Benefits and Housing Needs Officer

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Formally responding to all stage 1 assigned casework / follow-ups, Members Enquiries, MP enquiries, Mayor & Cabinet Enquiries and Freedom of information requests within the standard KPI turnaround time and to occasionally assist the exploratory enquiries of the Business Improvement & Complaints Team with stage 2 escalated complaint investigations.
• Efficiently tracking, monitoring and prioritising business critical casework responses and FOI’s by order of deadline or by instructions from line management or higher.
• Implementing robust measures of casework management / investigation methods to ensure all lines of enquiries are sufficiently explored, managing expectations and offering the most up to date deliverable solutions to successfully resolve formal disputes and all other forms of casework.
• Working across all business areas of the service in order to access and to compile essential information in order to fully respond to all assigned casework.
• Promoting a 'one council' approach and to share knowledge of best practices with team colleagues and wider service to help the service improve and help in the implementation of any pertinent lessons learned through our day-to-day work.
• Identifying and mitigating all risks related to safeguarding, by exhaustively exploring and following through to completion all necessary action points to ensure no member of the public and/or staff colleagues are at risk of danger or harm at any time.
• Assisting the team colleagues to determine casework ownership within the service or to another directorate within the Council.
• Working in collaboration with other directorates to successfully deliver robust joint casework responses.
• Undertaking additional duties that may arise from time to time commensurate with the grade of the post and the ability to work at any location within the borough of Hackney, including weekends if required.

Requirements:

• Must have a minimum of at least 5 years experience of working in Local Government and/or any other government / political organisation.
• Must have a strong understanding of the key challenges facing local and national government in the professional field of benefits, Council tax reduction scheme and all statutory obligations applicable under Part 7 (Homelessness) & Part 6 (Allocations) of the Housing Act 1996.
• Strong verbal and adept written communication skills.
• Enhanced DBS dated within the last 12 months. On the update service? You could be fast tracked through our recruitment process today.
• Willingness to complete an enhanced DBS if you do not currently hold one

Working with Archer Resourcing

‍We have been helping professionals find exciting new roles for a number of years, so we know exactly where to look when it comes to sourcing the best opportunities.

We operate across the UK, and, with amazing relationships with the biggest employers in UK social care, we give you the best chance of landing your next role.

Due the high demand of CV's received we are unable to respond to all applications. However, we may hold your CV on file and contact you for future suitable roles.

We also offer a £250 referral bonus should you know of anyone who may be interested.

‍Must be eligible to work in the U.K