Income Officer

Contract: Full Time Permanent

Hours: 38 hours per week

Salary: £34,578 per annum

Location: NE London.

About Outward:

For 50 years, Outward has been providing high-quality support and care services to vulnerable people across London, predominantly in North East London. Established by families seeking alternatives to institutional care, we’ve grown into a respected provider of person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, and complex needs. We support over 1,000 people across nine boroughs, guided by our core values: engage, enable, and empower. Outward is proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer.

About the Role:

We are looking for a proactive and passionate Income Officer to join our dedicated team, supporting adults with a range of needs. These include learning disabilities, people with lived experience of rough sleeping, young people, older people, autism, mental health challenges, and individuals with complex support requirements. As an Income Officer, you will play a key role in empowering the people we support to live independent and fulfilling lives. You will work as part of the Income Management Team, supporting the reduction of rent and service charge arrears across our services.

Your Responsibilities:

• Maximise receipt of rent and service charge income by ensuring that housing benefit claims are set up and maintained, monitoring rent accounts and taking steps to recover arrears.
• Be responsible for the collection of rent and service charges on your allocated patch and carry out debt recovery actions including management of former tenants’ arrears.
• Maintain the electronic rent system ensuring that all actions and communications regarding rent payments and arrears are fully recorded and records are kept fully up to date.
• Keep abreast of legislation, regulations, and Outward’s policy and procedural framework that affect charges, benefits and entitlements.
• Prepare and serve Notices of Intention to Seek Possession documents and where necessary, prepare court action reports and attend court.
• Take responsibility for the new tenant sign up process liaising with partner agencies to ensure that the process is carried out efficiently to minimise voids.
• Provide advice and guidance to support and housing department staff.
• Work collaboratively with supported housing officers and support staff to address and resolve rent and service charge payments and arrears.
• Develop and maintain proactive relationships with advice agencies and other statutory and voluntary organisations.
• Ensure that all administration connected with tenancy termination is completed and all systems updated.
• Assist with the administration of annual rent increases.
• Develop and maintain good working relationships with Newlon Housing Trust and other partner landlords.
• Maintain appropriate records and administrative systems in relation to this role and prepare reports for the Income & Service Charge Manager and the Supported Housing Director when required.
• Promote and implement the Outward Equal Opportunities Policy in all aspects of the post holder’s work.
• Participate in regular supervision and annual appraisal, attend training and meetings as required.
• Work responsibly and appropriately with due regard to confidentiality, data protection and commercially sensitive information.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the general level of responsibility of the post as required.

Essential Criteria:

• Knowledge of health and safety issues within a supported housing environment.
• Understanding of confidentiality, GDPR, and data protection principles.
• Ability to build and maintain positive relationships with a range of internal and external partners.
• Ability to write clear, concise letters and reports.
• Good IT skills.
• Experience of general administration and record keeping including electronic records.
• Ability to develop collaborative partnerships to promote joint working, best practice and consistency of service delivery.
• Experience of working under pressure to meet specific targets.
• The ability to provide welfare benefit and debt management advice.
• The ability to attend court and represent the landlord at DIY possession hearings.
• Ability to establish and maintain housing benefit claims and negotiate arrears repayment agreements with tenants.
• An understanding of and commitment to equal opportunities in service delivery and employment.
• A good understanding of the supported housing sector and the delivery of housing related support.
• The ability to work both as part of a team and independently.

Desirable Criteria:

• Front line experience of rent collection and account monitoring.
• Experience of using CX rent accounting system or similar.
• Experience of presenting rent arrears cases in court.
• Knowledge of Housing Law.
• A working knowledge of welfare benefits.
• Experience of signing up tenants.
• CIH Level 4 in housing management or equivalent.

How to Apply:

If you think you are who we are looking for, please submit a CV and statement detailing how you feel your experiences meets the requirements of the role by referring to the Job Responsibilities and the Person Specification. There is no specific closing date for this advert. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications for the role.

Diversity and Safeguarding at Outward:

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Outward applies its Equal Opportunities Policy at all stages of recruitment and selection. Shortlisting, interviewing and selection is carried out without regard to gender, sexual orientation, marital status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, age or trade union membership.

Outward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require a DBS for successful candidates.