Benefits Visiting Officer

You will be a unique individual who enjoys direct contact with vulnerable residents for both LB Richmond and LB Wandsworth, supporting them in their claims for Housing Benefits and Council Tax Reduction.

To do this, you will be visiting individuals in their homes as a lone worker assisting completion of application forms, verifying evidence, providing welfare benefit guidance, undertaking residency checks and other project visiting work

You will need to be able to organise your own workload and visiting schedule to ensure that customers are seen within set performance targets and provide statistical information as required.

There will also be a requirement to attend surgeries / advice days to provide advice and promote take up of welfare benefits within the community

About the role

Training will be provided as you will need an up-to-date knowledge of all services and systems used within the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction Service to assist customers and resolve their enquiries.

You will need excellent customer service skills as you will need to be able to deal with customers in their own homes, providing a service to those who may be elderly or vulnerable.

You will need IT skills to maintain accurate records and information relating to the provision of Housing Benefit & Council Tax Reduction Visiting Service., The post is based within the Benefit Service, which is located in the Finance Directorate, and will report directly to the Benefits Team Leader mainly based in Wandsworth.

The successful candidate will need:

Knowledge of Housing Benefits and Council Tax Reduction

Understanding of other Welfare Benefits

Outstanding customer service skills

Be a confident lone worker

To work closely with colleagues as a part of a small team

Have basic knowledge of and ability to use standard IT packages (Microsoft Office and Outlook).

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know.

We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils