Tackling Poverty Project Lead

Fixed Term Contract/Secondment for 12 months

Housing, Neighbourhood & Building Services

Salary: Band 9 - £34,722 - £38,295 p.a.

37 hours per week flexi-time

Location: Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth

The Service:

In 2022, the new Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Portsmouth was launched, which includes tackling poverty as a priority area, one of the central 'causes of the causes' of health and wellbeing in the city.

The council’s Tackling Poverty Co-ordinator is the lead officer for this work, responsible for the on-going development and implementation of an action plan to support the strategy, working with services to implement a partnership approach to reduce the number of people living in poverty, and to mitigate the effects of poverty.

In recent months, the council has launched a corporate response to the cost of living crisis, building on the tackling poverty work already underway. The Tackling Poverty Co-ordinator is also the senior responsible officer for Portsmouth's Household Support Fund, using grant funding from the Department for Work and Pensions to provide additional financial support with the costs of food, energy and other household essentials to residents in financial hardship.

For further information on this work go to:

Health and Wellbeing Strategy - Portsmouth City Council

Cost of living hub - Portsmouth City Council

Household support fund - Portsmouth City Council

Household Support Fund: guidance for local councils - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Decision - Cost of Living Support;Household Support Fund Portsmouth City Council

What is the role?

A Tackling Poverty Project Lead is now required to assist the Tackling Poverty Co-ordinator in managing and further developing a busy programme of work to distribute the Household Support Fund.

The programme of work includes:

• Working with Public Health Intelligence leads and partner agencies to understand the needs of people in financial hardship;
• Helping to develop, deliver and evaluate local welfare assistance, making best use of the resources available under the Household Support Fund;
• Supporting the development of the council's response to the cost of living crisis for local residents.

Please click here for the full job profile, which includes full details of the role!

Who is the person?

We need someone who:

1. Has worked in a related field with people on low incomes, such as youth work, housing, children and families' services, money/debt/benefits advice services etc, and where this role involved one-to-one casework with clients to help improve their outcomes, with at least 2 years' experience in this kind of role.
2. Has an understanding of the impact of poverty on people’s lives, what poverty looks like for people who experience it, and how it affects people's life chances.
3. Has knowledge and understanding about the different kinds of interventions that can make a difference to people and help to alleviate financial hardship, including knowledge of local and national welfare assistance, as well as relevant stakeholder groups and how to forge successful relationships with them in order to alleviate poverty.
4. Can demonstrate a real passion for making a difference to people in financial hardship in the city, and can demonstrate this passion to others.
5. Has an awareness of the purpose and scope of the tackling poverty priority under the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, and specific challenges of delivering this area of work.
6. Has enthusiasm for innovating and trying new things, and the ability to problem solve.
7. Has excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate with people at all levels within both Portsmouth City Council and partner organisations.
8. Has experience in effectively managing projects and can support a team to prioritise workloads to meet deadlines.
9. Can lead a small team of officers, encouraging and inspiring good performance and offering support and advice to make them more effective in their roles.
10. Can manage, prioritise and delegate effectively in a busy environment.
11. Has had experience of delivering training and/or presentations.

You will be able to clearly demonstrate that you……

1. Are a highly flexible, positive and effective communicator, demonstrating your skills in engaging with and developing credibility with different audiences, at all levels of the organisation and with external organisations and the public. 
2. Are able to deliver information and training to diverse groups of frontline staff in a confident and effective manner. You will be able to communicate effectively your passion for the work and the rationale for it, in order to enthuse and motivate others.
3. Have sound judgement skills; for example being able to assess situations from a strategic perspective, identifying sensitive issues and the appropriate approach to resolving the issue, working with the relevant service/leader, demonstrating your ability to understand the challenges faced by senior managers/leaders, and to negotiate appropriately at this level. You will also demonstrate your judgement skills in knowing when you can make decisions on behalf of the work area, and when to ref