Reviews Officer - 18 month Fixed term contract

Job Introduction

Housing 

Reviews Officer

18-month contract

At Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, we are dedicated to improving the quality of life for our community by ensuring everyone has access to safe and stable housing. Join our Strategic Housing Options and Partnerships team and be a part of a dynamic and supportive environment where your work truly makes a difference.

 Are you passionate about social justice and housing? We are looking for a meticulous and empathic Homelessness and Housing Reviews Officer to ensure fair and lawful decision-making within our housing services. You will conduct thorough investigations, and apply up-to-date case law to deliver clear, evidence-based decisions. 

 Job Overview

• Role: Reviews Officer (18-month contract)
• Team: Strategic Housing Options and Partnerships
• Focus: Ensuring fair and lawful decision-making within housing services
  
  

Key Responsibilities

• Investigate and Review: Manage complex caseloads and conduct detailed investigations into homelessness and housing register review requests.
• Legal Compliance: Ensure compliance with the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and respond to reviews within statutory timescales.
• Court Preparation: Prepare witness statements and attend court hearings as necessary.
• Collaboration: Work closely with legal teams and Housing Managers to improve review procedures.
• Policy Development: Contribute to policy and procedure development using customer data.
• Training and Support: Provide training sessions, staff briefings, and team meetings to cascade learning.
• Customer Service: Explain complex legislation in an easily understood manner.
  
  

Requirements

• Experience: Legal background or experience in writing legal decisions is essential.
• Commitment: The role requires a commitment to safeguarding and promoting community welfare.
• Language: Fluency in English is essential as per Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016).
  
  

Application

• Process: Applicants need to refer to the job description and requirements when completing their personal summary and provide examples to demonstrate their experience.
• Checks: The role requires a Disclosure & Barring Service Check.
  
  

Hybrid working will be considered, with flexibility around how this arrangement would work for the successful candidate

For an informal discussion about this post please contact Jo Frend jo.frend@bcpcouncil.gov.uk
 

This post is covered by Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) and therefore the ability to speak fluent English is an essential requirement for the role.” 

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people.  Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline.  We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services.  By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, word-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package for further details see here

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We have been in a process of collective bargaining since 2019 and have positively worked forward to reach an agreed position with the unions for the new contractual offer. This has taken longer than we hoped and therefore we are having to consider all alternative avenues available to enable us to remove inequality in the organisation as a result of bringing together 3 councils. 

We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation, and all colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. We want to reassure everyone that whichever route is taken to reach the new terms and conditions, we can honour continuous service and there will not be any job reduction as a result of the implementation of Pay and Reward.  If you have any questions at all about this process, please feel free to raise this with the hiring manager.

DBS

BCP Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the community and expects all staff and volunteers to share the same commitment.  Applicants to this post will be required to complete the appropriate level of Disclosure & Barring Service Check. Please refer to the Job Description or Role Profile for more details.