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Why Southwark?

Do you want to use your housing expertise to influence better decisions, strengthen legal compliance and help ensure residents receive fair and consistent outcomes?

Are you an experienced housing professional who enjoys improving practice, managing complex cases and supporting services to deliver high-quality, legally robust decisions?

If yes, we have an exciting opportunity for you!

We are recruiting a Quality Assurance and Review Officer on an 18 month fixed term contract to help play a key role in strengthening decision-making across Housing Needs and Support.

About the Role:

As a Quality Assurance and Review Officer, you will sit at the heart of statutory compliance, governance, and service improvement. You will ensure that decisions relating to homelessness, allocations and accommodation suitability are lawful, evidence-based, clearly reasoned and capable of withstanding external scrutiny.

Southwark Council operates within a complex and evolving housing environment, where effective assurance is essential to maintaining public confidence, managing risk and delivering high-quality services.

Using your expertise, you will review decisions, identify opportunities to improve practice and provide constructive challenge and guidance to support colleagues across Housing Needs and Support.

With significant changes taking place across housing legislation, including the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act, this role provides an opportunity to help shape how new legal duties are embedded into operational practice.

You will contribute to strengthening governance arrangements, improving decision-making frameworks and supporting teams to respond confidently to emerging requirements.

Southwark is committed to delivering resident-focused services built on fairness, accountability and continuous improvement. This role offers the opportunity to work alongside experienced professionals, influence service development and make a meaningful contribution to the quality of housing decisions across the borough.

What You'll Be Doing

In this role, you will combine statutory review expertise with service assurance, governance and improvement activity. You will help ensure that decisions are consistent, legally compliant and aligned with legislation, policy, and best practice.

You will:

• Lead statutory housing reviews under the Housing Act 1996, determining complex cases relating to homelessness, allocations and accommodation suitability.
• Ensure decisions are legally sound, evidence-based, clearly reasoned and completed within statutory timescales.
• Provide comprehensive assurance across Housing Needs and Support, reviewing casework, complaints, Member enquiries and legal correspondence.
• Identify risks, inconsistencies and opportunities to strengthen decision-making standards and improve practice.
• Support litigation readiness by ensuring decisions are robust, defensible and capable of withstanding external challenge.
• Analyse review outcomes, trends and patterns to identify systemic issues and provide insight that informs service improvement and governance arrangements.
• Develop and deliver training, legal updates and guidance to help colleagues confidently apply complex legislation and policy.
• Support the implementation of emerging housing legislation, including the Renters’ Rights Act, by helping embed new duties, update guidance and strengthen assurance processes.
• Work collaboratively across teams to promote learning, accountability and continuous improvement.

What We're Looking For

We are seeking an experienced housing professional who can apply sound judgement, provide expert advice, and help maintain high standards within a complex and changing environment.

You will bring:

• Strong knowledge and practical experience of homelessness legislation, housing allocations, accommodation suitability and statutory review processes.
• Experience of reviewing or making complex housing decisions and applying legislation, policy and case law.
• The ability to analyse information, identify risks and provide clear recommendations that improve service quality and outcomes.
• Confidence in managing challenging and sensitive cases while maintaining fairness, accuracy and professional judgement.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to provide clear advice, challenge constructively and influence colleagues.
• Experience of quality assurance, audit, governance, or service improvement activity within a housing environment.
• A proactive and solutions-focused approach, with the ability to adapt to changing priorities and emerging legislative requirements.
• The resilience and confidence to work independently, manage competing demands and take ownership of decisions.
• A commitment to sharing expertise, supporting colleagues and helping teams build confidence in applying complex housing frameworks.

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: 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH
• Type of contract: 18 month fixed term contract

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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Attachments

• Quality Assurance and Review Officer