Housing Support Officer

Mears Group; Halifax; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 30,000

Job description

Full time – Permanent, 40hrs per week, Monday to Friday

Including company vehicle and fuel card or £3,500 company car allowance

Mears provides temporary accommodation to asylum seekers whilst their claim is being assessed in three regions: Northeast, Yorkshire and Humber, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. At the end of May 2021 Mears had over 19000 service users across the three regions. Mears work in partnership with central and local Government, registered providers, tenants, landlords and investors to find solutions to homelessness, provide more social and affordable housing and create specialist housing for people with care needs.

About the Role:

Due to contract expansion, we are seeking a Housing Support Officer to join our team. This is an exciting position that works exclusively to support asylum seekers going through their right to work asylum application process with the home office. The ideal candidate will be resilient, trustworthy, caring, a people person and extremely empathetic to others. As a Housing Support Officer, every day is different; no day is the same. Although this role comes with challenges, it is an extremely rewarding role.

As a Housing Support Officer, your main duties will include but are not limited to ensuring service users are supported at various stages of their asylum application process, including any safeguarding and welfare issues you come across, providing practical and emotional support to service users, monitoring service users’ wellbeing and support needs, and ensuring all records are updated and accurate for home office audit purposes. It is essential to maintain boundaries and be resilient to ensure a professional and well-defined service is provided to always meet the needs of the service users.

Role Criteria:

• Experience of working with vulnerable and diverse client groups
• Experience and understanding of safeguarding
• Ability to identify individuals' and families' needs and recognize the required support packages to maintain independence
• Experience working with mental health and/or challenging behavior
• To communicate effectively with colleagues, local authorities, and service users
• Experience with record keeping and risk assessments
• Ability to work under own initiative
• Resilient
• You will be supportive, trustworthy, a good listener, approachable and empathetic to others
• Flexible and happy to travel
• Full UK driving license

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK; Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

As part of the recruitment process for this role, we will carry out a DBS & BPSS check, as well as Security Clearance. For these checks to be completed, we will require from you the relevant identification, including Proof of Address, References, a valid passport, and proof that you have lived in the UK for the last 5 years.

Benefits we can offer you

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Annual Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organized as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work!
• Volunteering Leave - Mears supports employees to undertake paid volunteering in the community, in support of our social value commitment.
• Staff perks with Mears Rewards - discounts of up to 10% on weekly groceries, holidays, eye test vouchers, Share save scheme, plus much more
• Family friendly policies
• Company Vehicle and Fuel Card
• Access to EAP Counselling sessions

Apply below or to discuss your application further; contact:

Beth Dunford

If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.

At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive; we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honored to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS). To coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognizing our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.

About Us

We are the people behind the smile! At Mears, we look for people who share our vision and values - to make a positive difference to the communities we serve. We do this by improving homes, improving communities, and improving lives. We are proud of our business and the opportunities we provide to colleagues working across the UK. Our Values - Customers / Innovation / Teamwork / Responsibility