Welfare Benefit & Debt Advice Triage Officer

We have a rare and exciting opportunity for a customer and results focused individual to step into the role of Welfare Benefit & Debt Advice Triage Officer. The starting point is that you will have experience of welfare benefits in a housing or public sector setting and an ability to work closely with others to deliver excellent customer service.

You will live in the North West to be able to cover your patch. You will also need to be based within a reasonable travelling distance of our Head Office in Birchwood, Warrington to attend meetings and training courses when needed.

No two weeks will be the same! You will be responsible for assessing all referrals into the Welfare Benefit & Debt Advice team. As the first point of contact into the team you will assist with low level benefit enquiries from customers and the income team and assign more complex cases to the Welfare Benefit & Debt Advice Officers.

You will also conduct affordability assessments of all new customers to aid decision making on lets and viability of tenancy, as well as giving advice on maximising income. This role will also involve collaborative working with Money Advice Officers, colleagues in the Income and Housing Management Teams, DWP and Local Authority partners.

There is an increasing demand for the YHG Welfare Benefit & Debt Advice Service in response to the cost of-living crisis and you will need to demonstrate resilience working in a demanding and challenging environment.

To be a successful Welfare Benefit & Debt Advice Triage Officer, here at YHG, you will be:

• A good understanding of welfare benefits
• Ability to manage own workload
• Able to sensitively explore customer circumstances
• Passionate about customer service and outcomes for customers
• A strong communicator with a high level of attention to detail and enjoy working as part of a fast-paced team

Ideally you will:

• Have excellent customer care skills
• Be well organised, self-motivated and a problem solver
• Have strong communication and interpersonal skills

This role is really suited to someone who can understand our customers and their circumstances, someone who isn’t afraid to ask questions, and through professional curiosity, can get to the underlying issues, someone who will make our customers feel supported and work with them to find solutions.

In return we offer £27,898 – £29,000 for a 35-hour week, and 25 days annual leave (holidays also increase with time served) plus Bank Holidays, but our employee offering provides much more than just a competitive salary and holiday allowance.

We trust our people to manage their own diaries, if you need time for an appointment, the school run or an exercise class, as long as it fits with business needs, we’re open to what works for you too. And when you need to collaborate with your team, you can visit Youggle House – our wellbeing, social, collaboration and meeting space, in Birchwood, Warrington.

On top of this, we’ll provide you with a great benefits package, including a contributory pension where we match whatever you choose to contribute (up to 8%), an advanced level healthcare cash plan, that doesn’t just provide dental and optician cashback but also health and wellbeing benefits (such as 24/7 GP Access, money back from prescriptions and alternative therapy treatments) and an amazing discount scheme that gives you access to half price cinema tickets, subsidised gym memberships and a huge range of discounts with some of the biggest high street and online names.

Your Housing Group is a registered social landlord helping people at every stage of life to live in quality homes they can afford. As one of the North’s sector-leading landlords, we are proud to play our role in tackling the UK's housing crisis by continually reinvesting in our 29,000 properties and tailoring our services to meet the diverse needs of our customers. We also build over 1,000 new homes each year.

We’re an employer of choice, over 88% of colleagues here recommend us as a 'great place to work'.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and therefore as part of the Group’s pre-employment checks, successful applicants will be required to complete a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check.

Your Housing Group values diversity and encourages applications from all communities. Your Housing Group operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for any applicants who declare they have a disability, if these applicants meet the minimum requirements for the role (as set out in the role profile and/or person specification) they will be guaranteed an interview. Your Housing Group welcomes applications from our customers, however, access to confidential information and probity will be explored to determine whether there is a potential conflict of interest or security issue present which may prevent the Group from being able to proceed with the application.