Accommodation Assistant

There has never been a more exciting time to join Wirral Council. We’ve got ambitious targets to meet and to achieve everything we have promised to our residents, we need people who are ready to deliver the very best for our communities and show how they can #BeTheDifference. Our vision is to secure the best possible future for our residents, defined by the community prosperity we create and supported by our excellent people and services. If you strive to #BeTheDifference and want to be at the heart of our change and improvement journey, then this could be the perfect job for you.

An exciting opportunity has arisen in Wirral Council's Operational Housing Services Department for an Accommodation Assistant. As an Accommodation Assistant, your role will be to provide critical support to Officers and Managers, specifically in relation to the financial processes and requisitions involved in providing temporary accommodation to homeless households. This is a vital area of the Council's work in responding to homelessness and you will be required to liaise with key agencies such as Housing Benefits and Housing Associations. You will manage and maintain databases and will provide essential data and reports to support the financial function of the Housing Options Service.

We would welcome applications from candidates who can demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills, as the role will involve communicating with different groups of people. From working with colleagues in Housing Benefit, to assisting vulnerable, homeless households to access services. You may also be asked to provide training to other staff members in relation to new or updated procedures relating to the day to day operation of the service and assist with the supervision of new staff until they are competent in procedures and processes.

In working with vulnerable groups, it is important that the ideal candidate is able to maintain a level of professionalism when dealing with client groups that can display challenging behaviours.

The ideal candidate will have a good understanding of IT and be competent in using the MS Office suite of applications and you will be able to use these applications to produce reports for management. You will also be able to demonstrate excellent literacy and numeracy skills in order to produce financial and budget information, records and spreadsheets, relating to the income and expenditure for temporary accommodation, housing prevention activity and any other work undertaken by the Housing Options Team. The successful applicant will be able to both work independently and as part of a wider team.

Working at Wirral

You’ll also want to know what it’s like to work here so, as a start:

Our values are more than just pieces of paper on our walls! We’ve all played a role in developing these, so they reflect the immense pride we have in what we do, what matters to us, what inspires us and inform how we think, approach things and behave.

We believe in ensuring staff are well looked after, staff wellbeing is a priority for us. We’re serious about recognising and rewarding people for the great things they do. You’ll benefit from our track record of developing, growing and investing in our people.

We have a range of staff benefits including staff discounts, an excellent pension scheme which includes a generous employer contribution rate, immediate life cover and ill-health protection. We have a strong flexible working approach, hybrid working, family-friendly employment initiatives and an annual leave package starting with 28 days leave plus public holidays.

We have an inclusive, engaged culture, everyone has a voice, everyone is valued for their contribution and understands the role they play in delivering our strategic priorities.

Each voice is heard, each contribution valued. We embrace diversity in our workforce and recognise it is critical to our success. We support an inclusive culture that champions differences and nurtures a sense of belonging. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds, who share our values and our commitment to inclusion to apply for roles with us.

We want you to be your best at work, we create the conditions to help you thrive and we mirror this in our recruitment process. If you’d like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process to make it barrier-free and as accessible as possible please contact recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

Please note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies.

It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council's Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstance

Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.

Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration.  Forms received via the post will not be processed.

All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK.  Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page.

The job description and other supporting documents will not be accessible once the vacancy closing date has passed so if a copy is required you should download it now.