Advisor

Role: Generalist Adviser

Reports to: Head of Service

Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week)

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £31,000 - £33,000 per annum basic salary

The role

To provide Brent residents with free advice that is accurate, effective, and tailored to individuals’ circumstances. This could be face-to-face advice or by telephone or other digital media.

This includes:

• Providing in-depth quality advice

• Conducting income maximisation reviews and supporting income take-ups

• Making grants, other hardship schemes or discretionary funds applications

• Conducting casework where necessary to progress a presented issue.

• Referring residents and service users to other financial and non-financial support schemes and organisations based on individual needs.

• Researching relevant information using appropriate information sources

• Ensuring your work reflects and supports the Citizens Advice service’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

• Assisting with research and campaign work

• Maintaining detailed case records and data entries that meet all auditing, quality standards and CAB funders’ requirements.

Role profile

Advice giving

• Conducting advice Interviews using sensitive listening and questioning techniques

• Ensuring residents can explain their problem-debt/s and empower them to set their own priorities.

• Researching, interpreting and communicating relevant information to enable residents to receive comprehensive and tailored advice on their option/s.

• Providing advice on all available and suitable options, including their advantages, disadvantages and implications or consequences, enabling residents and other clients to make informed decisions on their option/s.

• Supporting clients with income maximisation, including better-off calculations and welfare benefit claims.

• Drafting or writing letters to or negotiating with third parties, such as statutory and non-statutory bodies, in appropriate cases on behalf of clients.

• Ensuring all work conforms to the organisation’s processes and procedures

• Ensuring all work meets all appropriate quality standards and funders’ requirements.

• Maintaining timely, accurate and detailed case records

• Complying with data collection requirements to enable information retrieval, statistical monitoring and report preparation.

• Ensuring all work reflects and supports the organisation’s services and policies, including the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

Research and Campaigns

• Assisting with research and campaign work by providing information and appropriate case studies and participating in Citizens Advice and approved funders’ research and campaign initiatives.

• Recognising the root causes of problems and alerting clients to research and campaign options.

• Responding to Citizens Advice Network Panel or funders surveys and submit evidence forms as appropriate.

Professional Development

• Keeping up to date with relevant legislation, case law, code of practice, policies and procedures, and advice publications and resources.

• Undertaking appropriate Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training to comply with quality assurance and funders' requirements, including achieving relevant CPD points to maintain professional body membership, where required.

• Taking initiative for own CPD and self-development.

• Maintaining an up-to-date record of all training sessions

• Preparing for and attending supervision sessions

Administration

• Attending relevant internal and external meetings as agreed with the line

• manager.

• Attending support and supervision and team/staff meetings

• Using Citizens Advice Case Management System and Office Diary to record deadlines and carry out the tasks of the post.

• Using IT software for statistical recording of information relating to research and campaigns and funding requirements, record keeping and document production.

• Ensuring all work conforms to the organisation’s systems and procedures.

Other duties and responsibilities

• Meeting personal targets and milestones

• Working collaboratively to meet service-wide targets and key performance indicators, including funders' social value requirements.

• Carrying out any task that may be within the scope of the post to ensure the

• effective delivery and development of the service.

• Attending team meetings/staff meetings as appropriate.

• Demonstrating commitment to the aims and policies of Citizens Advice

• Abiding by health and safety guidelines and sharing responsibility for your safety and colleagues.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

1. Demonstrable knowledge and experience advising and conducting casework, particularly in social welfare benefits, debt, housing, and employment.

2. Hold relevant qualification/s or are close to achieving this.

3. Experience dealing with challenging cases or vulnerable clients

4. Experience of adhering to and meeting Advice Quality Standards

5. Commit to Continuous Professional Development, including a willingness to self-develop knowledge and skills.

6. Have essential IT and telephone skills and the ability to use an online-based Client Management System (CMS) to deliver advice across multiple channels and maintain case records

7. Ability and experience collating data to support funders’ monitoring and reporting requirements

8. Experience or willingness to work in outreach settings with an understanding of information assurance and safety in those settings.

9. Ability to use sensitive listening and questioning skills to get to the root of the issues and empower clients whilst maintaining structure and control of advice interviews and other similar meetings

10. Have a good understanding of the FCA's new Consumer Duty

11. Have a good, up-to-date understanding of the application of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to the provision of advice.

Desirable criteria

At least 2 years post-qualification as a generalist adviser or equivalent qualifications.

Notes:

Candidates must demonstrate how they meet the essential criteria on the specification to be shortlisted for an interview.

In accordance with Citizens Advice's national policy and funders’ requirements, we will require the successful candidate to be screened by the DBS. However, a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to your being able to take up the job.