Trainee Homeless Intervention Officer

Team: Homelessness Intervention Team

Job Family: Providing - CBG7 & CBG8

Salary: Career Grade starting at CBG7 £27,711 - £30,060 per annum pro rata - moving subject to assessment/accreditation CBG8 - £30,060 - £32,801 per annum pro rata

Hours: 37 hours per week

Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.

Contract Type: Hybrid – Permanent

Closing Date: 26th May 2025

Interview Date: 12th June 2025

About the role:

Our Housing Solutions Service are looking for an ambitious individual to join our award nominated and innovative Homelessness Intervention Team as a full-time member of staff to provide an innovative and person-centred service aimed at alleviating and preventing homelessness.

To be successful in this Trainee Homeless Intervention Officer role, you will be a passionate and self-motivated person with empathy and understanding to build relationships with customers facing homelessness. You will require experience of working in a challenging situation with the ability to remain calm under pressure while delivering the highest levels of customer service. You will have experience of problemsolving and working with a diverse clientele within a housing environment.

Reporting to the Senior Homeless Intervention Officer, you will possess excellent negotiating skills and the ability to communicate effectively with customers and other stakeholders. You will carry out assessments of the housing and support needs of vulnerable clientele to determine the statutory duties they are owed, with the ability to make detailed investigations and issue decisions in accordance with the provisions of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, Housing Act 1996 (as amended), Equality Act 2010, Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation)(England) Order 2012) and all other relevant legislation.

Working in a fast-paced and pressurised environment, you will be an effective team player, have good organisational skills with the ability to meet deadlines. You will require the ability to use different IT systems to manage caseloads, monitor delivery of targets and drive improved service.

Core duties of the Trainee Homeless Intervention Officer will include but not be limited to:

• Conducting full assessment of all eligible applicants who present as homeless or threatened with homelessness and issue notification letters in accordance with the legislation.
• Work collaboratively with applicants to draw up an agreed personalised housing plans and continually review the plan by updating the advice and support provided to the applicants.
• Assist in delivering a comprehensive and proactive homelessness prevention and advice service.
• Liaising with friends and family, landlords, letting agents, General Practitioners, Health Care workers, internal and external partners in the process of preventing or relieving homelessness and determining duties owed to applicants.
• Taking all reasonable steps to relieve homelessness irrespective of priority need.
• Conducting assessment interviews at Council offices and making home visits to homeless applicants.
• Apply and implement homelessness laws and the code of guidance, including the Housing Act1996, the Homelessness Act 2002, the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 and other relevant guidance and legislation whilst carrying out assessments of applicants’ housing and support needs.
• Explain the full range of housing solutions available to customers to help prevent or relieve homelessness as well as mediate to help resolve potentially homeless cases irrespective of tenure (excluding fear of violence).
• Ensure full and accurate recordings of client’s details, all advice and support provided and maintain accurate written and computer records, reports and other monitoring information as required, in connection with the various duties and case management and in line with relevant policies and procedures.
• To manage client’s expectations advising as to potential housing solutions including private rented and hostel accommodation and as to the lower supply of social housing compared to demand. To undertake a holistic assessment of current housing issues and seek out appropriate solutions where possible at an early stage to prevent homelessness and where possible prevent the use of interim accommodation by preventing homelessness.
• You may need to make referrals to the Mental Health or other relevant professional panels and to attend or participate in case conferences as requested.
• To keep up to date with relevant case law particularly in respect of the tests of vulnerability and priority need and with reference to responsibilities under the Equality Act and Care Acts.
• To identify and refer cases to the homeless outreach workers / services, e.g. those with a history of rough sleeping or complex needs where resettlement is needed to enable rehousing by social or other housing providers.
• You will be working closely with the temporary accommodation team to support the client with rehoming to permanent accommodation.
• You will provide information to clients on the operation of the Council’s Housing Register, advice on a household’s position on the register, extending areas of choice and prospects of assistance with housing and update systems as necessary. You will be required to complete assessments on suitable accommodation for applicants for temporary or long-term accommodation to end the homeless duty.

Please note this role will require you to participate in an out-of-hours rota.

Our Offer

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.

Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Vicky Dougherty on Vicky.Dougherty@centralbedfirdshire.gov.uk or 0300 300 6789. 

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To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.

Our National Careers Service team offer a free weekly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours.  Please book your place here.

More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council