Housing Assistant

Department Housing & Support Hours: 22.5 hours per week, worked as follows: Wednesday – Friday, 9 am5 pm with a half-hour unpaid break. Salary £16387.88 (0.53 FTE; full-time equivalent £27,313) Reports To: S enior Housing & Support Officer Main Work Location The Whiteley Homes Trust Walton on Thames, Surrey Introduction The Whiteley Homes Trust vision Every employee is here to sustain a thriving community, with outstanding accommodation for older people of limited means and to develop and share our success, so older people can live happy and fulfilling lives. Your job is to make Whiteley the best place to age in Britain. The Whiteley Homes Trust, the Trust, is a charity that manages Whiteley Village in Surrey. The purpose of the charity is to provide homes for older people of limited means from all over the country.Founded over a hundred years ago in Walton on Thames, Surrey, the Village is located in 225 acres of beautiful grounds and is a very special place to live and work. Established in 1917 the village has many Grade 2 listed buildings and provides housing for nearly 400 older people of limited means. There are 265 Almshouses and 51 extra care apartments and the Village also has a church, activity centre, pool, village hall, shop and community café. There is also a small number of market rent properties within the village. The Housing Assistant will work as part of a small team, including with another Housing Assistant (largely working on different days of the week), to provide a customer focused housing management service within the village, often being the first point of contact for new enquiries from residents and general public. The postholder will process housing applications to join the Trusts waiting list, working closely with colleagues to deliver a smooth and efficient service, meeting customers and undertaking viewings of vacant properties. You will assist the Senior Housing & Support Officer with a range of housing management tasks, including licence sign-ups and terminations, logging repair requests & reports of anti-social behaviour, carrying out occasional welfare checks on residents, and involvement with low level arrears. The postholder will also help provide admin support to the team and manage applications for concessionary TV licences. Benefits of working for The Whiteley Homes Trust We value our employees and offer a generous package of benefits, including: 33 days annual leave (including bank holidays), increasing by one day after each year of service up to a maximum of 36 days (pro-rata for part-time employees) Extra day of leave each year (Trust Day) for William Whiteley’s birthday Opportunity to buy and sell annual leave Generous Company Pension scheme Healthcare Cash Plan What you will be doing Key Responsibilities: Housing In conjunction with the other Housing Assistant, lead on new housing enquiries and applications in line with the Allocations policy and provide an excellent customer experience Deal with enquiries from the public regarding the availability of housing in Whiteley Village Register, assess and process new housing applications and help ensure properties are let as quickly as possible to qualifying applicants Carry out property viewings and tours of the village with applicants Assist the Senior Housing & Support Officer in completing the sign-up and hand-back processes of properties. Assist in the record keeping of antisocial behaviour and other licence breaches, and issue standard letters in line with Trust policy. Provide admin assistance with maintenance charge and rent accounts, including sending out standard letters to those in low level arrears, sending out quarterly account statements, etc. Respond proactively to all customer feedback, consider changes to service delivery, where appropriate. Support Assist in the process of integrating new villagers into the Whiteley Village. Help to undertake welfare checks on vulnerable residents, including telephone calls and home visits, particularly if the Village Support Worker or Senior Housing & Support Officer are not available. Respond to all requests for support from residents with empathy and maintaining confidentiality, passing details to other members of the team, as appropriate. Financial Performance Assist in maximising the Trusts income by assisting the Senior Housing & Support Officer in the teams management of low level arrears, reduction of void turnaround times and other tasks as may be required. Lead on the management of the villages Concessionary TV licences. Health & Safety Ensure that health & safety good practice and timely reporting of all accidents, incidents and near misses in line with the Trusts policy is always upheld. Assist in the undertaking of fire alarm testing and other health & safety checks, as may be required It is the duty of all employees to ensure that a safe working environment and safe working practices are always maintained. Other duties Work closely with other departments to ensure a joined-up service is provided for residents. Ensure accurate records are maintained on the central database in line with GDPR. Complete training and actively participate in team meetings. Participate in the delivery of resident consultation initiatives, attending events as required. Be a role model for The Whiteley Homes’ Trust values. You will be responsible for the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all data which you have access to in the course of your work. You must not disclose any information of a confidential or sensitive nature about the Trust, any of our residents or any of our employees. There is an exception if you need to share this information as part of your job or if you are required to by law. General It is the duty of all employees to ensure that a safe working environment and safe working practices are always maintained. It is also the responsibility of the management team to ensure full compliance. Undertake any other duties which may be reasonably deemed to come within the scope of the post, relating to the activities of the department Foster a positive work environment by treating colleagues, residents, and stakeholders with respect and understanding. Establish and maintain clear professional boundaries while ensuring effective communication and collaboration. Demonstrate integrity, accountability, and consistency in all tasks and interactions. Work effectively as part of a team, while also being self-motivated and capable of independent work. Ensures full compliance with all the Trusts Policies and Procedures Note: No Job description can cover every issue that may arise within the duties of the post at various times. The post holder will be expected to carry out any other duties from time to time that are broadly consistent with those in this document.