Money Advice Specialist (Benefits and Financial Inclusion)

What you can expect from us

• We offer a competitive salary of £37,250 per annum 
• 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays - pro rata
• Opportunity to further increase annual leave with service or through the holiday purchase scheme.
• Immediate entry to our Pension scheme (matched contributions up to 10%).
• A great flexible working environment, with a range of family friendly policies.
• Health cash plan with financial benefits and the option to extend to your family.
  Cover includes dental, optical, physiotherapy, 24HR private GP access and much more.
• Paid leave for absence including sickness, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Access of up to £150 annually through the ‘Learning for life’ scheme.
• Access to a wide range of discounts and cash back offers, ranging from retail and automotive to holidays and cycle to work scheme.
• Develop your career with support and access to training and qualifications.

About the role

We’re looking for a passionate Money Advice Specialist with experience in welfare benefits, income maximisation, and financial support. As a Money Advice Specialist, you’ll use your expertise in benefits, income maximisation and debt prevention to help customers achieve financial stability. You’ll help customers improve their financial wellbeing while working closely with our Customer Accounts team to reduce debt and sustain tenancies. 

The purpose of this role is to provide financial inclusion and welfare advice to customers to help maximise their income and support debt collection rates.

Suitable candidates will have a full UK driving licence and access to their own car, as mobile working will form part of this job. 

Responsibilities

• Manage financial inclusion referrals, including visiting customers at their homes and on site, recording and measuring the outcomes.

• Support customers to maximise their income by assisting with benefit applications, and help customers to complete mandatory reconsiderations and appeals when necessary.

• Act as customer advocates, including supporting and representing customers at assessment and tribunal hearings.

• Work alongside external partner organisations to ensure that customers have access to all available support and advice to bring about financially sustainable tenancies.  Be the organisation and customer contact with DWP, supporting customers through their Universal Credit claim.  Work closely with the neighbourhood team to ensure that local income, poverty and deprivation issues are addressed. 

• Contribute to internal and external publicity and communication campaigns in our neighbourhoods relating to money advice.  Assist by proactively participating in the organisation’s response to welfare reform. 

• Deliver training for colleagues in the Income team and the wider business on matters concerning financial inclusion as and when required

About Onward

Onward Homes is one of the largest registered providers of social housing in the Northwest, with 35,000 properties across the region.

We believe that everyone deserves a place to call their own, which is why we’re committed to building 500 new homes each year. We do more than just provide a roof over our customers’ heads, we’re here to make a real difference.

In addition to creating positive spaces for our customers we continuously strive to create a positive and progressive workspace to enable our colleagues to achieve their full potential.

We embrace diversity and strive for diverse teams to create an inclusive culture which enables Onward to thrive and be representative of the communities that we serve. We want to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to be part of our recruitment processes and will therefore make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you with our recruitment process via the email address below.

If candidates have any concerns / questions in relation to the role at any stage of the recruitment and selection process they can contact the HR team on [email protected] and a member of the HR Team will be in touch.