Prevention & Wellbeing Navigator

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About the Service and Team

The Neighbourhoods and Community Involvement Team works across Kingston to strengthen communities, support residents earlier, and prevent problems escalating into crisis.

The team brings together neighbourhood working, voluntary sector partnerships and community-led support to help residents access the right help at the right time. We work closely with Housing, Adult Social Care, Public Health and local voluntary organisations to create joined-up, preventative services that improve wellbeing and reduce pressure on statutory systems.

This role forms part of Kingston’s developing Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) prevention model, which focuses on helping residents address issues early across five key areas of wellbeing: Money, Home, Health, Friends & Family, and Work & Purpose.

We are a collaborative and supportive team that values initiative, partnership working and practical problem-solving to achieve better outcomes for residents.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Purpose of the Job

Provide early, practical support to residents experiencing financial or housing difficulties, helping stabilise situations and prevent escalation into crisis.

About the Role

In this role you will work directly with residents who are beginning to experience financial stress, housing difficulties or wider wellbeing challenges. The focus is on early intervention, helping people resolve issues before they escalate into crisis or statutory services.

Day-to-day, you will:

• Meet with residents to understand their situation and carry out structured wellbeing conversations.
• Help residents access benefits, financial support, housing advice or community services.
• Complete applications and forms with residents and help them navigate complex systems.
• Coordinate support across council teams and partner organisations through referrals and warm handovers.
• Provide short-term, practical support while maintaining clear boundaries and accurate case records.

About You

You will be someone who enjoys working directly with residents and helping people find practical solutions to complex situations.

Essential

• Knowledge of welfare benefits, housing systems or financial inclusion support.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to build trust with people experiencing financial stress or vulnerability.
• Experience working with multiple services and making referrals or coordinating support.
• Good organisational skills and confidence using digital systems to record information and complete applications.

Desirable

• Experience working in local government, housing, advice services or the voluntary sector.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.
Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.