Financial Inclusion Partner

Financial Inclusion Partner
Flexible location, across the wider Midlands area
Full Time (37.5 hours per week)
Permanent
Salary circa £24,500 dependent on skills and experience plus our award winning benefits package!
 
Supporting our customers to reduce debt. Thats when it hits home
 
We have fabulous opportunity for you to join our awesome team in this sparkly new role of Financial Inclusion Partner. You will be joining a team of Housing Managers and Community Housing Assistants working across the Midlands, including Kettering, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Oxford and even down to High Wycombe, to manage our rented housing stock. Our fabulous team are our housing management gurus, working on estate management, antisocial behaviour, new tenancy signups, mutual exchanges and income collection. Your part will be to support customers who have debts or who are struggling to manage their finances, and who could be at risk of homelessness due to their debts.
 
Youll be confidently creating debt management and budgeting plans, with our customers.  Youll work alongside our Housing Managers to offer the support to households with arrears. We aim to reduce debt as well as ensuring that our customers have the right support and information to address their financial issues. 
 
About our team
Youll be working alongside our team who are super passionate about delivering on our Customer Promise to our customers in the Midlands. To us were not just a team were a work family. We dont just love to support our customers, were there for each other too! Youll be managed by Diane, or just Di to us, who has a massive 20 years working at Home Group under her belt! When Dis not at work, shes normally outside gardening, or working on her unique bucket list which includes wing walking and indoor skydiving! Youll also work alongside our 6 fabulous Housing Managers who have a wealth of experience working for Home Group, which includes Julie whos been with us for 8 years. Julie loves going to festivals at weekends, and walking her dogs. Theres also our 4 shiny new Community Housing Assistants who you can learn about Home Group together with.  
 
Where youll work 
Youre patch is across the wider Midlands region, working with our customers living around Kettering, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Oxford and High Wycombe who have the greatest need. We dont want you to spend all your time in the car though, so you will have control over your own diary to plan your day effectively. The great news is that you will have the flexibility of working either from home or in one of our local offices and well give you the technology and kit to make that easy.
 
Working hours
Its the teams unwritten rule that you attend the important appointments in life, be it your childs school play, your partners graduation, or to get your new fridge delivered. You can elect to fit these around your working day or use your flexi to take the time off. Our focus is on getting the job done, not your working hours! Your core hours will be Monday to Friday but occasional evening and weekend work will be needed sometimes so that you can meet up with our customers who are at work themselves. Were all about flexible working here! 
 
About you
Youll be passionate about Customer Service, and an advocate on welfare rights. Youll provide top notch advice and support to our customers to empower them towards financial independence. Youll work closely within the Housing Management team and with both internal and external stakeholders, aiming to support customers to sustain their tenancies.
 
Youll have a great understanding of welfare benefits and rights, and be up to date on recent reforms as well as knowledge on the DWP and local authority processes. Also youll be our go to person on local and national charities, and funding options available. Youll be a natural problem solver and be able to relate to people from all backgrounds, and be passionate to build our customers confidence in their finances. 
 
Its important to us that you have worked in a similar environment before and have experience of income collection and rent arrears processes used within housing services. It would be amazing if you have experience of using preventative and education based methods to work with at risk households, or if you have delivered 1:1 support and coaching to individuals with debt issues and have a good understanding of the options available to them. Dont worry, we wont drop you in the deep end, well help to you understand how things work at Home Group!
 
Here at Home Group we have invested heavily in our future and use current and up to date equipment. Youll be issued with the latest kit, which could include a Surface Pro and mobile. So it's really important to us that you are technologically savvy (or at the very least not a technophobe!)
 
As this is a community based role, you need to be able to drive, as well as having access to a car insured for business purposes. Dont worry, well pay you expenses to cover this use! Youll have chance to shape your own diary, although youll likely spend around 3 or 4 days a week on the road, and working from home or one of our offices the rest of the time.
 
 
When you join, youll need to have a valid Enhanced Check under the Disclosure and Barring Service. The great news is that we will pay for that to be done if you dont have a transferrable one.
 
Want to know more?
If youre not reading this advert on our careers pages, press the APPLY NOW button to access lots of useful stuff! You can download the Financial Inclusion Partner Job Description, and find out more about Home Group. Weve also got some short films that show you what its like to work here, and we know youll want to find out more about our award winning benefits and rewards package!
 
To apply
Dont delay applying for this brilliant job, as we may close it early if we get lots of applications! Just upload your CV and if you have one, your covering letter (this will help us learn more about you!). If you need them, weve also got some great templates to help you.
 
Youre unique!
Home Group play a big part in tackling prejudice and discrimination, not just for our customers, but colleagues too! You can be yourself here, because we value everything that makes you unique. So whatever your age, race, sexuality, disability, religion, or gender identity, we recognise and celebrate our differences. Together we make Home Group a great place to work!