Homelessness Support Officer WCC623998

Salary range: £34,359 - £37,509 per annum. Salary negotiable depending upon experience.

Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP

Hours per week: 36

Contract type: Permanent

Closing date: 24 June 2026

About Us

Housing Needs in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. For Abbie, a Homelessness Officer, the work is often about stopping a crisis from happening at all. This might mean negotiating with landlords, working through financial difficulties with residents, or finding practical solutions that allow people to remain in their homes. In one situation, Abbie worked with a resident who was at risk of losing their home after the rent became unaffordable and possession action had started. By working closely with the landlord, she took the time to understand what had driven the landlord to increase the rent and the residents' financial situation. Through careful negotiation, she was able to secure an affordable agreement that worked for both parties. The possession action was withdrawn and the resident was able to stay in their home.

At Westminster, we understand that homelessness is multifaceted and caused by various factors, and addressing homelessness often goes beyond providing emergency accommodation - it requires an in-depth understanding of the root causes. This is why, alongside her negotiation work with the landlord, Abbie worked with officers across the department and the wider Council to help maximise the resident's income. For Abbie, cases like this are not only about securing housing in the interim, they are about ensuring that residents are also able to sustain their tenancies in the long‑term. This kind of work requires persistence, judgement and empathy. Across Westminster, this is what our Housing Needs officers do every day: working with residents to turn difficult situations into new beginnings.

The Role

As a Homelessness Support Officer in our Housing Solutions and Homelessness service, you can make your own powerful contribution to people across Westminster. Joining our busy, resident‑facing team, you'll work alongside a team of Homelessness Officers to help prevent homelessness and support residents in the moments that matter most. Your day‑to‑day will be varied and dynamic, including a mix of community‑based work and administrative support to Homelessness Officers. Responsible for managing documents, uploading evidence and maintaining accurate records, you'll assist residents with completing forms and gathering required evidence to ensure they have access to the support they need. Working closely with residents and partner agencies, you'll handle routine enquiries and gather required information to support decision‑making. Updating residents with clear, timely communication, you'll ensure their expectations are managed and the support they receive is appropriate and effective.

About You

An established professional with some awareness and understanding of housing and homelessness services, you'll have experience of working in a customer‑service environment. An understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and how to apply them in practice would be beneficial, as would experience of using digital case management systems to record, manage and retrieve information. On a personal level, you'll be calm under pressure, capable of staying organised and proactive at a fast‑pace and in the face of competing deadlines. Resilience, good judgement and excellent communication skills are essential, and you'll have the ability to prioritise tasks in order to manage your workload effectively. More than anything, you'll be a person passionate about improving outcomes for people experiencing homelessness, and you'll bring sensitivity and empathy to everything you do.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a welcoming, inclusive team directly supporting people in urgent need, and to supercharge your career in the process.

What We Offer

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three‑quarters‑of‑a‑million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council's strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision‑making and help to determine the city's future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way.

As a forward‑thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working. The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible. Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.