Financial Inclusion Officer
Part-time - 18 hours per week
£33,300 FTE/£17,972 pro rata – London
£33,000 FTE/£17,672 pro rata - Kent and Sussex
£33,000 FTE/£17,011 pro rata - Midlands
London, Kent, Sussex, Midlands
What you'll do
We’re one of the largest housing providers in the UK, our 44,000 homes give 90,000 people in London, the South East and the Midlands, somewhere affordable to call their own.
The Financial Inclusion team delivers a customer focused service where we help to empower residents to sustain their tenancies. We deliver both welfare benefits advice and money guidance support. We inform residents of their welfare rights with the aim to ensure they are receiving all the benefits they are entitled to and support residents with possible grant applications.
We can offer a hybrid working arrangement for this permanent position, you will be able to split your time between working from home and from any of our regional offices (Croydon, Sittingbourne, Battle & Birmingham).
What You'll Need:
Knowledge
• Extensive knowledge of a wide range of benefits (including welfare reform) together with excellent knowledge of working an advisory role
• Experience of handling case work and referring to relevant organisations
• Knowledge of completing applications for benefits, grants, appeals and funding
• Understanding the principals of budgeting for low income families
• Good understanding of equality and diversity.
Abilities
• Deliver a customer focused financial inclusion service which embraces Optivo culture, current and future legislation, policy and procedure and best practice.
• Provide a tailored service to help customers manage their finances and improve their financial capability avoiding legal action and potential eviction. Working closely with Income/Housing Teams to review pre eviction cases ensuring appropriate support has been offered prior to action.
• Provide advice and assistance to customers, helping them find solutions to difficulties with claiming benefits, multiple debts and poverty.
• Offer guidance and support to vulnerable customers to help them manage their finances and prevent debt build up. Operate flexible working hours to make sure all customers have access to this service
• Ensure good standards of case management are maintained on the relevant Financial Inclusion/Income and CRM computer systems, recording all notes/actions clearly, accurately and appropriately.
• Holds a driving licence and has the ability to drive.
If this sounds like you, we look forward to receiving your application.
As well as this extremely rewarding job, you will also have 27 days annual leave, an extra day leave to celebrate your birthday, company pension, access to a health care cash plan and continued development and career opportunities throughout your employment with Optivo.
This position also attracts an essential car user allowance of £900 per year (pro rata).
Closing Date: Monday 15th August at 23:59
In the event of a high volume of strong applications Optivo reserve the right to close the application deadline early.
Inclusion and Diversity
At Optivo we work hard to create a diverse and inclusive culture and environment where people are respected for who they are. Encouraging inclusion is not just about protected characteristics, it’s about celebrating differences of thought, opinion, experience and perspective of each individual. We’re all different in our own way and we want our colleagues to feel comfortable, that they belong, and are safe to be themselves at work, without fear of being judged or excluded, but valued for their contribution to our One Team approach.