Job Introduction
Are you an expert in Universal Credit (UC) and welfare benefits legislation? Are you tenacious and the kind of person who doesn’t give up and a strong communicator with the ability to influence at all levels? … Read on
Main Responsibility
Based within our Resident Support Programme, the role of UC and Complex Case lead will act as NHG’s very own expert on all things UC. You will have an in-depth understanding of UC and be able to identify potential risks to NHG and suggest mitigations to senior management. You will be familiar with the challenges posed by managed migration and yearly rent increases within a housing sector context. You will be required to present complex information to audiences at all levels and so excellent written and verbal communication skills are a must. You’ll understand how to tailor this information so that it can be understood by staff and residents easily.
In addition to your UC responsibilities, you will work with the programme manager to support the wider roll out of a tenancy sustainment strategy, particularly focusing on high-risk cases involving vulnerable tenants. Your passion for preventing vulnerable people from being evicted will drive you to keep looking for resolutions no matter how difficult the case. You’ll be the kind of person who keeps trying and doesn’t give up easily.
The Ideal Candidate
You’ll be tenacious, confident and able to highlight poor practice and areas of improvement around tenancy sustainment, whilst still maintaining strong relationships with teams.
Along with the rest of the welfare benefits team, you will have a casework of welfare benefits cases providing quality advice to customers around benefits. Therefore significant welfare benefits experience is required as you will need to be at a level where you require very little casework supervision. Proven experience of challenging decisions, attending tribunals, and advocating on behalf of customers to get the best outcomes for our residents is a must.
Along with the rest of the team, you will design and deliver welfare benefits training to housing colleagues, attend permission to evict panels and build relationships with front-line teams. Your success in this role will add value to our business and enhance our reputation as a pioneering housing association.
What’s in it for me?
As part of our team, you will have access to professional qualifications and career opportunities across our Notting Hill Genesis business. You will also receive a generous holiday entitlement of 25 days, rising to 27 days after 2 years of service. You will also receive a simply health cash plan to help cover the costs of your everyday healthcare expenses (eg opticians, dentist, physio), generous pension scheme, and enhanced maternity pay and leave / shared parental leave options / paternity leave and access to our employee assistance programme for confidential support.
Benefits
In return we offer:
· Excellent annual leave allowance and flexible working opportunities (qualifying period may apply)
· Generous pension scheme
· Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay - we offer enhanced maternity and adoption pay in addition to statutory entitlements (qualifying period may apply)
· Employee assistance - free confidential advice and counselling services provided by independent specialist organisations
· Health cash plan
· Staff discounts - we give our staff access to discounts at hundreds of major retailers, gyms, restaurants, entertainment, days out, insurance and much more
· Interest free loans: season ticket loan, tenancy deposit loan and training loan
· Cycle to work scheme
· Life Assurance x 4 annual salary
Selection process
Step 1 If you are interested, please send your application now
Step 2 Successful candidates will be selected for an interview
Step 3 Successful candidates will be asked to do a work sample and interview
Please apply for this role with us online. If you are not able to apply online, please contact our HR team via jobs@nhg.org.uk to discuss your requirements.
You will be based at either of our Sussex Place or Bruce Kenrick House offices.
How to apply
To apply for this role, upload your CV and supporting statement. Please note a supporting statement is not a cover letter. You will need to address the behaviours and essential criteria listed on the role profile and provide examples of how you demonstrate these skills as well as your experience.
This role requires a basic DBS check. Therefore a check will be requested in the event of you being offered the position as part of our pre-employment checking process.
In return we offer you 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), health cash plan, season ticket loan, tenancy deposit loan, cycle 2 work scheme, childcare vouchers, life assurance and a generous contributory pension offer.
Applications close: 11th August 2023
Interviews will be held on 24th or 25th August 2023
You will be required to prepare a presentation as part of your interview and complete a short assessment on the day of the interview.
About the Company
You will be based at our office in Kings Cross with occasional travel to other offices as required. Notting Hill Genesis offers hybrid working so you will need to be able to travel to offices or different locations as required.
Notting Hill Genesis is now one of the largest housing associations in London and the south east. We own and manage more than 67,000 homes and employ around 1,500 staff. We provide homes across a range of tenures and are committed to continuing to deliver housing that is affordable to all. Our roots reach back to the 1960s when our legacy organisations were established by local people who shared a similar vision – to house west London’s working poor, providing them a home from which to build themselves and their families a secure future. For more information on what we do and what makes us different please visit:
https://www.nhg.org.uk/about-us/
Our people
We value our people and both respect and celebrate their differences. We’re proud to say that our colleagues come from different backgrounds, with varied outlooks and are from all over the world. We encourage and are committed to diversity. We know that when people with varied experiences and unique points of view come together, it makes us a stronger organisation and more able to help the wide range of residents that we serve. We want all our colleagues to bring their full selves to work in a culture and environment based on respect and fairness, regardless of role, background or ability.
Our pledges
We are proud signatories of the G15 group’s diversity pledge to encourage more diversity in the boardroom and at senior level. The pledge on ethnic diversity commits NHG to reflect the ethnic diversity of the communities we work in at all levels and particularly at senior managerial, leadership and board levels.
We have under-representation of ethnically diverse colleagues at this level and are keen to fill this gap. We welcome applications from everyone. For this role, we especially encourage ethnically diverse candidates to join us and be part of an inclusive culture that celebrates diversity, equality of opportunity and provides a place for you to grow your career.
We are also a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident employer and have signed up to Harry’s Pledge. We actively monitor the diversity of our workforce and strive to show equal representation throughout all levels of the organisation.
To find out more about Diversity and inclusion at NHG, please visit our website.
