Overview
Housing Renewals Support Officer – PO12AL, United Kingdom
Job Category: Housing
Region / Division: UK Region
Location: Civic Offices, Portsmouth
Working Hours: 37
About Portsmouth City Council
Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.
We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.
Job introduction
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Portsmouth City Councils Housing Renewals service, which forms part of the Private Sector Housing Team. This is a Fixed Term Contract/Secondment for 12 months, and is 37 hours per week Monday – Friday, and is based at the Civic Offices in Portsmouth with some hybrid working depending on business needs.
Your new role
The Private Sector Housing Team offers a wide range of services with the aim of improving living conditions for people in their homes. The Housing Renewals team support with Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) across Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport. The primary focus is to support independent living and improve quality of life through adapting properties for peoples changing needs; often for people who are elderly or vulnerable. We provide a Home Improvement Agency service to help with the grant application forms, as well as specify the works, finding suitable builders to carry out the works, and to check that the works are progressing and completed as they should be.
You will work proactively within the Housing Renewals team’s Home Improvement Agency service to support applicants through the adaptation process.
Your role will include:
- Reviewing Occupational Therapist referrals and recommendations for adaptations, typically the removal of a bath and replacement with a level access shower.
- Visiting applicants’ in their home to assist with completing grant application forms to fund the required adaptations, ensuring accuracy and attention to detail.
- Communicating with the grant applicant and the Occupational Therapist (OT) about the process and the required adaptations
- Carrying out basic visual surveys—typically of bathrooms—and recording relevant notes based on the recommendations of the Occupational Therapist.
- Using these notes to prepare a simple plan and specification for the required adaptations using standard templates.
- Contact contractors to obtain quotes for the work.
- Track the progress of the works, communicating with the contractor and the grant applicant where necessary, and check that the adaptations are completed in-line with the specification.
- Complete forms to confirm the adaptations are finalised and meet the specification, and to arrange for the payment of the grant to be processed by others.
This is a chance to join a well-established and supportive team and make a real difference to people’s lives in Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport —a role that’s both meaningful and rewarding.
Who is the person?
You need to:
- Hold a full driving license, as driving is an essential part of the role.
- Have excellent people skills with the ability to talk to an array of people including vulnerable clients, contractors, and other professionals. You must have a calm, professional and empathetic manner to be able to understand the situations of our customers and other stakeholders and be able to communicate clearly and concisely with them.
- Have excellent literacy and numeracy skills and attention to detail.
- Experience of maintaining accurate case records, and ensuring that sensitive data is handled in line with information governance requirements.
- It would be desirable to have knowledge or experience of working with Housing Grants, specifically Disabled Facilities Grants, although this is not essential.
- Have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Packages (to include Word, Outlook, Excel) and databases (we will be using IDOX Uniform). Experience of using basic drawing programmes is also preferable.
- Have strong observational skills with the ability to take clear and accurate notes.
- Be highly self-motivated and able to organise and prioritise your own workload.
- Have a basic knowledge of building construction and home adaptations is desirable.
- The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken and written English is essential for the post
- Experience of reading and understanding policies with the ability to applying those policies to real life situations.
The full job profile is attached at the bottom of this page.
Our recruitment process
Full information about our recruitment process can be found on our support for applicants’ page: Support for applicants – Careers portal
Please ensure that you read the job profile for full details on the post. We offer hybrid working with the expectation to attend the office minimum 2 days a week (pro rata for part time), this remains flexible, depending on the role and subject to business needs.
You must demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points described in the ‘Who is the Person’ points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. If you apply without a detailed personal statement, it is unlikely that you will be successful.
We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion – Careers portal
Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.
If applying as a secondment you will need permission from your current line manager releasing you for this secondment. Please state you have this on your personal statement on the application.
You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.
Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career’s portal homepage: Careers Portal – Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
