Job Description

Job Introduction

Financial Assessment & Welfare Benefits Officer

A great opportunity to join the Health and Adult Services (HAS) finance service and help us continue to develop the effectiveness of our service. The HAS Finance service undertakes its work to a high standard and is looking for an individual to help us continue our good work unsupervised and under pressure.


The majority of your time in the role will be spent visiting service users in their homes with the following purpose.

Enabling service users to maximise their income by providing accurate benefits advice and ensuring that all benefits are being claimed for people's individual circumstances Assist service users, where required, in completing their benefit forms, either over the telephone or in person Completing timely and accurate financial assessments for service users to establish their liability to their care fees. This role is pivotal in establishing correct Council expenditure and income, as well as ensuring the wellbeing of the service user is not compromised by their care needs and the associated costs. Work closely with our Welfare Rights Unit, Brokerage and Quality Teams, as well as social work and debt recovery staff. Be responsible for identifying any safeguarding concerns and escalating them as appropriate.

You will have to understand the Care Act, and specifically the elements that relate to charging for services, welfare benefits system and financial assessments. We deal with complex issues and vulnerable adults so you will have high quality customer care and communication skills. Experience of dealing with a diverse group of customers, including pensioners and people with disabilities, will be required. You will have experience of working in constructive partnerships with other agencies e.g. voluntary organisations, Department of Work and Pensions. You will have experience of working in local authority financial environment, and ideally experience of working in a benefit advice setting. It is essential that you have experience of working in a job requiring accurate figure work.


Join our committed and dynamic team and embark on a rewarding journey of empowering local residents. If you are ready to lead with impact, innovation, a strength-based approach and be one of the driving forces behind transformative change, apply today.

Please view the Job description and Person specification for more information about this vacancy.

This is a hybrid position - a combination of a few days in the office during the week, and a few days of remote work. Working pattern to be agreed.


Due to high volumes of applications and enquiries, we are unfortunately unable to accommodate individual chats with prospective candidates, however if you have specific questions that are

not

covered in this advert of the Job description/person specification, please email: commissioning-comments@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Safer recruitment:

Royal Borough of Greenwich is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. Any roles which involve working with children, young people or vulnerable adults, or roles in which the duties will involve access to sensitive information relating to children, young people or vulnerable adults, the Royal Borough will take up references prior to interview. You should provide details of referees including your current and previous employers, covering the last 5 years. Candidates can request for us not to send a reference request to their current employer prior to interview by emailing us at recruitment@royalgreenwich.gov.uk.


As part of our Safer Recruitment Policy, a full employment history is also required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment. Unless otherwise stated, a Basic DBS check will be undertaken as part of the pre-employment checks for successful candidates.

DBS:

This role requires an Enhanced DBS. (This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act,1974).


Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.


High Volume Applications: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should there be a high volume of applications received.


Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated.


Full Employment History: A full employment history is required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment.


How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statement addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statement section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.


Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this 'Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.


Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.