Housing Prevention Officer

Housing Prevention Officer
£23,151 - £27,309 per annum, 37 Hours per week
Permanent, Cirencester

Do you have experience in giving advice to customers with complex problems?

The Housing Team are looking for a proactive, self-motivated and resilient person to work within the team to provide advice to people who are in housing crisis.  You will be working with other dedicated Housing Professionals:

• In a fast paced, professional environment
• Providing advice and support to our customers
• With the aim of preventing homelessness where possible

The appointed candidate will have the confidence to provide specialist and tailored advice on a range of options and opportunities including housing, employment, wellbeing, welfare benefits and debt. Knowledge and experience of working in homelessness is not essential as full training will be provided. If you are passionate and resilient with a desire to help, then we would love to hear from you.

About the role…

The aim of the Housing Officer is to provide comprehensive homelessness prevention advice to customers with a range of housing related issues. The Housing Officer will work with applicants to find solutions to their housing difficulties and thereby prevent homelessness occurring.

The role will include implementing the provisions of our Choice Based Lettings scheme and the Homelessness Reduction Act by working closely with the customer and a range of partner agencies to prevent homelessness occurring.

This is a replacement role covering the Cotswold, Forest of Dean and West Oxfordshire District Council areas, but is primarily based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

You will need…

• Experience of managing a caseload of customers
• Experience of working with vulnerable people with complex needs
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience of working within a Housing, Supported Housing or Homelessness focused service preferable, but not essential

Special Conditions…

• Ability to travel

Please note this role will be called Homelessness Prevention Officer internally.

For more information about this role please see the Job Description/Person Specification.

You will be employed by Publica Group Ltd which was created by four partner Councils (Cotswold District Council, West Oxfordshire District Council, Cheltenham Borough Council and Forest of Dean District Council)  to deliver more efficient and improved services. 

Publica is a unique place to work – we are a local government organisation with a twist! Publica wants to transform the way local services are delivered. To help do this we have started to fundamentally rethink the way we design our services in the digital era so that Publica is a customer-focused organisation driven by real user needs.

What can we do for you…

• Agile working allowing a mix of home and office working
• Flexible working arrangements (depending on the role)
• 26 days paid annual leave (pro rata if you are working part time) plus bank holidays and an extra two volunteering days off a year for you to support a charity of your choice
• Health cash plan giving you cash back on health, dental and eye care
• Pension scheme with a good employer contribution of 5% of your earnings
• Employee Assistance Programme 24/7, providing positive, preventative and supportive advice and counselling to deal with everyday events and issues
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salary sacrifice car lease scheme with huge tax and NI savings to be made on electric cars
• Access to digital financial advice (covering your pension scheme, mortgages and other finances)
• Generous sickness cover above statutory entitlements
• Additional income protection, covering 50% of your salary for potentially a further five years if you are unable to work due to sickness or injury
• Life assurance, currently four times your annual salary

Terms and conditions apply.

These are just a handful of the benefits that you can enjoy when you join us!

To apply for this position please click on "apply now" within this page to complete an application form and supporting statement together with your CV. Please tell us about your skills, knowledge, qualifications, experience and how they meet the criteria listed above and in the job description/person specification. It’s important that we’re a good fit for each other, so let us know what’s important to you and why you want to work for Publica Group Ltd.  Your CV will not be available to the hiring manager unless you are shortlisted for interview to assist with our non-biased screening process so please ensure you complete the application form in full.

It is important that our staff reflect the diversity of our community, and we therefore welcome and encourage applications from people of all genders and sexual orientation, those from Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic backgrounds, and those with disabilities.

Accredited of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies - Please state this within your covering statement or in a separate email.

Safer recruitment practices are applied to all job vacancies. Successful candidates will be required to complete a pre-employment medical questionnaire; provide references;  proof of identity; nationality and immigration status; three years’ employment or education history (if applicable) and, in some cases, verification of criminal record.