Accommodation Support Officer

Job Description

The London Borough of Harrow is offering an excellent opportunity for an Accommodation Support Officer to join the Housing Needs division within Harrow Council's Housing Services. In this role, the successful candidate will serve as the first point of contact for customers residing in Private Sector Leased (PSL) temporary accommodation. The position involves ensuring that tenancy agreements are signed promptly and in line with council policies, with the goal of minimising void periods and rent loss. Throughout all interactions, the post holder is expected to treat customers with fairness and respect.

The successful candidate will:

• Demonstrate a commitment to the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy and the ability to understand and implement the policy in relation to the job responsibilities
• Ensure compliance with your responsibilities as laid out in the council’s health and safety policy and take an active role in promoting a positive health and safety culture.
• Promote and participate in the council’s individual performance appraisal and development initiatives and information management best practice.
• Ensure compliance with the council’s information security policies and maintain confidentiality.
• Act in accordance with the Immigration Act 2016, where the role is customer-facing and the post holder is required to speak to members of the public, the ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
• provide advice and assistance to customers and representatives of partner organizations who have queries (whether in person, in writing or by e-mail or telephone) about PSL properties, allocations and nominations, referring more complex matters to the Team Manager, in order to deal with customer concerns and complaints in a professional manner and within corporate timescales.
• To operate the Council’s sign up and void information systems (both virtual and manual) and provide a range of monitoring information that will enable Managers to keep council PSL void periods and rent loss to a minimum compatible with treating customers fairly and with respect.
• To arrange sign ups as directed by the Allocation Officer to ensure that all necessary information is conveyed accurately and promptly and that deadlines for notifying tenants of the appointments are met.
• To carry out sign up as soon as property is available and ready to let.

For more information, please refer to the Role Profile/Selection Criteria

About us

Harrow Council is the 12th largest London borough and one of the most culturally diverse local authorities in the UK, making it a great place to live, work and visit with a range of cultures, religions and opinions that come together to produce high achieving schools and a close and friendly community. Located 10 miles from the city centre and just 13 minutes to Euston from Harrow & Wealdstone station there are great transport links via the Metropolitan Line, Watford DC Line and national rail service. It is easily accessible to the M1, M25 and A406.

Other information

Support for candidates visit:Harrow.gov.uk Our behavioural indicators roles below G11 and above G11 Here at Harrow Council, the vision is one of 'Working together to make a difference for Harrow' Please click here to view Harrow Council's benefits

Important Note

To deliver our commitment to equality of opportunity in service provision, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. All sections of the population will have equal access to jobs at the London Borough of Harrow. No applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment because of age, disability, gender, reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity unless a Genuine Occupational Qualification applies. As such, we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds. For further information, please read our equality statement.
As a disability-confident employer, we are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and accessible to everyone. This includes reasonably adjusting the recruitment process for those with disabilities or long-term health conditions. For further information, please contact us at resourcing@harrow.gov.uk

London Borough of Harrow is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Harrow operates stringent, safer recruitment procedures.
Due to the high number of applications received for some posts, we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.
Harrow redeployees will be given priority consideration.
The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, any your data protection rights, can be found by visiting www.cifas.org.uk/fpn