Private Sector Access Officer

Number of Vacancies:

1

Time Type:

Full time

Worker Type:

Regular

Proposed Interview Date:

Friday, July 10, 2026

Hours of Work:

37

Hiring Manager:

Sarah Thacker

Contact Number:

01482 612184

Job Description Summary:

This is a full time permanent position.
This is a diverse and interesting role in a fast paced and responsive environment where no two days are the same and priorities can change due to service demands.
The role will require lone working in various locations, including customers’ homes. The roles will be based between office(s), home and other locations, and you can work flexibly within this according to the needs of your role and working day.
It is a challenging time working in homelessness at the moment and it can be very difficult to manage customer and partner expectations around housing outcomes.
However, we are a newly developed service, keen to try new things, and are a friendly and supportive team of people who work together to get the best outcomes we can for our customers. If you have experience of working with members of the public in sensitive and challenging situations, are motivated to deliver high quality services and outcomes to those in need of support and have a flexible and adaptable approach, please take a look!
The Private Sector Access Team liaises and negotiates with landlords and agents in the private sector in order to source tenancies for people approaching the council as homeless, including those whose housing options would otherwise be very limited.
The team provides significant advocacy and tenancy support to those offered tenancies with private landlords in order that their tenancy is a success, avoiding the cycle of repeat homelessness.
As this post will work on a reactive and sometimes unplanned basis, citywide, there is a requirement to have access to a car which you can use for work.
ROLE AND PURPOSE
The Private Sector Access Officer will deliver high quality and empathetic private sector access service to customers and landlords, ensuring that the customer’s experience of the service is at the heart of all they do with an emphasis on preventing homelessness and facilitating tenancies which are as sustainable as possible to avoid the cycle of repeat homelessness.
They will engage with private landlords and customers to enable access to private sector tenancies, identifying and facilitating the package of measures required to secure and sustain the tenancy. They will give advice to landlords as well as their tenants around tenancy issues with the aim of preventing situations from escalating and homelessness occurring.
Where required they will provide tenancy support to coach the tenant to manage their tenancies in line with their tenancy agreement, supporting them to raise any issues with repairs, maintenance and property condition with their landlord and helping with ensuring they claim the appropriate benefits to help pay their rent.
They will make independent decisions on complex matters in accordance with legislation and policies and procedures and provide guidance to colleagues in Housing Access as necessary.
The Housing Access Service is a multi-disciplinary service which is the front door service to access housing in the city. It provides a comprehensive housing advice and options service designed to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping, help customers find realistic and sustainable housing solutions which meet their needs from a range of options and allocate available council homes in a timely way.PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

1. Provides a professional, empathetic and high-quality service in response to customers approaching the service for advice and assistance which may be in person, over the phone, in writing or via IT systems. Responds to enquiries and gives advice in accordance with council policies and procedures and the Data Protection Act, which will include appropriately managing customer expectations and challenging behaviour from some customers and liaising with partners where appropriate. This will require carrying work out in a range of settings including council offices, customers’ homes or community settings. Customer base includes clients experiencing trauma, addiction and those who can be hard to engage and/or present with challenging behaviour (emotional, obstructive, verbally aggressive and hostile).
2. Assists customers to access private sector tenancies, liaising with the landlords and assessing and implementing the measures needed to both secure and sustain the tenancy from a range of options and within agreed protocols. This will include, but is not limited to, information gathering in respect of tenancy readiness and any risks from a range of records and information sources, carrying out affordability assessments, supporting on viewings of properties where necessary, assisting with setting up email, bank accounts and standing orders, linking in with/escalating to more specialist support where appropriate, ensuring the customer receives appropriate advice in respect of claiming and maximising benefits and assisting customers to settle into their new accommodation with the purchase of incidental items with a company credit card within agreed protocols and budget.
3. Holds a caseload of those residing in private sector accommodation who need a degree of tenancy support in order to manage the conditions of their tenancy agreement, with the aim of coaching them to move to not requiring support within an appropriate timeframe. This will include, but is not limited to, providing immediate guidance and support as the first point of contact, supporting them to link in with the DWP, assisting with discretionary housing payment applications (or other similar schemes), supporting with access to training and work opportunities where possible, assisting the tenant to raise repair or property condition issues with their landlord, identifying and addressing tenancy breaches and upkeep issues and mediating between the landlord and tenant where necessary, referring tenants for more specialist advice or support where required, such as mental health support or transferring the case to a Housing Sustainment Officer.
4. Carries out visits to empty properties, customer’s homes and other settings as required, primarily on a lone working basis. This will include carrying out accompanied viewings of properties, conducting basic checks on properties - making recommendations to landlords when there are health and safety concerns or repairs are required, carrying out tenancy and welfare checks on tenants as appropriate in order to identify potential breaches of tenancy and work with the tenant, landlord and partners to resolve and prevent an escalation of the situation.
5. Supports in the identification and preparation of private rented properties. This will include, but is not limited to, agreeing with the landlord on what will be included in the tenancy/rent, arranging furniture or the setting up of utilities if required. Supports the management of empty properties, including carrying out inspections of empty properties to ensure they meet standards and liaising with landlords/appointed managing agents on void security and repairs.
6. Maintains an expert knowledge of relevant legislation, particularly the Homelessness Reduction Act, Council policies and procedures and wider Housing Access Team issues in order to make independent decisions and give accurate advice. These may include (but are not limited to) the availability and cost of private sector accommodation, whether the customer can be supported by the scheme, whether they can afford a tenancy, what package of measures is required to secure and sustain a tenancy, when additional more specialist support or advice is required, when to link in with colleagues if homelessness is looking likely and giving advice to landlords to help them to support their tenant and prevent homelessness. It will also include responding to initial customer feedback.
7. Administers their workload efficiently ensuring accurate and professional information is recorded on systems as appropriate and within agreed protocols. Collates statistics where required regarding personal and team activity to feed into performance management information, to ensure that the required information is fed back to government HCLIC (homelessness) returns.
8. . Prioritises their own caseload and also collaborates with their team to identify pressure points, agreeing and contributing to team priorities, to meet the demands of the service.
9. Is an advocate for the scheme and team, building positive relationships with private landlords and other relevant partners and colleagues in order to ensure effective management of cases and the growth and success of the scheme. This will include attending case conferences and multi-agency meetings, representing the team at events and delivering information sessions to partners and colleagues to promote and encourage better understanding of the service.
10. Mentors new starters to the service as deemed appropriate.
11. To promote and safeguard the welfare of children, young people and/or vulnerable adults.
12. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated legislation places responsibilities for health and safety on Hull City Council, as your employer and you as an employee of the council. In addition to the Councils overall duties, the post holder has personal responsibility for their own health & safety and that of other employees; additional and more specific responsibilities are identified in the Council’s Corporate Health and Safety policy.

NC4720.Private Sector Access Officer.docx

Compensation Grades:

GRADES 7.

Pay Ranges:

£32,597.00 - £35,412.00

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), Essential 3A - It is essential for the postholder to have a current driving licence and to provide a car for work. (i.e. someone who did not meet these requirements could not be appointed to the post, since it would be impossible for the postholder to do the job without using a private car). These requirements would be essential criteria on the person specification for the post. (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Childcare Disqualification Requirement), Post Fulfilling Statutory Duty - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:
- A competitive salary
- An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
- Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
- Supportive and forward-thinking culture
- Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description.

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.