Accommodation Officer

Role Responsibility

An excellent opportunity has arisen for a dedicated and passionate individual to join Ofsted regulated Kent Supported Homes; supported lodgings service within KCC 18+ Care Leavers Service as an Accommodation Officer.

This post will be based in Thistley Hill - Dover, Kent. The role has the primary focus of supporting Host families who in-turn offer a home and support for a number of children and young adults, many from KCC’s Care Leaving cohort, including both citizen and former UASC (separated) individuals. This is a substantive, full-time position, requiring frequent travel.

About the role:

- Manage a caseload of Kent Supported Homes Hosts to meet service users’ assessed eligible needs.

- Develop and maintain an extensive knowledge of available resources to support providers in meeting the needs of the service users.

- Support integrated working with Social Workers, Personal Advisers and a range of Hosts, to identify the required outcomes the Host must meet for each young person.

- Deliver training to Hosts where needs be to ensure they have sufficient skills required for effective support.

- Respond to emergency planning issues and ensure continuity arrangements are effective.

- Support the Personal Adviser for each young person to ensure the correct independence focused support is accessed, including financial (e.g. benefits) and other (e.g. independence resources / floating support etc).

- Travel countywide and out of county, when required.

- Remain flexible to service and service user needs across all areas of service delivery.

- Ensuring legal and regulatory compliance expectations of Hosts/Landlords and their properties (Gas certs, DBS etc) are met and tracked and support to access provided where required.

- Present as a positive and supportive representative of KCC in internal and external arenas.

- Other related tasks as required by the Accommodation Team Manager.

About you:

- Proven experience in the field of supporting those who host vulnerable children/adults and empower them to sustain suitable accommodation, within a supported / family environment

- Knowledge of relevant legislation and regulations in the support of children and young people

- Experienced in delivery of sensitive information and challenging problematic behaviours.

- Keen to provide excellent support to those who directly support vulnerable children and young adults.

- Take a firm and supportive trauma-informed approach which focus on amplifying the young person’s voice and ensuring that this is heard within the context of their support.

- Robust and comprehensive planning approaches, with regular review and maintaining a focus on positive outcomes for the young person in their move towards independence.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Interview Date: Monday 14 October 2024

Contact Details

For further information or an informal discussion about this role please contact:

The Accommodation Team Manager

Sebastian.Blythe@kent.gov.uk 

03000 422918

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.