Out of Hours Officer

Out of Hours Officer Salary: Band 7 - £31,067 - £35,235 p.a. (£25,189 - £28,568 pro rata for 30 hours) plus 22% shift enhancement 30 hours per week, permanent The Service: To provide suitable help and advice outside of office hours. The out of hours service works within Portsmouth City Council's (PCC) Housing, Neighbourhood & Buildings (HNB) directorate. The team manage customer demand outside of office opening hours; 365 days a year. This is a high-profile front-line service that spans many areas of service provision including but not exclusive to; repairs, cleaning, anti-social behaviour and supported housing for over 17,000 council owned and leasehold properties as well as exercising the council's homelessness duty. We are committed to excellent customer service and respond to the needs of our customers. What is the role? As an out of hours officer you will be the main point of contact for those requiring assistance including; tenants, leaseholders, PCC employees, Contractors and external agencies such as the police. You will need excellent communication skills with the ability to deliver a high level of service. You should expect to work exclusively out of normal office hours. You will work on a rota and will need to work day, evening and night shifts. You should expect to work bank holidays. The role is responsible for taking demands from our customers to ensure that they always have access to support and help when they need it. You will need to be able to gather information from which you will independently make decisions and solve problems; ensuring that the right resource is utilised to the benefit of both the customer and the organisation as a whole. You will need to remain calm while prioritising competing demands on a case-by-case basis. There will be times when you will be working alone as the main focal point of the out of hours service so you will need to be organised. You must have excellent communication skills to ensure you can articulate your decisions to our customers and so that decisions or actions can be handed over to others ensuring that all demands received are dealt with appropriately. You will be using multiple IT database systems so need to be computer literate and have an eye for detail as the information that you gather will be used to manage the service and inform improvements. You will also need to be able to recognise problems and issues as they arise and escalate these to the right person at the right time, including your manager. Please note this role requires a basic DBS disclosure.

2. Have excellent customer service skills, and are able to work under pressure in a busy office environment. 3. Are able to work independently and as part of a team prioritising and managing multiple demands. 4. Will have excellent communication skills, including: 1. Being able to ask effective questions to gather clean information in order to identify the customers nominal value. 2. Being able to make proportionate decisions based on the information available 3. Being able to remain professionally detached and focused even if the message you deliver involves saying no in difficult circumstances. 4. Maintaining professionalism whilst dealing professionally with colleagues, service users, third parties and contractors 5. Will have excellent IT skills with experience using databases and spreadsheets, particularly to manipulate/analyse data. 6. Will have experience in resource controlling including organising and directing allocating contractors and staff. 7. Have full driving licence to travel across Portsmouth to deal with other any demands that may arise 8. Are able to identify and use information to problem solve, including risk assessing to ensure customers your own and colleagues health and safety

We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:

• A generous pension scheme
• Up to 31 days annual leave per year pro rata + bank holidays
• A range of retail discounts via our reward portal offering discounts at retailers including IKEA, Currys, Tesco
• Free Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellbeing support
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships
• Potential to purchase additional annual leave
• Business travel support and initiatives, including bike loans