Information & Advice Generalist Advisor

Thank you for showing interest in working for Age UK Bromley & Greenwich. We are an independent local charity and have been working in the community to help older people for over 50 years.

With nearly 80 staff and over 250 volunteers we provide support to clients across both Boroughs.

We work in partnership with BTSE helping to deliver the Bromley Well project as well as BLG Mind working on Dementia Services and Oxleas providing Care Navigation.

Vision:

To make Bromley and Greenwich places were all can enjoy later life.

Mission:

Age UK Bromley & Greenwich will be the voice of older people in both boroughs. We will work with older people to enable, support and connect.

We will promote independence and well-being.

Values:

Equality - We value diversity and strive to give equality of opportunity. We believe that the organisation and society is enriched by its diversity.

Respect - We respect the life histories of our staff, volunteers and clients. We believe in their potential and we will help to realise their ambitions.

Creativity - We encourage innovation in the solutions we adopt.

If you stand for our vision, mission and values and match the criteria in the below job specification we would love to hear from you.

Job Purpose: To provide Information & Advice to older people. The service is primarily office-based but may also include outreach or home visits; providing support to the Volunteer I&A Advisors, providing office cover as required and supporting the I&A Advice Case Supervisor in keeping our information resources up to date.

Key Responsibilities:

To provide information and advice to older people, their careers, relatives and friends. This advice may be in person, in writing, by email or telephone. There may also be occasional home visits

To be responsible for the provision of up-to-date welfare benefit information and undertaking of benefits checks supporting older people with their claims and where necessary challenging DWP decisions and assisting with appeals.

To have an in-depth knowledge of those issues likely to affect older people, for example but not limited to Lasting Power of Attorney, succession, care provision and housing as well as paying for care

To respond promptly, proactively and effectively to a wide range of enquiries from the public

To support access to a wide range of services that are appropriate, paying particular attention to the needs of marginalised groups

To undertake rights-based casework, for example assisting with a wide range of complaints and making representations where appropriate.

To be responsible for the recording, collation and monitoring of all relevant information relating to clients accessing our services and the milestones, outcomes and outputs of the service

To be responsible for inputting client records onto the organisations case management system and running reports

To arrange and participate in stakeholder and other events throughout the two Borough’s

To work closely with other members of the team and when necessary other partner agencies in respect to correspondence, telephone conversations and enquiries

In the absence of the I&A Case Supervisor to provide support to the Volunteer I&A Advisors ensuring they are briefed and updated before each of their sessions begins and that if possible there is always someone present to take enquiries, answer the phone etc.

To provide outreach information & advice at venues across the Borough’s as and when required

To provide high quality information, ensuring that our policies and procedures are fully complied with, and that we meet the standards required by the Age UK Quality Advice Standard and any other external accreditations

To liaise with and refer clients to appropriate external organisations and services.

To undertake accurate case recording according to our policies and procedures

To support the I&A Case Supervisor with the statistics and reports required across both the Boroughs

To keep up to date with relevant laws, policies and procedures – locally and nationally and participate in training (internal and external)

To refer and facilitate to the services provided by Age UK Bromley & Greenwich, including relevant ‘charged-for’ services, to clients and other professionals. This may include attending outreach events

To uphold and protect the good reputation of the organisation