Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames
Job title:
Temporary Accommodation Officer (Maternity Cover)
Company
Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames
Job description
About the BoroughThis special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else – it is where the first kings of England were crowned.Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston’s riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.About the RoleThis is a varied job role as we have a wide property portfolio of temporary accommodation leased from landlords, hostels and nightly paid accommodation within Kingston and outside of our borough. You will be liaising with landlords and building relationships to ensure that repairing obligations and health & housing safety rating standards are met. You’ll also be managing relationships with homeless households provided temporary accommodation including action to assist in income recovery, investigate anti-social behaviour and where needed recover possession.The role will also require you to participate in an emergency out of hours rota to attend our in-borough hostel accommodation for homeless families. Enhancements will be paid for participating on the rota in accordance with policy.You’ll be working in our offices in central Kingston as well as visiting our hostels and temporary accommodation. There may be the opportunity to work from home on some day s.Candidates are normally appointed to the first point of the grade and will progress through the grade range with an annual increase (to the maximum point). Exceptionally, appointments may be made above the first point of the grade, for example if you have significant experience in Temporary Accommodation Property Management.If you apply as an internal applicant for a secondment please obtain your line managers permission before applying.About Us
This is an exciting time to be joining the Community Housing Service at RBK. We have restructured all services with a renewed focus on managing our housing challenges particularly around prevention and temporary accommodation and we are seeking highly motivated and enthusiastic individuals who want to get the very best of outcomes for residents of the Borough. You will be joining a busy and hardworking team during a time of transformational change where every day offers an opportunity to make a positive difference.About YouWe are looking for a positive, adaptable and resilient individual with strong interpersonal and decision-making skills, great customer service skills and knowledge of relevant legislation, particularly around property standards and tenancy issues and an understanding of the issues affecting homeless households.As you’ll be travelling around Kingston and the surrounding areas visiting our temporary housing and undertaking property inspections this role will require you to have access to transport. Payment for transport costs is made according to Policy.You will need:
- Knowledge of private sector housing law
- Knowledge of repairing and health and safety obligations relating to standards in the private rented sector
- An understanding of the needs of homeless households in temporary accommodation
- Experience of working in a busy frontline housing service or similar and/or significant technical experience
- Experience of partnership working and influencing and negotiating to achieve successful outcomes
- Ability to communicate verbally and in writing to a range of audiences including customers, advocates and external stakeholders
Our Offer To YouAs an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:
- Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
- Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
- Flexible and agile working arrangements
- Comprehensive learning and development programme
- Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
- Interest free season ticket loans
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
- Zip car scheme
- Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
- Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
- Subsidised gym membership
Application ProcessPlease apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.We are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) so all personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc is completely anonymised during the shortlisting process. Our hiring managers review applications based on the knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated in your application, and how well these match the job profile. Our HR Shared Service with Sutton Council was recently recognised nationally for having the ‘Best Inclusion and Diversity Programme’ at the PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards 2023, something that we’re incredibly proud of.Hiring managers are encouraged to ensure that their interview panel is diverse, and representative of a range of protected characteristics, to help remove unconscious bias and ensure candidates are treated fairly during the selection process. Some characteristics may not be obvious, but our panels are diverse wherever possible. We have a number of measures in place to inform and support our approach, including mandatory EDI and unconscious bias training for all staff, safer recruitment training for diverse panel members, engaging with our staff networks and encouraging allyship. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.Additional InformationWe are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough. Our aim is to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and staff feel a sense of belonging. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role.We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.Job Profile
Expected salary
£31440 – 39264 per year
Location
Kingston upon Thames
Job date
Sun, 15 Sep 2024 00:13:32 GMT
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