Welfare Rights Specialist

The Cardinal Hume Centre works to prevent and tackle youth and family homelessness.

Job title: Welfare Rights Specialist

Reports to: Manager of Advice Services
Location: Westminster, Central London
Hours: Full time or part time (21-35 hours)

Salary: £36,000 per year (pro rata for part time)

Are you passionate about making a real difference in the world? Do you want to leverage your skills to combat homelessness for children and young people? Then we have the perfect opportunity for you.

We are looking to recruit a Welfare Right Specialist to provide provide a structured information, advice and casework service (including representation at tribunal where appropriate) to clients of the centre with complex welfare rights issues. This is an exciting role in our Advice team that will manage a specialist welfare rights caseload and provide emergency housing advice to clients in crisis. You will work closely with other teams in the centre to ensure clients are offered an integrated holistic service. You will also build and maintain good relationships with statutory and other partners and to work together with them to get the best outcomes for our clients and to monitor unmet need locally so that this can be addressed.

This is just one of the new posts we are recruiting as part of a new project to support families experiencing homelessness in and around Westminster.  It follows a report we published last year on the lived experience of families living in temporary accommodation. We are delighted to have secured funding to help us build on this research and pilot different approaches to reach those most in need.  We want to develop support that not only meets emergency needs but can enable longer term outcomes.  Our aim is to build the case for positive change and reduce future rates of homelessness and poverty.  In this role you can play a part in designing, testing and evidencing different approaches with a team of colleagues that cross different advice specialisms and professional family support.

You will join a Centre with a distinct service offer.  In our staff survey last year 94 % of colleagues said they enjoy the work they do, and 95% felt they make a difference.  Our central London location and generous supporter base is helping us build our impact and influence through a strengthened ability to evidence the impact of our work.  We work hard to give our advisors the time and autonomy to achieve the greatest change for our clients.

Please refer to the job description for further information.

To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter. You must account for any gaps in your employment history. In your cover letter please outline how you meet the requirements of the role and why you would like to work for us.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The Centre requires staff and volunteers to complete a criminal records self-declaration and undertake a DBS check.

Benefits
‍· 26 days’ annual leave (pro rata for part time staff), rising to 28 days (pro rata for part time staff) after two years’ service
· Pension: the Centre provides a stakeholder pension scheme and will match employee contributions up to a maximum of 6%.
· Life assurance cover(after probation passed)
· Season ticket loan
· Training and development opportunities

Closing date for applications: There is no closing date for this role.  We will be evaluating applications as we receive them, so if you are interested in the position, we would encourage you to apply as soon as possible.