Benefits and Homeless Prevention Officer

Hackney is one of the most dynamic and progressive local authorities in the UK. We are a resilient, vibrant, and creative borough in the heart of London, with strong, diverse communities and a powerful set of shared values.

Over the past twenty years, the Council has built up first-class services, outstanding public infrastructure, and a reputation for excellence, innovation, and ambition. We are leading the way on essential work such as our fight for equity in Hackney with a particular focus on becoming an actively anti-racist borough. But the work doesn’t stop there, we are proactive in our approach to bringing fairness to all aspects of life including gender, neurodiversity and across the poverty divide.

Our Service

The Benefits & Homeless Prevention Service is a very busy service, working with a wide range of residents who need our support to deal with the complex challenges they face. It is also a great place to work, develop and learn.

At Hackney we have taken an innovative approach to delivering the service by combining Benefits and Homeless Prevention functions. This gives us an opportunity to work together to help residents through their housing challenges using a holistic approach.

We deliver some of the services jointly with partner organisations like Thamesreach to strengthen our offer.

You will be joining the service at an exciting time as we have embarked on an ambitious service redesign project that is exploring both digital and behavioural solutions.

Our Ethos

We want to provide a Benefits & Homeless Prevention Service which is easily understood, fair, accessible and beneficial to our residents. A holistic service that we are proud and confident in delivering.

To achieve this ambition we are looking for people who are open, honest and accountable. People who are able to deliver difficult messages with empathy and compassion. Also who are keen to seek new solutions and learn through trying.

If you have these qualities we can teach you the rest.

The Teams

The Benefits and Homeless Prevention Service is made up of a variety of teams: Learning and Development, Legislation and Policy, Benefits Processing, Benefits Control, Benefits Subsidy, Housing Register, Lettings, Downsizing and Regeneration, Temporary Accommodation Placements, Hostel Management, Income Collection, Housing Advice and Homelessness Prevention, Rough Sleeping Outreach, Reviews and Appeals and Housing Supply.

Most of our roles are fully generic, which will enable you to move around the teams and develop your skills. We have a number of vacancies to fill within the Homeless Prevention Teams.

The Roles

Benefits & Homeless Prevention Officer x 4 – working in the Homeless Prevention Teams.

Our Benefits and Homeless Prevention Officers deliver a high quality and customer-focussed service for a diverse client group including high numbers of vulnerable and disadvantaged households.

The ideal candidate will possess compassion, discretion and common sense. They will be courteous yet have a firm manner when dealing with customer enquiries often under difficult circumstances, coupled with an ability to communicate complex information in a clear and concise way. In order to succeed in this role you must be: a team player, have a positive and flexible approach in your work, good organisational skills, along with good time management and be committed in providing good quality customer focused service, and enjoy problem solving, with an eye for detail.

As a Council, our most outstanding asset is our staff, who are highly dedicated to serving our residents and committed to our goals as an organisation.

If you want to work in a place where you can represent our values so we achieve the best for our residents, please click on the apply button below.

We operate a fair and open anonymous selection process. Therefore, we do not accept supporting statements or CV’s.

To proceed with your application, you will need to create an account and submit your application.

As part of the application process, you will need to complete a number of competency based questions. These questions allow you to demonstrate your suitability for the role and provide examples of your skills, knowledge and experience outlined in the job description.

We understand the benefits of using AI in the workplace. However, if you are thinking of using this tool to submit your application, we ask you to think about what value it will add. AI tools tend to lack the personal touch and authenticity we value in candidates. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

Closing date for applications: 13 February 2025 (22.59)

Interview date: To be confirmed

We are also working towards our vision, which is to be a place for everyone; where residents and staff can be proud; a place that celebrates diversity and where everyone can feel valued, included and involved. In order to achieve this, we look for people who are: Proud; Ambitious; Pioneering; Open; Proactive; Inclusive.

Hackney Council works to eradicate discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also recognise that people can be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will also work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. We also welcome those interested in flexible working. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people, as this group is currently under represented in our workforce.

The Council has a dedicated employment support service (Hackney Works), which offers Hackney residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you are thinking about applying for a job, please contact the Hackney Works team to find out what support is available: hackneyworks@hackney.gov.uk