Southend on Sea City Council is a Unitary local authority, providing vital services to meet the needs of the local community. We employ around 1,800 staff who are working alongside our partners and local communities to deliver the city vision and make lives better for the people of Southend.

Working for Southend on Sea City Council offers a challenging and rewarding career in local government within a collaborative and innovate environment, with the benefit of flexible working practices to support a positive work life balance. As a Unitary Authority we are responsible for all local government functions ranging from social services, transport, public health and parks through to planning, trading standards, community safety and education, so we offer a wide range of career opportunities. The diversity of our economy and communities and investment in a number of exciting regeneration projects makes our Council a great place to work, learn and make a difference.

We are looking for a Resettlement Officer (Asylum) to join our resettlement team on a full time and fixed term contract basis (12 months). This role will be hybrid working, which is a mixture of working from home, working at the civic but predominantly out and about visiting service users. This is an exciting opportunity to play an important role in providing support to former Asylum seeker individuals / families, and any other resettled guests as appropriate.

As a Resettlement Officer, you will manage an organised caseload of resettled guests, ensuring that meetings are organised, paperwork is completed, and data is input in a timely fashion. You will build a good working relationship with Clearsprings Ready Homes (CRH) and attend meetings where necessary to manage the local response to dispersed asylum accommodation. You may also support commissioned providers and internal teams with processes related to new arrivals, e.g. household preparations, completion of arrival paperwork with newly resettled families, liaising with primary care providers, local schools, and other internal and external agencies, as required.

You will signpost families towards a variety of support services such as Housing Benefits, Council Tax, Universal Credit, general money management, access to wider welfare benefits, and other council services. You may also be asked to take on additional tasks and project work to support the team as required. You will also support on reporting with regards to Asylum pressures, including regularly analysing data for use in meetings.

To be successful in this role, it is vital that you can communicate effectively to varied audience in a range of ways. Ability to maintain accurate records, data reports, appropriately reporting concerns to managers and relevant stakeholders when required is crucial for the role. It is essential that you have good understanding of issues associated with resettlement e.g., housing, benefits, education

 You need to be able to create and sustain effective relationships with partners and the voluntary community to support families and build long term networks for family stability. Proven experience of admin support, and of gathering and analysing data is essential, as is having good attention to detail.   It is essential that you can prioritise workload depending on urgent issues arising. You must be confident in the use of various ICT applications including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Access to a car will be advantageous but not essential.

If you join the Council, you will enjoy a range of benefits including flexible working (with a blended approach to office and home working), 25 days holiday in a full-time contract (excluding bank holidays) and excellent training and development opportunities. A full list of benefits provided by Southend-on-Sea City Council can be found on the Jobs at the council web page under the "Why Work for us Tab".

If you're interested in either role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.

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Please note: Applications for this vacancy may close prior to the date advertised above so you are advised to apply as soon as you are able to.  

Southend-on-Sea City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. All applicants for this role will require an enhanced DBS check.