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Why Southwark?

Are you an experienced housing leader who can inspire a team, improve performance and shape the future of homelessness assessment services in a complex and evolving housing environment?

Would you welcome the opportunity to use your expertise, leadership and commitment to improving outcomes for residents to make a genuine difference?

If yes, this could be the opportunity you have been looking for!

Southwark is seeking an experienced Housing Assessment Manager to lead a dedicated assessment service responsible for delivering high-quality homelessness decisions that make a positive difference to residents and communities.

About the Role:

This is an exciting opportunity to take a leading role in a service at the heart of Southwark’s response to homelessness. You will ensure households receive timely, fair and evidence-based decisions while supporting the council’s wider commitment to preventing homelessness and improving housing outcomes.

Working within a busy and complex housing needs environment, you will lead a team responsible for managing demand, maintaining statutory compliance and ensuring residents receive effective support during some of the most challenging circumstances they may face.

The assessment service benefits from established processes, senior oversight and strong quality assurance arrangements. You will have the opportunity to build on these foundations, strengthening performance, developing professional practice and driving continuous improvement.

You will join a service committed to improving resident experiences and responding effectively to the challenges facing households in a changing housing landscape.

This role also combines operational leadership, service improvement and professional development - giving you the opportunity to influence how the service responds to increasing housing pressures while ensuring decisions remain transparent, accountable and legally robust.

What You'll Be Doing

As Housing Assessment Manager, you will provide visible and effective leadership to a team responsible for delivering high-quality homelessness assessments and decisions.

You will:

• Lead, support and develop a team of housing assessment professionals, creating a culture of accountability, learning and continuous improvement.
• Oversee caseload management, workflow and performance to ensure homelessness applications and statutory reviews are progressed within required timescales.
• Monitor performance, identify challenges, address delays or backlogs and drive improvements to strengthen service delivery.
• Provide oversight of complex cases, ensuring decisions are evidence-based, defensible and aligned with legislation and statutory guidance.
• Maintain effective quality assurance and governance arrangements, ensuring consistency and transparency in decision-making.
• Ensure assessment activity links effectively with available housing pathways, particularly through the Private Rented Sector (PRS), including private rented sector offers and tenancy sustainment approaches.
• Support the service to respond effectively to legislative developments, including changes introduced through the Renters’ Rights Act and their impact on households experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
• Use performance information, resident feedback and service insight to identify challenges, drive improvements and strengthen service outcomes.
• Develop staff capability through supervision, coaching, feedback and ongoing learning, enabling officers to make confident and consistent decisions.
• Build strong relationships with internal teams and external partners, including Legal, PRS services and wider stakeholders, ensuring a joined-up approach to meeting housing need.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for an experienced housing professional who combines strong technical expertise with confident leadership and a commitment to delivering excellent outcomes for residents.

You will bring:

• Proven experience of leading and managing a housing assessment, homelessness, or housing options service within a complex and high-demand environment.
• Strong knowledge of homelessness legislation, including the Housing Act 1996 and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, with the ability to apply legislation confidently and support others to do the same.
• Experience of managing performance, improving services and using data and insight to drive better outcomes.
• The ability to balance pace, quality and accuracy while ensuring decisions are fair, transparent, and legally compliant.
• Strong leadership skills, with experience of motivating, developing and empowering teams through coaching, support and effective management.
• Experience of embedding quality assurance, governance and accountability within a service environment.
• The ability to build strong working relationships across services and with external partners, supporting collaborative approaches to complex housing challenges.
• An understanding of the local housing landscape, available housing pathways and the challenges faced by households experiencing homelessness.

Above all, you will be a confident and compassionate leader who can combine operational delivery with strategic thinking, helping shape a service that delivers consistent, effective and resident-focused outcomes.

For detailed qualifications and requirements, please review the job description and person specification located at the bottom of the advert.

Contact Information:

To arrange an informal discussion about the role, please contact our dedicating Housing Needs inbox via email at HNASapplications@southwark.gov.uk

Additional Information

• Working hours: 36 hours per week
• Location: 25 Bournemouth Road, Peckham, London, SE15 4UJ
• Type of contract: Permanent

Benefits and more information:

https://jobs.southwark.gov.uk/why-us/

Recruitment Timeline:

Advert close date: 11:59pm on Friday 14th August 2026

Shortlisting date/s: 17th - 19th August 2026

Interview date/s: Week commencing 7th September 2026

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together initiative. We particularly welcome applications from members of the black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme:

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

Members of the Armed Forces and veterans

Are currently in care, or have previously been in care

If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

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• Housing Assessment Manager