Role Profile /

Job title: Rent and Income Advisor

Department: Housing

Reports to: Team Manager

Locations: Bromley

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Job Description

Overall aim

To minimise customer rent arrears by implementing the Rental Income Policy and working on a one to one basis with customers supporting them to manage their money and understand their financial responsibilities.

To promote financial inclusion through providing welfare and benefit advice, supporting customers in claiming the appropriate welfare benefits and manage their finances

To liaise closely with the Housing Benefit department to ensure claims, backdates, overpayments and appeals are processed efficiently.

Key responsibilities

1.  Maximising Rental Income

·  Implement the Rental Income Policy and Procedure for all customers including providing rental statements, issuing arrears letters and Notices, agreeing repayment plans.

·  To work in partnership with key workers to support customers to pay their rent on time and avoid eviction due to rent arrears.

·  To develop and maintain a good working relationship with the Housing Benefit department to enable appropriate sharing of information and resolution to housing benefit queries or appeals.

·  To meet the Current and Former Customer bad debt targets set each year for the project.

·  To chase arrears for former customers which may include contacting previous customers to agree a repayment plan, liaising with Debt Recovery organisations or making a claim in the County Court.

·  Provide accurate and timely reports on performance including but not limited toarrears performance and overall reduction in debt levels.

·  To liaise with the DWP worker, oversee the appointment schedule, and ensurecustomers with specific related issues are linked in with them weekly to ensure theirincome is maximised.

·  To serve Notices Requiring Possession in line with the organisation’s procedures.

·  To complete and submit applications to the county court for possession as defined by the organisations procedure.

·  To attend the County Court and present cases on behalf of South London YMCA.

·  To apply for warrants of possession as and when directed by the Service Manager andattend subsequent evictions.

2.  Health and Safety

·  To ensure that customers have up to date information on Health and Safety, and to support them to manage their environment.

·  To be aware and work within Health and Safety legislation.

·  To take part in regular Health and Safety inspections, to alert the appropriate people and take action yourself to remedy health and safety defects.

·  To be aware of Customer Risk Assessments and update key workers and colleagues on recognised changes in risk levels for customers.

·  To implement the Fire Safety Procedure in it’s entirety and contribute to the review of the Fire Risk Assessment.

·  To be familiar with the content of all Service and Building Risk Assessments and highlight areas of risk that need to be addressed.

3.  Administration

·  To keep accurate records, including customer contact and support and Pyramid database information

·  To provide regular written reports and information as requested.

·  To be aware of and adhere to all relevant financial procedures.

·  To be the lead contact for the Housing Management database maintaining the integrity of system and providing and advice and guidance to colleagues on how to operate the system.

4.  General

·  To use skills, experience and knowledge to respond to challenging customer situationsand behaviour. To use techniques to de-escalate situations and support customers to positively change their behaviour.

·  To identify opportunities to improve services both at a project and organisational level.

·  To contribute to the development and implementation of the Project Work Plan.

·  To deliver the highest standard of customer service to all parties including customers, their visitors and external agencies.

·  To ensure that SLYMCA Equality policy and procedures are actively promoted in all areas of work and that services are accessible to all individuals.

·  To prepare for and attend supervision, training and meetings as and when required.

·  To work proactively as par of a team.

·  To work at other locations as and when required.

This job description provides an indication of the roles and responsibilities for the post of Senior Support Worker, but should not be construed as an exclusive list of the duties that the post holder may be asked to undertake.

All SLYMCA employees must also be aware of, and adhere to, all SLYMCA policies and procedures.

SLYMCA reserves the right to amend this role profile as necessary, after consultation with the post holder, to reflect changes to the role.

Please turn to the Person Specification on the next page

July 2015

Person Specification / Rent and Income Advisor
The experience, qualifications, knowledge and skills required for this role are set out below.
For job applicants, they will be tested via the application or at interview, or both, as indicated in the columns on the right.
Please therefore ensure that all the relevant sections are addressed as part of your job application. / Assessed via Supporting Statement / Assessed
via
Interview
Process

Experience & qualifications

/ ·  Previous experience of providing managing rent arrears in a social housing setting / ü  / ü 
·  Previous experience of providing basic welfare and debt advice / ü  / ü 
·  Previous experience of working with people who have experienced homelessness / ü 
/ ·  Experience of occupancy/tenancy agreements and implementing an rent arrears procedure / ü 
/ ·  Experience of serving legal Notices and completing and attending County Court possession cases / ü 
/ ·  Experience of working in partnership with Statutory and Voluntary Agencies to achieve a positive outcome for our customers. / ü  / ü 
/ ·  Can demonstrate continued professional development and commitment / ü 
Knowledge / ·  Knowledge of the support needs of verified rough sleepers and how these can be supported in a hostel environment. / ü 
·  Knowledge of best practice in providing debt advice / ü  / ü 
·  Computer literate with competency in Microsoft Office applications / ü 
Skills / ·  Ability to cope with customers who display challenging behaviour. / ü 
·  Ability to manage multiple priorities and respond proactively to change. / ü  / ü 
·  Ability to support and motivate colleagues. / ü 
·  Commitment to customer involvement and ability to involve customers within the service / ü  / ü 
·  Ability to organise and prioritise your work, ensuring you manage your own time and plan your workload to meet deadlines / ü  / ü 
·  Ability to represent the organisation effectively internally and externally. / ü 
·  Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, demonstrating a good standard of written and oral English. / ü 

July 2015