Welfare Service Officer

Main Responsibilities

Welfare Service Officer

Yorkshire and Humberside (covering Hull and Doncaster) 

£21,500 per annum

Full Time - 40 hours per week

Job Outline:

Facilitate the customer journey to support the welfare of every Service User (SU) in their care.  The role to include: (i) ensuring void management is efficiently managed (ii) move in and move out of Service Users is carried out in accordance with contractual timescales; (iii) property standards are managed to contracted standards; (iv) correspondence is issued to Service Users within required timescales; (iv) incidents involving Service Users are investigated and recorded in accordance with contractual requirements and (v) local voluntary and community links are maximized.

Responsibilities:

• Visit every property within the portfolio (HMOs and Family Properties) at least once every month to check on the welfare of the Service Users; monitor the standard of the property in terms of defects (see 3. below) and  manage SU behaviour to minimise the risk of damage to the property; issue Warning letters as and when necessary, Discontinuation Notices and Relocation letters; address any low level maintenance issues in accordance with the Low Level Maintenance training provided
• Update the property and SU management system on a daily basis via email or text; data accuracy to confirm which SU is in which property will be the responsibility of the Welfare Service Officer for their allocated property portfolio.
• Conduct an inspection of every family property within a WSO’s portfolio once per month; carry out low level maintenance tasks at these properties in accordance with the Low Level Maintenance training provided and send a copy of the inspection report to the Service Centre within agreed timescales.
• Where required, provide transport to SU’s moving through and into allocated portfolio areas
• Manage the SU induction process to ensure all new arrivals are fully briefed, in a language that they understand, and familiarised into the property and the local area including the compilation and signing of all necessary documentation such as Occupancy Agreements and 10 Golden Rules; the issuing of the G4S briefing pack and House Rules
• Support SUs to ensure that they are referred into all necessary support agencies including Education (Nursery, Primary, Secondary & College), Health (GP, Health Visitor / Midwife, Mental Health Teams etc.).
• Manage and report all SU related incidents, to ensure that timeframes are met and issues are resolved in line with the Home Office Statement of Requirements (Schedule 2).
• Facilitate SU access to appropriate financial support – Interim Support Tokens (IST), Emergency Support Tokens (ESTs), Azure cards and Food Vouchers, maintaining a log of amounts issued in line with contractual standards.
• Compile and monitor all SU administration (Occupancy Agreements, signing registers, visitation logs, relocation requests, discontinuation letters etc.) to ensure that accurate records are maintained and are sent through to the Administration Team In Worksop to be centrally filed.
• Build strong links with local agencies and stakeholders to include but not limited to local authority Housing Standards/ Environmental Health teams, Home Office compliance inspectors, Voluntary and Community Sector groups, Health services, Education services, Local Authority, Police to maximise support and local information to Service Users.
• Manage all administrative tasks in line with current job role e.g. cash float and credit card reconciliations; Food Voucher, reconciliations and monthly mileage updates.
• Carry out any other ad hoc tasks, as requested by the WSO’s line manager, which may be required from time to time

The Ideal Candidate

Essential Skills:

• Knowledge of standards & requirements as laid down in the Home Office Statement of Requirements Schedule 2.
• Strong customer service and inter-personal skills.
• Strong communication skills including the ability to use Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word and Excel).
• Written & spoken English to GCSE Level.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience of building links with key voluntary and community agencies
• Working with individuals who have English as a second language.
• Working knowledge of standards & requirements as laid down in Local Authority (LACORS) and HHSRS regulations.