JOB DESCRIPTION Organisation : London Borough of Waltham Forest D irectorate: Place / Housing Grade: PO1 Salary: £39,855 - £42,324 Retention Bonus/ Market Supplement: N/A Contract Type: Full Time, Permanent Working hours per week: 36 Hours Per Week Weeks per year: 52 Weeks Application Deadline: 31/01/2025 Proposed Interview Date(s): WC TBC Reference: 1604 About Us: Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London's Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment. About the role: To arrange the allocation of all types of accommodation to homeless households. Working with the procurement team and providers to ensure that there is suitable accommodation available to meet demand. To arrange sign up and issue customers with decision letters that complies with relevant legislation and council policy and to make best use of the properties available. >> Click here to download the Role Profile Key Responsibilities: To allocate accommodation of all types (excluding permanent Council / RSL properties) to homeless households in fulfilment / discharge of relevant duties under the homelessness legislation. This includes all forms of emergency /temporary accommodation and properties sourced to meet interim or discharge of duty such shared accommodation, Private sector leased, Bed & Breakfast, hostels, Private rented Sector, Capital Letters, Local Space, More Homes and any other scheme that may be available. To ensure compliance with legislation and policy, considering all relevant information including Council policy, affordability, relevant legislations & Caselaw accommodation needs assessments and all properties which are currently available in order to achieve the optimum match of customers and units To directly offer properties to customers through a holistic sign-up process: responding to their enquiries regarding location and other concerns; issuing license agreements, formal offer letters, etc.; arranging transport with suppliers where this has been made available; providing customers with all the information they need to access the property; making referrals to the Temporary Accommodation Resident Support Service and other agencies where appropriate To deal effectively with refusals, discharging the Council's duty where appropriate by issuing formal letters setting out the reasons why a property is suitable and responding to all points raised by customers and their representatives. Where necessary to liaise directly with suppliers to secure properties to meet an urgent need for temporary accommodation. To ensure that all suppliers and providers are notified of all placement information required for them to maintain their records, and of all cancellations that come to notice and discharge of duty as necessary. To maintain and update the service's database to a very high level of accuracy, minimising delayed inputs and entering data in real time as far as possible; to assist in the reconciliation of system data for the purposes of paying suppliers To action approved transfers within the temporary accommodation portfolio, arranging and conducting signups and liaising with Housing Benefits and other services to minimise disruption for customers. To ensure that customer information and circumstances are reviewed and correctly reflected on database to enable the needs assessment and the offer making process. To ensure that all properties are allocated within the relevant deadlines to ensure that there is no financial penalty arising from delayed nominations. Qualifications and Requirements: 5 GCSE's or equivalent qualifications including Maths and English Terms and conditions: The below terms and conditions apply to this role: Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks; Satisfactory declaration of interest; This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults; Satisfactory DBS check; Continued professional body registration; This post is politically restricted therefore the post holder is disqualified from undertaking certain political activities under the Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990. As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English. How to Apply: Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the 'Apply' button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. Equal Opportunity Employer: Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy. We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview. For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us. Contact Information: If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Yasmin Hussain Accommodation Procurement Manager at Yasmin.Hussainwalthamforest.gov.uk or 07854 324 228. If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitmentwalthamforest.gov.uk. The Council's preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitmentwalthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method. Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice .