Housing Officer

On behalf of the Home Office, Serco manages the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contract (AASC) for the North West of England. We focus on assisting individuals through the asylum system, ensuring that vulnerable asylum seekers have access to the support they need along with a high standard of accommodation.

Our Housing Officers (HO’s) are responsible for ensuring compliance with the AASC Contract, company policies, processes, and procedures through their liaison with Staff, Service Users, Landlords, External Agencies and Partners. You will be covering multiple areas in the North West region Inc Chester & Ellesmere Port. Ensuring that all properties within the allocated portfolio are safe, habitable, fit for purpose and fully equipped in accordance with AASC Standards. There is a requirement to operate an Emergency On-Call system outside of normal working hours amongst all Housing Officers on a rota basis.

This role is suited to someone with a solid work history dealing with people face to face and enjoys a demanding workload where you get to utilise your organisations skills whilst remaining calm under pressure and supporting our service users. You will be expected to travel between properties in the Chester & Elesmere Port areas so you must hold a valid UK drivers’ licence and be enthusiastic about taking on a range of accountabilities such as:

Complete a Monthly Inspection of all Properties within the allocated portfolio in accordance with the standard defined within the AASC Contract and property standards guide.

Manage on-boarding and withdrawal of properties within allocated portfolio in accordance with the Housing Officer Local Operating Procedures (LOP).

Report all property faults identified, correctly categorising them for appropriate response.

Complete all minor Property repairs within the scope enabled by training, experience and the toolkit and spares provided.

Administration of operational cash to enable the completion of tasks such as topping up of utility meters & emergency cash payments.

Respond to customer complaints

What you’ll need to do the role

Due to the nature of the role, Criminal Record Bureau checks are required (all offers of employment are subject to security clearance checks and approval by the Home Office).

You are required to have a valid UK driving licence for this role. You will be provided with a company car., Whilst experience in a previous property related role is beneficial, this isn’t a requirement, more importantly is your desire and enthusiasm to make a difference. You will be expected to take on a variety of tasks to support our service users and some may be challenging – dealing with anti-social behaviours, medical needs, management of child safeguarding needs etc.

You will have strong communication skills and be confident managing conflict.

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview. For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000.

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.