Senior Adviser (Welfare Benefits and Housing)

Organisation: Independent Age
35 hours per week
£34,362 to £39,218 per annum (please see advert for full salary details)
Location: Hybrid working in London (minimum 4 days per month in the office) or Homebased (with regular travel)
Deadline: 8 September, 2024

Independent Age is the national charity focused on improving the lives of people facing financial hardship in later life. We believe no one should face financial hardship in later life. Our Helpline and expert advisers offer free, practical support to older people without enough money to live on. Through our grants programme, we support hundreds of local organisations working with older people across the UK.

We use the knowledge and insight gained from our support services and partnerships to highlight the issues experienced by older people in poverty and campaign for change. We would love to find individuals from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds to join us on this journey.

Responsibilities and Person Specification

This role is an integral part of the day-to-day delivery of our Advice and Support Service, which has been re-shaped and went live in the summer of 2024. The service is targeted at older people in or facing financial hardship, and provides information, advice and follow up support relating to a range of issues, including Welfare Benefits, Social Care and Housing.

As a Senior Adviser you will be responsible for supporting Advisers with their welfare benefits and housing work, including responding to the advisers on duty, supporting with complex cases, carrying out independent file reviews in line with Advice Quality Standard and designing and delivering internal and external training.

You should have in depth, specialist level knowledge of Welfare Benefits or Housing (ideally both) as they relate to older people, and experience of working within an advice setting and advice supervision framework such as the AQS framework. You will have a warm, supportive and motivating style to enable Advisers to grow and feel empowered in their work.

For full details on the role and requirements, please review the job description and person specification. If your experience doesn’t align perfectly with all of the criteria in the person specification but you do meet most of them and are excited about the role, we encourage you to apply anyway.

This is a full-time role, 35 hours per week, which you can choose to work over five days or a 9-day fortnight.

What it’s like to work at Independent Age

We celebrate diversity at Independent Age and champion the differences that make each of us unique. We actively support and encourage people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets to join us and help shape what we do. We aim to attract and retain a wide range of talent and create an environment where everyone can feel safe, protected, welcome and included.

We offer great benefits including 28 days annual leave plus public holidays, a generous pension scheme with life assurance, and fantastic learning and development opportunities. We also offer a number of enhanced leave provisions and benefits.

We know that a good work-life balance helps us perform at our best and supports wellbeing. Flexible working hours and hybrid working is standard for all; those contracted to work in the office usually attend 1 day per week, and home-based colleagues will regularly attend the office. But if you need a different form of flexibility, we are always happy to talk flexible working.

You can find out more about what it’s like to work at Independent Age on our jobs website.

Salary information

Hybrid working in London: £38,142 per annum, increasing to £39,218 after 6 months.

Home-based (with regular travel to London): £34,362 per annum, increasing to £35,307 after 6 months.

Application Process

To apply, please submit a CV and a Supporting Statement, detailing how your skills and experience meet the criteria within the Job Description and Person Specification, by visiting our jobs website https://www.independentage.org/about-us/vacancies (please do not hesitate to contact us if you have specific requirements and need support to apply in an alternative format).

To support our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion our hiring managers use anonymous shortlisting. Therefore, please do not include your name, photo, or information to indicate your gender or age in your CV and supporting statement. Please do not omit dates of employment. Please ensure the title of any uploads does not contain your name.

Independent Age is committed to safeguarding and follows Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding those we work with. We therefore ask that you supply your full work history with explanations for any gaps in the application documents you submit and, if offered the post, we will require two employment references including your current or most recent employer. A Basic DBS Certificate will be required for this role.

Closing Date: 23:59, Sunday 8 September 2024

Interview Dates: Interviews will be held online. First Round on 17 September 2024, Second Round on 24 September 2024.