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Housing Allocations Team Leader – Housing

Posting date:	31 May 2024
Salary:	£25.38 per hour
Additional salary information:	per hour PAYE depending on experience
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	29 June 2024
Location:	TOWCESTER / NORTHAMPTON/DAVENTRY
Company:	Triumph Consultants Ltd
Job type:	Temporary
Job reference:	WNC (HQ) WNC18212

Summary

What's involved with this role:

Interim Housing Allocations Team Leader – Housing

Reference no: WNC (HQ) WNC18212

Pay rate: Up to £25.38 per hour PAYE depending on experience

Hours per week: 37 Monday – Friday, normal working hours

This opening assignment is for 3 months

City: TOWCESTER / NORTHAMPTON / DAVENTRY

Hybrid working, 3 days per week in the office. Office base varies weekly and can be either Towcester, Daventry or Northampton

A Housing Allocations Team Leader is required to support the Housing Allocations & Quality Manager to lead, manage and develop the Housing Allocations Team to administer the Council’s Housing Register, including the allocation of accommodation within the Council’s own stock and nominations to partner registered providers, in accordance with the Housing Allocations Scheme. Support the Housing Allocations Officers to provide comprehensive housing advice and information to households in housing need to ensure their housing needs are met. Office attendance varies weekly and can be either Towcester, Daventry or Northampton.

Key responsibilities:

Provide strong supervision, line management, support, and guidance to the Housing Allocations Team, with responsibility to administer the Council’s Housing Register and to provide comprehensive housing advice and information to households with a housing need.
Through regular day to day supervision, performance monitoring and advice, ensure that the team complete all functions in line with the Council’s Housing Allocations Policy and Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996, including assessing who can join the Council’s Housing Register, what priority an applicant may be awarded under the scheme, and which applicants are shortlisted and allocated to advertised properties. This includes the allocation of accommodation within the Council’s own stock and nominations to partner registered providers.
Oversee, monitor, and report on cases and supervise your team to provide assurance that robust enquires to determine the eligibility, qualification and prioritisation of Housing Register applications are being carried out in accordance with the Housing Allocations Policy, Part 6 Housing Act 1996, and other relevant legislation, policy, and guidance. Supervise your team with complex cases where necessary.
Oversee the effective processing of applications where there is a medical need, ensuring that robust decisions are made on the level of priority that should be awarded to the applicant and the type of property that best suits their needs. Work in collaboration with the Council’s specialist medical advisor to ensure that specialist advice and guidance is provided to inform decision making where appropriate.
Oversee and build effective relationships with the Council’s ALMO and Registered Providers, ensuring that your team is carrying out its functions in accordance with the Housing Allocations Policy and prescribed nominations agreements.
Complete Housing Register reviews where necessary, ensuring that reviews are conducted within defined timescales with consideration of all relevant facts and legal requirements. When review decisions are challenged through Judicial Review, work in conjunction with Legal Services and ensure documentation is prepared in accordance with requirements and guidance where required.
Support the Housing Allocations & Quality Manager and Head of Housing Solutions to deliver service objectives and targets, using improvement plans where necessary and reporting on outcomes.
Maximise personal productivity, minimise duplication and errors and manage information efficiently and securely to reduce risk, though effective use of Office 365 and internal IT systems and applications.



NB: Please feel free to apply to us direct via jobs@tclrec.com by quoting the job reference and job title exactly.

To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would suggest that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, rather than as a PDF

If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension you will be working this role at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than entertaining umbrella pay terms, we do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity.

Due to the number of CVs being sent to us under current market conditions, we cannot, unfortunately, respond to all applications. If, therefore, you have not heard from us within 3 days please make a working assumption that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. We will, however, be very happy to receive future applications from you for other roles.

Please quote the Job Title & Vacancy Reference No. in your application, or we will be unable to match your CV to the role being applied for.


Other “Essential Requirements” – Please check to ensure that your CV addresses the following items:

Qualifications:

Educated to degree level or equivalent qualification or has significant experience in a related role.
Attained or willing to work towards Chartered Institute of Housing Chartered Membership (at level 4 or above, or members who have completed an experiential route accredited by CIH.)
Evidence of continued professional, managerial and personal development.



Experience:

Housing Allocation Team Leader experience in a local council required.
Strong track record of leading and motivating high performing teams in a customer focused context, ensuring team members contribute to achieving positive outcomes for customers.
Proven experience of working in a housing allocations service with high levels of demand, significant time pressures and conflicting priorities.
Proven experience of delivering a statutory housing service, ensuring that appropriate legal advice and assistance is given on all housing matters and related issues in a timely and effective manner to achieve positive outcomes for customers.
Experience of conducting thorough investigations of complex cases with a focus on positive resolutions and preventing further escalation.
Proven and effective relationship building and ability to negotiate with partners. Ability to confidently present information and findings clearly and simply to both lead and influence behaviour.



Knowledge:

Fully understand the role in the context of safeguarding children, young people, and vulnerable adults in a housing environment.
An expert and detailed knowledge and understanding of current housing law, such as the Housing Act 1996, Parts VI and VII, Homelessness Act 2002, Localism Act 2012, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and immigration law as it applies to housing eligibility, relevant code of guidance and case law.
Expert and detailed knowledge of eligibility for homelessness assistance depending on immigration and residence status, with ability to analyse case detail against legislative requirements.
Good knowledge of local, regional, and national policies and practices in relation to housing solutions and homelessness.
Knowledge and understanding of the dynamics and complexities of the public sector and specifically the local government environment, including its impact on service provision, staff and relationships with key partners.
Detailed knowledge of welfare reform and changes within the benefits system.
Specialist knowledge of services offered by other internal and external agencies, including health and social care, social welfare, housing, employability and drug and alcohol services. A clear understanding of safeguarding and confidentiality.
Knowledge of recognised project management approaches and service improvement methodologies to deliver short-, medium- and long-term projects.



Skills & Abilities:

Excellent leadership, negotiation and influencing skills. This must include the ability to develop, support, empower and motivate a team to achieve goals.
Ability to articulate through excellent communication, including verbal and written skills, and the ability to produce reports.
Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate complex issues clearly and simply in a compassionate and empathetic way in a demanding environment. Ability to effectively manage conflict and respond appropriately to challenging behaviour.
Excellent customer care skills, including ability to work effectively with vulnerable customers to resolve problems.
Strong analytical skills, problem solving capability and ability to interpret complex information and data to make informed decisions.
Drive and commitment to meet targets, objectives, and achieve positive outcomes, through leading the team to deliver best practice and innovative solutions.
Ability to organise, plan and prioritise a varied workload to meet multiple tight and conflicting deadlines and respond. effectively to emergencies that require immediate response. Ability to work on own initiative and make clear, consistent decisions.
Flexibility to occasionally work outside of normal working hours and able and willing to travel to and work from other locations.
Strong IT skills including Microsoft packages or equivalent (e.g. G Suite).



***Qualification details and any other experience/skills relevant to the job role to help support your application (and help us to help you!) – please give full details within your CV document.

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Job Ref: WNC (HQ) WNC18212


Anticipated Length of Assignment: Unless otherwise stated (we do carry the occasional permanent vacancy) all of our roles are technically temporary, though opening assignments can be and often are, extended by clients on a longer term basis and can sometimes become permanent.

Please do try to resist contacting us with requests for progress updates.

We really do read every CV sent to us. All applications will be acknowledged by a human, not a robot, provided the job remains live and provided your CV meets the “Essential Requirements” listed.

Please note that we do our level best to take down ads as soon as roles have been filled. We are not in the business of harvesting CVs.

Important: We will interpret your application as being permission to submit your CV to this role (with the right to represent you) unless you advise us to the contrary.