Starting salary: £24,300 per annum (scale: £24,300 to £27,494.61 per annum)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Work base: Office based, with attendance at outreach locations in Plymouth as required.
About the role
Plymouth City Council has commissioned Citizens Advice Plymouth to deliver an income maximisation campaign to work across the city. The service provides face to face advice within our office, via outreach work at locations across Plymouth, on the phone and digitally.
It’s a varied role – you’ll be advising clients in many different enquiry areas with a focus on benefits, budgeting, grants, and income maximisation but also covering debt, consumer, employment, family, housing, and immigration.
You will deliver quality advice to clients through 10 appointments per week, either face to face or over the telephone. There is no average appointment – advice is tailored, and each client is treated equally.
It can sometimes be a challenging role, but you will be fully trained and supported, working as a part of an approachable and supportive team in a rewarding environment to provide the best possible service to people across Plymouth.
The role is primarily office-based work with some Outreach work completed at locations in the Plymouth area. This is not a hybrid working role.
The role is 37 hours a week on a permanent basis, working Monday-Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1630.
Start Date
The start date for this role is 25th June 2024, with interviews planned for w/c 13th May 2024.
Training
Full training will be provided at our city centre office in Cobourg House, Mayflower Street. This is a 7 training week period and you must be available for the full training period (annual leave will not be authorised for these weeks).
About you
You will thrive on working with a diverse range of people and be open-minded, approachable and non-judgmental. You will take an empathetic and compassionate approach to clients to find solutions to the problems they are facing. You will have good critical thinking skills, with the ability to identify and unpick issues.
Advisers need to be resilient and able to manage face-to-face appointments and phone conversations well, including where clients are upset or suicidal. Good communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential, as is the ability to effectively communicate with our clients with a non-judgmental approach.
You’ll be able to write up case notes accurately and efficiently using a range of Office 365 programs and keep databases up to date accurately.
You will have good prioritisation and time management skills to be able to work efficiently as part of a team to reach as many clients as possible as quickly as possible.
The ideal candidate will have some debt and advice knowledge, and some knowledge of the current benefits system, but this is not essential. Previous advice work is desirable, but not essential as full training will be provided.
Citizens Advice Plymouth values diversity, promotes equality, and welcomes applications from suitably skilled candidate from all backgrounds and sections of the community.
For further information about the role:
To apply for this vacancy:
- Email your completed application form to recruitment@citizensadviceplymouth.org.uk by 9am on Tuesday 7th May 2024 (extended from 3rd May)
- Please let us know if you need us to adapt our application process so there are no barriers for you to apply.
Closing date:
Tuesday 7th May 2024 at 9am
Benefits (subject to eligibilty) include:
- 25 days annual leave + bank holidays + an additional 2.5 days between Christmas & New Year (pro rata)
- Long term service leave – up to 5 additional days (pro rata)
- Employee assistance programme.
- Heathcare plan which includes money back on prescription charges etc.
- Group stakeholder pension scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Flexible working, career breaks, enhanced contractual sick pay, support for parents & carers.
- Learning & development – training and development with access to a wide range of online courses to develop your skills
- Death in Service cover (2 x annual salary)