Legal and Regulatory

Legal and Regulatory includes diverse teams that help keep our city running smoothly and fulfil a range of statutory functions for Leeds residents. We’re welcoming and inclusive with a healthy workplace culture where everyone is free to be themselves.

As the teams within this area are so varied, there are jobs to suit most people. We’re looking for team members who:

• are willing to innovate and challenge
• come with fresh thinking, energy, and compassion for people
• can apply their knowledge, skills and judgement within a large and complex organisation
• are values driven and outcomes focussed
• have a positive “can do” attitude and a collaborative approach to work

In return we will support your development and career ambitions, encouraging you to craft and frame your job to maximise your diverse skills, talent and expertise. 

Legal services

Recognised as the UK’s leading legal centre outside London, Leeds is an exciting place to pursue your career in law. Our bold and ambitious legal team at the council is Lexcel accredited and offers career opportunities for legal officers and qualified solicitors and barristers.

• Our breadth of legal expertise encompasses all areas of local government, including:
  employment and education
• planning, highways and rights of way
• criminal and civil litigation
• licensing matters
• housing, property and commercial
• social care (children and adults)
• data protection and information
   

Work in this service is incredibly varied. You could be presenting the council’s case at enquiries, tribunals and in court, providing legal advice to officers and elected members including at council meetings, or drafting contracts and other legal documents.

Information governance

All council colleagues are responsible for managing information in line with applicable data protection legislation and information governance policies covering records management and freedom of information. This can be a complex area so our team is here to help.

Our information governance (IG) team sets and oversees our IG framework, including strategy, policies, information asset management, compliance and risk. We coordinate specialist IG functions, provide advice and training, represent the organisation externally and monitor compliance through audits whilst coordinating and responding to over 6,500 information requests a year.

Democratic services

Our democratic services team of 50 staff coordinates the council's decision-making functions. This team supports all official and formal meetings including full council, cabinet and committees. They also provide extensive support to the various political groups and councillors.

Electoral services

The council is responsible for facilitating local, regional and national elections and our electoral services team fulfils this vital function by:

• coordinating elections
• keeping the register of electors up to date
• administering requests for postal voting and other alternative arrangements
• producing identification documents for voters to use in polling stations

Registrars

This team is involved in many of life’s most significant moments. When new life enters the world or a loved one sadly passes away, our friendly and caring registrar team are on hand to manage the registration of births and deaths. The team also arrange marriage, civil partnership and citizenship ceremonies and issue copy certificates for all events.

Environmental health

No two days are the same for members of this team who have wide-ranging responsibilities across the city, its businesses and environment. The team:

• inspects food businesses
• enforces health and safety legislation in the retail and service sectors
• registers skin piercing activities such as tattooing and piercing
• enforces animal health legislation and dog control orders
• investigates public health issues including commercial noise, infectious disease outbreaks and air quality
• provides pest control services to domestic and commercial customers

Parking 

We have oversight of parking facilities, services and compliance across the city, ensuring parking arrangements are accessible and safe. Our teams manage:

• council-run car parks and on-street parking bays
• resident parking schemes and permits
• seasonal permits for parks
• parking fines and penalty charges
• applications for disabled parking bays and dropped kerbs

Entertainment licensing 

This team administers a wide range of licences and registrations and carries out compliance and enforcement across the district under multiple pieces of legislation. These include the Licensing Act 2003, Gambling Act 2005, Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 and others. 

Land and property search services 

This team is responsible for the compilation and maintenance of the local land charges register and street registers and provides the information for land and property search requests.

Taxi and private hire licensing 

Colleagues in this team play a vital role in keeping residents and visitors safe when using taxis and private hire vehicles. The service administers and enforces licensing for hackney carriages and private hire vehicles and drivers, ensuring compliance with legislation and local standards to promote public safety and confidence.

If you feel like you could slot into any of these teams we’d love to hear from you. Visit our job board to browse all our current opportunities.