your interest in Progress Housing Group.
Protecting your data
Where we refer to ‘we’ or ‘us’ in this Privacy Notice, we are referring to Progress Housing Group (the Group).
The Group is the 'data controller' of your personal identifiable information because we determine the use of this information. As a registered social housing provider, we are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
Progress Housing Group are a 'Group' of companies. In this Privacy Notice, when we refer to ‘Group’, we mean other members of our ‘Group’ of companies, including holding and subsidiary companies. View our group of companies and their ICO references here: https://ico.org.uk/esdwebpages/search
| Progress Housing Group Limited | Z7945816 |
| Progress Housing Association Limited | Z7611446 |
| Reside Housing Association | Z8893471 |
| Key Unlocking Futures Limited | ZA076933 |
| Concert Living Limited | ZA469256 |
The Group collects and processes a range of information about you. This includes:
- your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number, date of birth and gender
- details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history, including start and end dates, with previous employers and with the Group
- information about your remuneration, including entitlement to benefits such as pensions or insurance cover
- National Insurance number
- information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK
- information about your criminal record
- details of your schedule (days of work and working hours) and attendance at work
- details of periods of leave taken by you, including holiday, sickness absence, family leave and sabbaticals, and the reasons for the leave
- assessments of your performance, including appraisals, performance reviews and ratings, training you have participated in, monitoring evidence in relation to performance, performance improvement plans and related correspondence
- information about medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability for which the Group needs to make reasonable adjustments
- equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health and religion or belief.
The Group collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, directly from you, through employment agencies, through application forms or CVs; obtained from your passport or other identity documents such as your driving licence; from forms completed by you at the start of or during employment (such as benefit nomination forms); from correspondence with you; or through interviews, meetings or other assessments.
In some cases, the Group collects personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers and information from criminal records checks permitted by law.
Data is stored in a range of different places, including in your personnel file, in the Group's HR management systems and in other IT systems (including the Group's email system).
The Group needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, checking an employee's entitlement to work in the UK is required. For certain positions, it is necessary to carry out criminal records checks to ensure that individuals are permitted to undertake the role in question.
In addition to the above, the Group has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and in keeping records of the process.
The Group has considered whether or not these interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.
The Group may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend legal claims.
During the recruitment process, the Group may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by a former employer.
Your information will be shared internally, including with members of the People Team, line manager, managers in the business area in which you are looking to work and IT employees if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
The Group shares your data with third parties to obtain pre-employment references from other employers and obtain necessary criminal records checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service.
The Group also shares your data with third parties that process data on its behalf in connection with the management and support of HR information systems and recruitment.
The Group will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area unless appropriate safeguards are in place.
The Group takes the security of your data seriously. The Group has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed and is not accessed except by its employees in performing their duties.
Your full personal details will be stored in our People information system, which is accessible to the People Team with authorised log-in details.
Some personal details will also be kept within electronic personnel folders, accessible to members of the People Team. IT employees may also be able to access this data if necessary to perform their roles.
Your line manager can also access some basic personal details relating to your recruitment through the HR information system. This will require authorised login details.
Where the Group engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so based on written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure data security.
If you are unsuccessful in your application for employment then the Group will hold your personal data for twelve months after the end of the recruitment process.
Should you be successful then your personal data gathered in the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment.
As a data subject, you have several rights. You can:
- access and obtain a copy of your data on request
- require the Group to change incorrect or incomplete data
- in certain circumstances require the Group to delete or stop processing your data, for example, where the data is no longer necessary for processing
- object to the processing of your data where the Group is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing
- ask the Group to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the Group's legitimate grounds for processing data.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please get in touch with the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@progressgroup.org.uk.
If you believe the Group has not complied with your data protection rights, please get in touch with the Group’s Data Protection Officer. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner. Further details and contact information are available at ico.org.uk. [external web link]
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to the Group during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application.
We take your privacy seriously, and you can find out more here about your privacy rights and how we collect, use, share and secure your personal identifiable information.
This includes the personal identifiable information we already hold about you now and the further personal identifiable information we might collect about you, either from you or from a third party.
This Privacy Notice is a public document available when Progress Housing Group or its subsidiaries obtain and use your personal identifiable information for recruitment purposes. It explains how we and appointed third-party organisations/people use your personal identifiable information, and it details your rights.
Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) provides help and guidance to make sure we apply the law to the processing and protection of your personal identifiable information. Our DPO can be reached by email at dataprotection@progressgroup.org.uk, on our main phone number 0333 320 4555 or by post at Sumner House, 21 King Street, Leyland, Lancashire PR25 2LW, if you have any questions about how we use your personal identifiable information.
We put great importance on ensuring that every stage of our recruitment process is fair and properly carried out. In line with our values, we want to make sure that everyone is treated equally. The information that you provide in your application is the only information we will use in deciding whether or not you will be invited for an interview.
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
For most jobs you do not need to provide information about spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, some types of job are exempt from this act meaning that you will have to declare any criminal convictions, both spent and unspent. Some appointments will be subject to the checking procedures undertaken by the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Monitoring information and Equal opportunities
In order to help the Group monitor the effectiveness of its Equality and Diversity Policy, you are asked to provide the information requested on the Equal Opportunities page of our application form. The information you give us will be detached from your application and will be kept confidential.
Progress Housing Group is an Equal Opportunities Employer and as such will:
- advertise jobs in such a way as to encourage applications from all parts of the community
- regularly review and monitor our recruitment and selection process to ensure that no job applicant or employee is treated less favourably than another
- expect all employees to ensure that their personal conduct within the Group reflects the Equality and Diversity Policy
- encourage employees to develop awareness of equality issues and provide learning opportunities.
As part of our commitment to equality and diversity, Progress Housing Group is a Disability Confident - Committed Employer. As users of the Disability Confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies.
The Equality Act 2010 defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to undertake normal day-to-day duties.
On the Equal Opportunities page of the application form you should indicate if you consider yourself to have a disability and wish to be considered under the scheme. You should be aware that if you indicated that you have a disability, then you may be asked to provide information on this at the interview, as the Group needs this information to consider the likely impact of your disability on the duties of the post you are applying for and whether any reasonable adjustments can be made. This allows compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
We're an Age-friendly Employer
Progress Housing Group has signed the Age-friendly Employer Pledge, a nationwide programme run by the Centre for Ageing Better. By signing the pledge we are showing our commitment to older workers and making our workplace age-friendly. This means we’re taking action to improve our recruitment, retention and development of
workers aged 50 and over. Being a part of the pledge means we draw on a wider pool of applicants for each job. It means older workers can continue to thrive and contribute in our organisation. And it means we can benefit from the innovation and productivity boost that multigenerational workforces bring.