Prevention and Casework Officer

Want a job that makes a real difference?!

Help tackle homelessness!

We are providing critical help and support to 1000s of households every year in Cornwall who are facing homelessness or who are already homeless. We offer a variety of exciting and challenging roles from providing early “upstream” prevention support for people experiencing issues that may need to lead to homelessness to helping families move from emergency accommodation into a settled home and everything in between. Whatever the role, you will be working with passionate, supportive colleagues committed to make a difference to our communities and our residents.

If you have no direct experience of working in homelessness but you have energy, learn quickly, are caring and have great people skills then we still want to hear from you! We can teach you the rest.

“Ive been working for the local authority for over 25 years and I love my job. I work with amazing colleagues and although the work is challenging I start each day knowing that I can make a real difference”  Jon Warner – Housing Options Service Manager.

The role is accountable for the following:

• Provide a highly professional, empathic and client-centred response for clients approaching with a range of housing and homelessness problems, treating the clients with respect and sensitivity at all times
• To provide a sensitive yet thorough assessment and homelessness investigation service; taking a homeless application from the client where necessary
• Determining what duties are owed and can be ended under the Housing Act Part VII Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and issuing the relevant decisions in a timely manner and in accordance with the legislation
• With the client and relevant partner agencies, developing, a robust risk and needs assessment and Personalised Housing plan outlining key objectives and actions required to prevent or relieve their homelessness.
• Give timely and accurate housing and homelessness advice to the client in a way that they can understand and act on
• Using highly developed interpersonal skills build; rapport and influential relationships with the clients that empower them  to act on our advice and prevent or relieve their own homelessness, and, professional, positive and mutually beneficial relationships with landlords and a diverse range of other organisations and agencies to help facilitate the prevention and relief of our clients homelessness

• Ensure that clients are appropriately referred for specialist advice and support even after they have prevented or relieved their homelessness to minimise the risk of repeat homelessness.
• Be organised and effectively manage a caseload of clients with competing priorities.
• Recording data, information and case notes accurately and keeping them up to date and managed in lines with information governance guidelines.
• Understand and meet the agreed Key Performance indicators for yourself,  team and organisation.
• Commitment to always growing your own technical knowledge and personal skill set

Demonstrate flexibility in your ability to work within and across team and even organisational boundaries to help achieve the shared goal of preventing homelessness and ending the need for people to sleep rough

Please view the role profile here, your application will need to demonstrate how you meet the required criteria. Please ensure you answer all of the pre-screening questions in full, within the application form. Guidance on how to complete your application can be found here.

This position will be subject to a basic/standard/enhanced criminal record disclosure check

Whilst the location/work-base for this role may have been specified our evolving ways of working means that the role may require you to also work remotely (e.g. from home/other locations). We will discuss this with you during the recruitment process.

We are happy to talk about flexible working options such as part-time or compressed hours. More examples of our flexible working opportunities can be found here.

Fairness and inclusion are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall.  In order to best serve our communities, we are striving to achieve a diverse workforce that is inclusive of all backgrounds, cultures and identities; e.g. race, disability, sex, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, and we will assess applicants on their merits.  

Cornwall Council is committed to safeguarding and following safer recruitment principles to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and adults at risk. It’s a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keeping all service users safe from harm. 

Cornwall Council is registered to sponsor individuals that are appointed into eligible positions. Further information about applying for a UK visa can be found here.