Job summary
Hours per week: 37 hours
Interview date: To be confirmed after shortlisting
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Homeless Early Intervention Taking an Upstream Approach to Preventing Homelessness and reduce reoffending
Join us as a Homeless Early Intervention Officer and make a huge difference in your community.
Wiltshire Council have recently created a new and exciting Homeless Early Intervention team focusing on supporting households identified as being at high risk of becoming threatened with homeless by providing upstream and pre-preventative holistic support.
As a Homeless Early Intervention Officer, you will provide vital advice and support to our clients, empowering them to understand their tenure right, maintain their housing, and preventing homelessness.
We are seeking candidates with an innovative and creative approach, capable of effectively handling challenging customers resistant to change.
You will have the chance to work from one of our hubs located in Trowbridge, Chippenham, or Salisbury as well as being expected to provide outreach advice and support in our communities across the county.
Main duties of the job
Homeless Early Intervention officers will deliver assertive and proactive advice and support to promote a pre-prevention approach to mitigate the risk of households from becoming homeless across Wiltshire.
From supporting with maximising income and budgeting, to preventing family exclusion by mediation, to connecting them with essential services. You will adopt a trauma informed approach and play a crucial role in navigating our customers through the challenges the current cost-of-living and housing crisis.
Officers will provide a comprehensive advisory and support service to households who are at high risk of becoming threatened with homelessness, to empower them to develop the skills required to become resilient and independent in the community.
The Officers will be required to build and maintain positive relationships with a wide range of partners in both the voluntary and statutory sectors to effectively focus their interventions to the hardest to reach communities, and those households at the highest risk of becoming homeless across the Wiltshire area.
Early Intervention Officers will be required to participate in housing drop ins across different sites within the community to promote an accessible service. This may include environments such as hospitals and community drop ins.
It is integral for the role to be confident in their negotiation and mediation skills as they will be leading on a mediation intervention.
About us
Wiltshire Council is a friendly, welcoming place to work, with a 'One Council' ethos. That is why we focus on getting the things that matter to our people right.
If you have applied for this role within the last six months, you do not need to reapply. Your application will remain on file and will be considered
While we welcome applications from job seekers who require skilled worker sponsorship, we are not able to issue a defined certificate of sponsorship due to limitations in our sponsorship capacity.
Please download and read therole description and person specificationcarefully before you apply.
For more details, contact Natalie McKenna, Homeless Early Intervention Team Manager via email at Natalie.McKenna@wiltshire.gov.uk
This role may be subject to certain successful security checks; please see the role description for more information.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Specific duties and responsibilities include:
To take responsibility for, prioritise and manage a designated caseload of households at high
risk of being threatened with homelessness.
To deliver preliminary housing advice, including providing practical financial advice,
information and support on a wide range of issues including tenure and housing rights,
welfare rights, personal finance/budgeting, life skills.
To carry out in-depth assessment of customers housing and support needs and risk levels.
To identify and provide support to clients affected by welfare reform and benefit changes. To
support vulnerable clients affected to consider their options and address any drop in income,
for example by applying for relevant funding, grants, appealing decisions and working with the
DWP to facilitate this.
Working in a psychologically informed way, agree support plans with customers that are
regularly reviewed and monitored.
Use skills in key working with customers with both mental health and substance issues to
provide support through the appropriate pathways, or to support customers on their journey
until they become ready to access relevant services.
Work with customers, agreeing a plan of support, identifying key priorities and promoting self
advocacy allowing them to manage and sustain their tenancies.
To represent the service in multi-agency meetings and contribute as required.
To contribute to the development of services via project teams and other methods as adopted
from time-to-time.
To advise and assist in the identification of safeguarding issues according to the councils
safeguarding responsibilities.
To maintain accurate and comprehensive records and ensure the councils policies of data
protection, equality & diversity and confidentiality are applied.
Any other duties appropriate to the grade of the post.
Specific requirements for this post:
Flexibility around working times is required to meet the needs and wishes of households,
encouraging maximum engagement in support and access to early interventions.
The role will be performed county-wide; Officers will be required to have their own vehicle and
travel around the county.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Specific duties and responsibilities include:
To take responsibility for, prioritise and manage a designated caseload of households at high
risk of being threatened with homelessness.
To deliver preliminary housing advice, including providing practical financial advice,
information and support on a wide range of issues including tenure and housing rights,
welfare rights, personal finance/budgeting, life skills.
To carry out in-depth assessment of customers housing and support needs and risk levels.
To identify and provide support to clients affected by welfare reform and benefit changes. To
support vulnerable clients affected to consider their options and address any drop in income,
for example by applying for relevant funding, grants, appealing decisions and working with the
DWP to facilitate this.
Working in a psychologically informed way, agree support plans with customers that are
regularly reviewed and monitored.
Use skills in key working with customers with both mental health and substance issues to
provide support through the appropriate pathways, or to support customers on their journey
until they become ready to access relevant services.
Work with customers, agreeing a plan of support, identifying key priorities and promoting self
advocacy allowing them to manage and sustain their tenancies.
To represent the service in multi-agency meetings and contribute as required.
To contribute to the development of services via project teams and other methods as adopted
from time-to-time.
To advise and assist in the identification of safeguarding issues according to the councils
safeguarding responsibilities.
To maintain accurate and comprehensive records and ensure the councils policies of data
protection, equality & diversity and confidentiality are applied.
Any other duties appropriate to the grade of the post.
Specific requirements for this post:
Flexibility around working times is required to meet the needs and wishes of households,
encouraging maximum engagement in support and access to early interventions.
The role will be performed county-wide; Officers will be required to have their own vehicle and
travel around the county.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Understand data protection and confidentiality and the need for accurate and timely recording.
- Understanding of current social housing policies and initiatives.
-
- Experience of working in a housing or similar environment .
-
- Self-sufficient in planning and organising own work, including recording, storing and retrieving required data and information.
- Experience of housing advocacy work on behalf of homeless and vulnerably housed individuals.
- Experience of working collaboratively with voluntary, statutory and private sector agencies.
- Experience of working with clients with complex and challenging health issues.
-
- Detailed knowledge of social housing, private housing sector, landlord and tenant legislation.
-
- Experience of assessing customer needs and delivering psychologically informed interventions to ensure needs are identified and met.
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualified to HNC with professional support and advice qualification (such as NVQ Level 3 in Advice and Guidance) or relevant experience.
Desirable
- Knowledge of housing legislation, in particular Housing Act 1996 Part 6 and Part 7.
- Knowledge and understanding of the operation of Councils allocations policy and the Homes4Wiltshire scheme.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Understand data protection and confidentiality and the need for accurate and timely recording.
- Understanding of current social housing policies and initiatives.
-
- Experience of working in a housing or similar environment .
-
- Self-sufficient in planning and organising own work, including recording, storing and retrieving required data and information.
- Experience of housing advocacy work on behalf of homeless and vulnerably housed individuals.
- Experience of working collaboratively with voluntary, statutory and private sector agencies.
- Experience of working with clients with complex and challenging health issues.
-
- Detailed knowledge of social housing, private housing sector, landlord and tenant legislation.
-
- Experience of assessing customer needs and delivering psychologically informed interventions to ensure needs are identified and met.
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualified to HNC with professional support and advice qualification (such as NVQ Level 3 in Advice and Guidance) or relevant experience.
Desirable
- Knowledge of housing legislation, in particular Housing Act 1996 Part 6 and Part 7.
- Knowledge and understanding of the operation of Councils allocations policy and the Homes4Wiltshire scheme.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
