Local Authority in the search for a Housing Revenues Officer. This is a Contract role based in Worcestershire, initially for a period of 3 months.
Here are the details of the position:
Job title: Housing Revenues Officer
Location: Worcestershire
Type: Contract
Start Date: ASAP
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Work Arrangement: Flexible (Remote/ Office-based)
Contract Duration: 3 Months
Key Skills:
* Support service users in meeting their rental obligations and thereby successfully sustaining their legal agreements with the Council.
* Be proactive in early identification of tenants' difficulties in meeting their obligations to pay housing costs, intervening at the earliest opportunity to ensure debt levels are minimised and housing revenue streams are maximised.
* Work alongside the Neighbourhood and Tenancy Team to sustain tenancies wherever possible, however, be primarily orientated towards collection of all housing revenue and recovery of all housing related debts, including former tenant arrears, recharges, costs, and leaseholder debts.
* Support the service leadership team in service developments that enable and empower customers to live independently, sustain their tenancies and reduce and prevent homelessness.
Duties:
* Support the Housing Revenue Manager and leadership in delivering the vision, strategies and initiatives for the Housing Revenue and the wider Housing Service of which you are an integral part.
* Deliver superior quality, preventative Housing Revenue and Welfare Advice Services that are customer centric and have high regard for equality, diversity, understanding and respect for people and their circumstances.
* Ensure that your work on all Housing Revenue Streams, including rental income, garage income, service charging, leaseholder charges, recharges, costs, and former tenant arrears achieves:
a) prevention and reduction of all debt
b) Maximised collection rates
c) Mitigates the impact of welfare reforms and sustains tenancies by making the threat of legal action and homelessness the very last but effective resort.
* Thoroughly and accurately record every action and activity that supports, controls, monitors, and progresses all cases where tenants fail to pay Housing Costs to the Council and ensure all the requirements of the Pre-Court Protocol are at least met or even exceeded.
* Through active and tenacious engagement of service users, achieve an early, thorough, and dynamic understanding of the customers financial and social position and, through using your extensive specialist knowledge and expertise of the welfare benefit system, particularly in connection with Universal Credit, provide comprehensive advice and support that ultimately secures regular and consistent payment of housing costs into the HRA and achieves points "a" to "c" above.
* Communicate and collaborate with key stakeholders including Revenue & Benefits Team, Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), Home Finance Officers and all other statutory and support agencies timely and as appropriate to ensure tenants income from benefits is maximised, Housing Benefit overpayments are minimised and DHP and Universal Credit Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA's) and Arrears Direct are fully exploited where applicable.
* Coordinate and undertake the timely preparation of all court documents and once authorised, be responsible for making online claims for possession, variation and warrants for eviction, including attending court to present cases and stand witness in hearings on behalf of the Council.
* Prepare both the household and the Council for and attend evictions where necessary.
* Effectively collect and manage all income charged to leaseholder's accounts including defaults in accordance with policy and procedure.
* Use varying methods to trace Former Tenants to pursue recovery of debts in accordance with policy and procedure in operation at the time and prepare cases for authorisation of write off where debts have become uneconomical to pursue.
If you would like to discuss the role further, please call Varuna on (phone number removed) or Email Varuna on .
Eden Brown is committed to equality in the workplace and is an equal opportunity employer. Eden Brown is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy