Advice Services Information Assistant

Background

Citizens Advice East Berkshire, Slough Foodbank and the Trussell Trust have come together to deliver free advice service for people struggling to afford the basics. Operating in Slough the adviser will offer personalised advice and support to help address the underlying causes of the hardship, maximise people’s income, and work with clients to reduce their reliance on crisis support.

The aim of the service is to help people or households facing hardship to maximise their income. Our advisers also help to identify the need for wider advice (such as debt, immigration, or housing, for example) directing people to specialist onward support. By addressing the underlying causes of the hardship, we hope to reduce the need for food bank support.

The Assistant will work with colleagues in Citizens Advice East Berkshire and Slough Foodbank with support from our Supervisors, have access to our wealth of resources and are an integral part of the Citizens Advice East Berkshire team. As such, you will be invited to participate in regular briefings, team meetings and training opportunities.

We are advertising for a part-time position to start as soon as possible. This role is predominantly working from Slough Foodbank Collection Centres but some working from Citizens Advice East Berkshire Offices will be expected. We will provide a suitable laptop, telephony, and headset. This role will be for up to an initial 12-month contract with the potential to be extended.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received so we’d love to hear from you as soon as possible!

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Advice Work

• Interviewing clients face-to-face at Slough Foodbank Collection Centres, exploring client issues, letting the client explain their enquiry and helping the client to set priorities.
• Finding, interpreting, and communicating relevant information from Citizens Advice public site or other approved source of information
• Exploring options and assessing next steps potentially referring clients internally for advice.
• Completing clear and accurate case records.
• Referring clients to further advice, in particular Citizens Advice East Berkshire’s specialist advisers

Generic

• Keep up to date with Citizens Advice aims, policies and procedures and ensure these are followed.
• Ensure that work reflects and supports the Citizens Advice service's equality and diversity strategy.
• Keep up to date with research and campaigns issues.
• Maintain effective admin systems and records relevant to the role.
• Attend regular internal and external meetings relevant to the role.
• Work cooperatively with colleagues and encourage good teamwork, clear lines of communication and common practices within the team.
• Abide by health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for your own health and safety and that of colleagues.
• Identify your own learning and development needs and take steps to address these.
• Carry out any other tasks within the scope of the post to ensure the effective delivery and development of the service.

Staff group / Teamwork

• Remain engaged with the wider services provided by Citizens Advice East Berkshire and understand the strategic relevance of the project within the overall context of service delivery.
• Build rapport with colleagues and ensure the work of the project is communicated at all levels.
• Attend and participate in Citizens Advice East Berkshire team meetings where possible.

Training and Professional development

• Identify and implements plans for own training and development needs.
• Keep up to date with legislation, policies and procedure and undertaken appropriate training as agreed with the line manager.
• Attend relevant internal and external meetings as agreed with the line manager.
• Prepare for and attend supervision sessions/team meeting/staff meeting as appropriate.
• Keeping in touch with local issues, developments, and changes in procedure of other agencies.

Duties required of all salaried employees of Citizens Advice East Berkshire

• Uphold the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service and its Equal Opportunities, Diversity and Dignity at work principles. Ensuring that all dealings with Citizens Advice East Berkshire colleagues and the public are conducted in adherence to Citizens Advice East Berkshire’s Equality, Diversity and Dignity at work policies.
• The job holder has a personal responsibility, whilst at work, to preserve and enhance health and safety.  They must familiarize themselves with the health and safety aspect of their work and avoid contact which would put at risk the health and safety of themselves and other people including visitors, contractors, and members of the public.
• Exercise Discretion in the handling of all sensitive data in accordance with Citizens Advice East Berkshire Information Assurance procedures and policies
• Participate fully in the life of the organisation, attending workers’ meetings, internal planning events etc. as agreed with line manager.
• Abide by health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for own safety and that of colleagues.
• Keep abreast of organisational changes.
• Must be willing to take a flexible and adaptable approach to service delivery. Making a positive contribution to the team
• Carry out any other appropriate tasks requested by the line manager, to ensure the effective delivery and development of the service, subject to any reasonable adjustment under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Person Specification

• Experience of supporting customers in a face-to-face environment.
• Demonstrable working knowledge of one or more of the following areas: Benefits, debt, housing and/or employment is desirable.
• A commitment to continuous professional development.
• Attending internal meetings as appropriate.
• A commitment to the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service.
• Being open, approachable, and non-judgmental.
• Ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing.
• Ability to sift through information and extract what is relevant.
• A good level of IT knowledge, literacy and numeracy.
• An understanding of why confidentiality is important.
• Be able to input data accurately.
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team.
• Ability to recognise their own limits and boundaries in the role.
• Enjoy helping people.
• Have right to work in the UK.

Job Types: Part-time, Permanent

Pay: From £12.00 per hour

Expected hours: 9 per week

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Employee discount
• Health & wellbeing programme
• On-site parking

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Slough: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Experience:

• Citizens Advice: 1 year (required)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 03/06/2024
Reference ID: IA-5-24