Gwynedd Council operates internally through the medium of Welsh and offers all its services bilingually. For further information about this post please contact Rhiannon Thomason at RhiannonThomas@gwynedd.llyw.cymru or call 01286 679076.
Person Specification
Personal attributes (Essential)
- Strong relationship building skills.
- The ability to deal with people of all ages and background.
- A commitment to equality of opportunity, valuing diversity and anti-discriminatory practice, which is reflected in the professional relationships built with service users, colleagues and the public.
- Integrity, self-confidence, assertiveness and flexibility.
- Able to take on responsibilities and communicate effectively, handling confidential matters sensitively.
- Able to work under pressure and as a team member.
- Ability to make decisions.
- In possession of a full and current driving licence and use of a car.
Personal attributes (Desirable)
- Understanding of the Housing Support Grant.
- Housing experience either in a Local Authority, Housing Association or other housing advice service.
- One year’s experience of working with people who need housing advice.
- Experience of dealing with housing applications and carrying out assessments of housing need.
- Ability to work largely unsupervised.
Qualifications and relevant training (Essential)
- Professional qualification or relevant experience in the field.
- Very good IT skills with experience of using different software packages including Microsoft Office (e.g. Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint).
Qualifications and relevant training (Desirable)
- Evidence of continuing professional and personal development.
- Relevant experience in working with different agencies.
- Experienced in planning and monitoring the progress of your own workload and meeting deadlines.
- Experience of working with vulnerable people in a supportive or advisory role.
- Strong customer care experience.
- Experience of working within the Housing Support Grant.
Skills and specialist knowledge (Essential)
- Experience of dealing with members of the public in sensitive or pressured situations.
- The ability to assess needs using different methods.
- Experience of supervising staff.
Skills and specialist knowledge (Desirable)
- Operational experience within the Housing Support Grant.
Language requirements
- Listening and Speaking – Higher level capability in Welsh and English on a professional level.
- Reading and Understanding – Higher level capability in standard written Welsh and English.
- Writing – Higher level capability in written Welsh and English.
Job Description
Purpose of the post
- Ensure that the people of Gwynedd are at the heart of everything we do.
- Coordinate the team's daily work with an emphasis on performance against key indicators and ensure high standards of customer care.
Responsibility for functions
- Overseeing any equipment, machine or goods related to the above duties.
Main duties
- Work closely with One Stop Shop Team Leader to ensure processes and procedures run efficiently and effectively.
- Hold one‑on‑one meetings with Team Members to ensure everyone has the required support relating to day‑to‑day matters.
- Responsibility for daily managing of the post.
- Responsibility for operational arrangements for inputting new applications and assessing applications.Ensure that operational arrangements are in place to deal with general queries that come to the Team's attention (whether by phone, email or letter).
- Attend regular Operational Meetings with Adra, Grŵp Cynefin and North Wales Housing.
- Motivate all team members on all operational work areas.
- Assist and fill in with normal duties of officers which include (but are not limited to):
- Provide housing options advice and support to members of the public by phone, email or interview, in the Council office or in special circumstances in clients' homes.
- Assess and interview anyone who identifies as being in need in relation to housing, and assess their circumstances to identify the appropriate options and actions.
- Ensure adequate advice and information is available from other agencies, refer the client to these services when appropriate and work with the agencies to ensure the best support for all clients.
- Assess and input application forms.
- Ensure that housing applications are placed on the Housing Register, checked and assessed in accordance with the relevant policy, and applicants receive confirmation of their application status.
- Take an active role in managing the Housing Register, updating applications and making regular reviews and keeping the register up to date.
- Responsibility for investigating / responding to social property application decision queries.
- Coordinate the acceptance and evaluation of all referrals identified via the SPOA pathway which is funded by the Housing Support Grant.
- Responsibility for supervising that the officers carry out initial assessments for all referrals, and where necessary, to challenge that the information is complete and accurate.
- Make appropriate referrals to the Council's Homelessness Service when all housing options and homelessness prevention initiatives have been examined and refer allegations of illegal evictions and harassment to the Private Sector Housing Team.
- Assist in keeping the service's web site up to date.
- Implement the Partnership's service standards for the Housing Options Team and the Common Housing Register.
- Ensure client confidentiality, implement and maintain an Information Sharing Protocol for the Housing Options Team Service.
- Maintain up‑to‑date understanding of all housing legislation, and any other relevant legislation.
- Ensure that all applicants have access to the service by making information available in languages and other relevant forms.
- Maintain accurate records and written reports relating to all cases examined and provide appropriate statistics.
- Be proactive in developing partnership work with other agencies to reduce the incidence of homelessness.
- Contribute to the strategies, policies and projects developed by the Housing Partnership.
- Motivate inventive approaches to problems.
- Ensure the safety of all staff, service users and others in accordance with applicable health and safety procedures and provisions.
- Any other duty, as directed, commensurate with the scale of the job.
- Responsibility for self‑development.
- Ensure compliance with Health and Safety rules in the workplace in accordance with the responsibilities noted in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Council’s Health and Safety Policy.
- Operate within the Council’s policies in relation to equal opportunities and equality.
- Responsible for managing information in accordance with the Council’s information management guidelines.
- Commitment to reducing the Council’s carbon emissions in accordance with the Carbon Management Plan, and to encourage others to act positively towards reducing the Council’s Carbon Footprint.
- Undertake any other reasonable duty which corresponds to the salary level and responsibility level of the job.
- Responsibility to report any concern or suspicion that a child or vulnerable adult is being abused.
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