Financial Inclusion Officer

Daily rate: £Band D

Location: Hybrid, Solihull

Contract: 3 months

Working hours: M-F

Opus People Solutions are recruiting on behalf of Solihull Council for a Financial Inclusion Officer for a 3-month contract with the possibility of an extension. The role is demanding as it will involve working in a target-driven environment, managing a caseload, and working with households with a wide range, sometimes complex needs. On a rota basis, the role will be office-based with supervisory duties.

Purpose of the Role:

The role is that of a case worker to support and facilitate households with complex and complicated financial needs with the aim of enabling residents to:

• Alleviate unnecessary financial hardship
• Sustain affordable housing
• Maximise household income
• Obtain debt and budgeting advice

A key part of the role will be linking into benefit services. The post holder will need excellent communication skills to engage with and offer support, information, advice, and guidance to individuals, households, or groups in Solihull with the aim of achieving better outcomes for the individual or household.

Responsibilities:

• Identify clients from individuals, households, or groups who may require financial support.
• Work with clients including those from vulnerable groups; in a non-judgemental way, empowering them to identify, understand, and address changes to the benefit system.
• Make recommendations on any hardship grants, awards, or payments including Community Care Grants, Crisis Awards, Section 17 Payments, DHPs.
• Be aware of and keep up to date with the wide range of services provided by Income & Awards and partners. Support clients to enable them to have full access to a range of benefits, services, and actions to help alleviate any undue hardship, removing possible barriers to change, and reducing any potential risk of homelessness.
• Engage with partner services as required including: Citizens Advice Bureau, Money & Debt Advice, Welfare Advice, Employment Support, Volunteering and Skill Building, Children & Family Support, Adult Social Care, other council services, Financial Inclusion initiatives, social housing providers, and private landlords.
• Promote a strong customer-focused performance. Provide impartial, high-quality, and relevant advice or links on a range of other services that could assist the wider household or group.
• Support clients through key transitions, budgeting, debt advice, financial literacy/awareness, housing options, and other whole household support.
• Help clients maximize their income through increased benefit take-up, charitable funding, grants, or reduction of expenditure.
• Assist where relevant to ensure Discretionary Housing Payments are in place with a dedicated exit strategy for each household.
• Work closely with other service providers to ensure that where individual needs are complex, appropriate support is identified and accessed.
• Encourage and support clients to find their own long-term solution.
• Produce a needs assessment and action plan for clients at various levels of self-supporting actions.
• Manage varying size and complexity in caseload in a target-driven environment.
• Initiate and maintain systems to help monitor client caseload, output, and outcomes for individuals and households.
• Collect and monitor outcomes and supply performance data to support the senior officer to inform other parties, including colleagues, individuals, and members.
• Participate in workshops, informal group discussions, and presentations to a range of audiences with a diverse range of needs. Actively participate in any identified induction, ongoing training, and networking, to contribute to training events as required, exchange information, and share good practice.