We employ about 300 Planning Inspectors, all of whom are professionally qualified, for example, as town planners, architects, lawyers or engineers. Please see the Planning Inspectors' grades, salaries and pension arrangements document for information on remuneration and benefits.

The work requires an unusual combination of skills. On the one hand Inspectors must be self-sufficient and able to work on their own without supervision for long periods; on the other hand they must have the self-confidence and "presence" to take control of public inquiries. The competences we think an Inspector requires are included in the Planning Inspector Core Competence Framework.

Inspectors work from home and come into the office only infrequently. Working from home can cause difficulties for some people. The self assessment questionnaire has been devised by psychologists from the Recruitment and Assessment Service to help potential Inspectors decide whether working from home is the right career choice. Why not take time to fill it in and see whether you would be suited to the lifestyle?

Inspectors need to have space in their homes to accommodate the office equipment, including a PC and all the reference material required. The work space guidelines show what we think is necessary. These guidelines were drawn up our ergonomic consultants - System Concepts Ltd. We advertise for new Inspectors in the professional press - normally "Planning" and sometimes in other professional journals - so please do not contact us to ask about vacancies. Our current vacancies are also advertised on this site. However, if you have any questions that are not dealt with on our web site please contact us.

You may be interested in reading "a day in the life" of an Inspector and a description of the role of an Inspector that we used in our last recruitment exercise.