Rate: £28.07 per hour umbrella
Term: 16 weeks
Hours per week: 36
Location: 1 -2 days per week in the office, 3 -4 days remote.
Benefits Officers required to process Housing Payments and Crisis Support Payments as part of our CRF Scheme. The role includes follow -up work in which we try to maximise residents income and reduce their expenses.
Purpose of Role
To deliver a targeted, customer -focused service as part of the Council’s Crisis Resilience Fund (CRF), supporting residents experiencing or at risk of financial hardship.
The postholder will be responsible for administering Crisis Support Payments and Housing Payments, while proactively engaging residents to maximise income, reduce outgoings, and improve long -term financial resilience.
The role will also contribute to wider service delivery, including Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support processing and, where required, debt recovery activities.
Key Responsibilities
1. Crisis Resilience Fund Delivery
- Process applications for Crisis Support Payments and Housing -related payments accurately and in line with policy and guidance.
- Make timely decisions, prioritising urgent and vulnerable cases.
- Ensure all awards are correctly assessed, verified, and recorded.
- Identify and escalate safeguarding concerns or vulnerability where appropriate.
2. Income Maximisation & Financial Support
- Proactively contact residents (primarily via telephone) to:
- Identify opportunities to increase household income (e.g. benefit entitlement, grant support).
- Reduce household expenditure (e.g. utilities, debt repayments, budgeting support).
- Provide holistic financial support advice tailored to individual circumstances.
- Make referrals to internal services and external partners (e.g. debt advice agencies, voluntary sector organisations such as StepChange where appropriate).
- Support residents in accessing sustainable financial solutions rather than short -term crisis support alone.
3. Stakeholder Engagement
- Liaise effectively with internal teams and external partners, including:
- Housing Services
- Adult Social Care
- Revenues & Benefits
- DWP, HMRC
- Advice agencies and voluntary sector organisations
- Build positive working relationships to support coordinated interventions for residents.
- Act as a key point of contact for CRF -related enquiries.
4. Performance, Reporting & Data Recording
- Accurately record all interventions, outcomes, and customer interactions on the relevant systems.
- Capture measurable outcomes, including:
- Additional income secured
- Expenditure reduced
- Referrals made
- Support reporting requirements to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of the CRF scheme.
- Maintain high standards of data quality to support evidence -based decision making and service improvement.
5. Core Benefits Processing
- Process Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support claims and changes where required, ensuring accuracy and compliance with legislation.
- Prioritise urgent cases and maintain service performance standards.
- Identify potential fraud or error and refer appropriately.
6. Debt Prevention and Recovery (as required)
- Support early intervention activity to prevent debt escalation.
- Assist with recovery of overpayments or debts where appropriate.
- Promote sustainable repayment arrangements, considering customer vulnerability.
7. Customer Service & Case Management
- Deliver a high -quality, empathetic service to residents, including those in vulnerable or challenging situations.
- Manage complex cases, using judgement and discretion within policy and guidance.
- Communicate clearly with customers, ensuring decisions and requirements are understood.
8. Continuous Improvement
- Contribute to the development of CRF processes, workflows, and customer journeys.
- Identify trends and emerging issues affecting residents.
- Support service improvements, including use of data and automation tools
- Key Outcomes
- Crisis payments are processed accurately and within target timescales.
- Residents receive effective support that improves long -term financial resilience.
- Income maximisation outcomes are clearly evidenced and reported.
- High levels of customer satisfaction are achieved.
- Service performance targets are consistently met.
Benefits
We believe employee benefits should go beyond just a free drink
or fruit bowl. What’s more, we believe you should get to choose perks
that suit your lifestyle. That’s why we’ve partnered up with the
global benefits and rewards provider Perkbox, to offer something for
all of our people.
Here’s what you can look forward to:
Perks Hub
- Hundreds of global and local perks, available online 24/7
- Free monthly lifestyle perks; such as free coffees,
breakfasts, cinema tickets, etc
- Shopping discounts from the biggest brands, all year round
- Save money on everything from the supermarket shop to summer holidays
Wellness Hub
- Easy to follow videos for everything from yoga exercises, to
strength training and HIIT workouts
- Mindfulness, meditation and sleep resources, available on all
your devices
- Guides to help with everything from anxiety to stopping smoking
- Confidential mental health helpline, 24/7 access to a
qualified counsellor
Celebration Hub
Working with us means you're always part of Team BSS - celebrate
and recognise fellow contractors, whether they're across the desk or
across the world
Company polls where everybody can vote for the winners
Culture Hub
- A single place to find company updates, photos, benefits
information and lots more!
- Stay in the loop with what’s happening by accessing Culture
hub anywhere, at any time
Pre -Compliance Checks for Successful Applicants:
At BSS, we uphold the highest standards of screening and trust
for every role. Successful applicants will undergo a comprehensive
pre -compliance process in line with the Baseline Personnel Security
Standard (BPSS). This includes:
- Identity Verification: Confirming
the authenticity of your identity documents.
- Employment History
Checks: Reviewing your occupation history for the past
3 -5 years (depending on client requirement).
- Right to Work
Verification: Ensuring you have the legal
right to work in the UK.
- Unspent Conviction Check: Conducting a Basic DBS
Check to reveal any unspent convictions.
These checks are crucial in ensuring a secure and trustworthy
work collaboration, aligning with best practices used in government
and public sectors. While primarily standard in these sectors, our
adoption of pre -compliance checks across all roles reflects our
commitment to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and trust
in our recruitment process.
Equal Opportunities
Business Smart Solutions are a Recruitment Agency - We hire
talented and passionate people from a variety of backgrounds because
we want our global worker base to represent the wide diversity of our
clients. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience
doesn’t align perfectly with every bullet point listed in the job
description, we still encourage you to apply. If you're passionate
about working for a role in local government and share our company
values, we encourage you to apply.
BSS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not
discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race,
color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy,
childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry,
physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status,
gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable
legally protected characteristic. BSS considers qualified applicants
with criminal histories, consistent with applicable UK law. If you
need assistance or an accommodation made due to a disability, please
let your recruiter know.
Armed Forces Covenant
We endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key
principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- No member of the Armed Forces Community should
face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial
services compared to any other citizen
- In some circumstances special treatment may be
appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Salary :
Apply Now
Activate JobCopilot
Your email job alert is now active!