Housing Reviewing Officer - Dorset Council

Job title: Housing Review and Complaints Officer
Grade: Dorset Council Grade 11
Job evaluation reference: TBC
Job family: BC609

Purpose and impact
1. To carry out review requests on housing allocations and homelessness decisions ensuring all decision are consistent with the council’s legal responsibilities towards residents.
2. To be responsible for the co-ordination of complaints, MP and Councillor enquiries.
3. To respond to freedom of information requests and to support the development of service improvements.
4. Key responsibilities
5. To carry out statutory reviews under the Housing Act 1996, Parts VI & VII. To understand the statutory requirements of the s202 Review and s204 Appeal processes, to ensure that the Council complies with these requirements on every case which is reviewed.
6. To have a thorough understanding and working knowledge of the Housing Act 1996, Part VI, Part VII, (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002, Localism Act 2011 and Homeless Reduction Act 2017) s160A, Homelessness (Review Procedure etc.) Regulations 2018, The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities (2018), case law and other relevant legislation and Allocations of accommodation guidance for Local Housing Authorities in England (2012).
7. To have and maintain up to date knowledge of case law and its effect on statutory decisions.
8. To have an understanding of the Dorset Homechoice Common Allocations Policy and Christchurch and East Dorset Joint Housing Allocations Policy.
9. To draft complex review decision letters ensuring they comply with law, good practice and the need to communicate complicated legal concepts to homeless applicants in plain, accurate English.
10. To respond to each Freedom of Information or Subject Access request in a timely manner.
11. To assist the Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Performance to review the service by identifying and making recommendations regarding changes or improvements to practices.
12. To co-ordinate each complaint including ombudsman, MP and Councillor enquiries and pass to the relevant housing service manager or the corporate director as appropriate.
13. To provide reports and statistics about the review function and decision making of the Housing teams and provide training as appropriate.

The duties and responsibilities of the post are not restrictive and the post holder may be required to undertake other duties from time to time. Any such duties should not however, substantially change the general character of the post.

Other factors
The post holder will be required to work at any of the Council offices as necessary.

Our behaviours
Dorset Council has developed and embedded a set of behaviours that will form part of everything you do and you will need to be able to demonstrate them through the way you work, regardless of your role or grade within the organisation.

Full details can be found on the job website under ‘Working for Dorset Council’.

Applicants will be shortlisted on the basis of demonstrating that they fulfil the following criteria in their application form and should include clear examples of how they meet these criteria. You will be assessed in some or all of the specific areas over the course of the selection process.

Essential

Essential criteria are the minimum requirement for the above post.

Qualifications/ training/registrations
Required by law, and/or essential to the performance of the role
1. Education to A level (or equivalent) including Maths and English
Experience
2. Minimum of 5 years relevant experience in a local authority housing service
3. Experience of conducting customer focussed interviews and doing home and site visits to gather information and to complete the review investigations
4. Proven knowledge and experience of effectively dealing with a wide range of housing options and homelessness issues
5. Experience of prevention of homelessness using a wide range of prevention tools and techniques
6. Proven experience of being able to work effectively with minimal supervision
7. Proven experience of working within a confidential environment
Skills, abilities & knowledge
8. Excellent knowledge of the Housing Act 1996 Part VI and Part VII as amended (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002, Localism Act 2011 and Homeless Reduction Act 2017) and how this relates to the review and decision making process with some experience of making statutory decisions under the Housing Act 1996.
9. Working knowledge of the operation of the Housing Register and decisions relating to this.
10. Excellent knowledge of The Homelessness (Review Procedure etc.) Regulations 2018, The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities (2018) and homelessness case laws and the ability to keep up to date with legal developments
11. Ability to understand the Allocations scheme and the legal framework governing application for and the allocation of housing.
12. Excellent verbal communication skills including the ability to explain decisions and the review process to vulnerable customers, as well as to deal with solicitors representative and other professionals from various organisations.
13. Excellent letter-writing skills with the ability to manage and organise vast amount of information
14. Be adaptable, resourceful, and able to work unsupervised. Organise own workload effectively, prioritising tasks and working to defined deadlines
15. Dealing with and resolving non-straightforward and complex queries
16. Advanced knowledge in a range of IT systems including Microsoft office
17. Have excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate with people at all levels both internally and externally
18. The ability to negotiate calmly, sympathetically and objectively with distressed or angry customers, in order to obtain information and to negotiate successful outcomes to complaints
19. Have an eye for detail, and be accurate in following procedures
20. Be able to make informed decisions, be adaptable and work under pressure with excellent organisational and time management skills; ability to work to statutory deadlines
21. Good customer care and telephone skills
22. Good understanding of all local authority housing functions and duties
Behaviours
23. Responsibility
24. Respect
25. Recognition
26. One Team: Collaboration
Other
27. Able to travel to different locations and the ability to work from home

Desirable

Desirable criteria will be used in the event of a large number of applicants meeting the minimum essential requirements.

Qualifications/ training/registrations

28. Membership of Chartered Institute of Housing.
29.
30. Experience in using housing IT systems.
31.
Experience
32. Experience of data collection and analysis
33. Experience in responding to Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests
34. Experience in collating and or carrying out Ombudsman, MP or Councillor enquiries
Skills, abilities & knowledge
35. Able to interrogate systems and produce detailed and accurate information as required