Community Welfare Benefits Adviser

Vacancy at Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton

Community Welfare Benefits Adviser

Salary £ 24479-26000 (dependant on experience)

Details

Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton (CABB) is a leading provider of social welfare law advice and information, supporting thousands of clients every year. We are a busy, client focused and dynamic service with a track record of delivering high quality advice. Our services are delivered between 9am – 6pm. Postholders will be expected to actively contribute to service delivery rotas between these times. 

Our Welfare Benefits team provide a professional welfare benefits advice service, which enables clients to understand their entitlement to welfare benefits, eligibility criteria, provide assistance with applications and ensure clients have maximised their income where possible.

The post holder will work as part of a well-established team, providing a reliable and effective welfare benefits advice service, across our local communities, providing place based welfare benefits advice and support to clients in our town centre premises, at outreaches, and over the telephone. 

As a Welfare Benefits Adviser/ Trainee, you will have a detailed understanding of the welfare benefits system. Working as part of our welfare benefits team, you will provide client support face to face, over the phone and via email. 

To be successful in this role you will be able to work in a trauma informed manner, with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail, exhibiting excellent listening and questioning skills. 

• Experience in delivering advice (preferably welfare benefits),
• Enthusiasm for place-based working across local communities
• Excellent interpersonal skills to engage with a diverse range of clients,
• Organisational skills with the ability to adapt, prioritise deadlines and competing tasks in a fast-paced environment,
• A genuine passion for continual professional development,
• Be empathetic, compassionate and resilient, understand how to use trauma informed approaches and be adaptable to client needs
• Be resilient and adaptable.

• Provide welfare benefits advice and support within the local community
• Interview clients using sensitive listening and questioning skills in order to allow clients to explain their problem(s) and empower them to set their own priorities
• Offer comprehensive benefits checks, exploring the range of available state entitlements
• Identification of emergency advice issues, and advice on how to move forward with those issues
• Identification and assessment of eligibility for grants and other one-off support, signposting/ referring as appropriate
• Act for the client where necessary using appropriate communication skills and channels, supporting vulnerable clients to complete forms (such as PIP forms) which will enable them to maximise their income
• Maintain detailed case records for the purpose of continuity of casework, information retrieval, statistical monitoring and report preparation
• Work closely with colleagues across the organisation to provide a holistic approach to your advice, referring to internal specialist teams where appropriate.

We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from

If you would like an informal conversation about this role or the application process, you can book a meeting with our HR Team (link available within the job pack).

Benefits

We value the people who work here. The following are included within the employee remuneration packages as standard;

A flexible 35 hour working week (for full time employees)

Generous holiday entitlement – starting at 25 days per year, increasing to 30 (in addition to bank holidays), pro-rata for part time

Additional day off for your Birthday

5% employer contribution pension scheme

Income protection insurance

Access to 24/7 confidential telephone counselling and structured counselling support

Access to online GP and telephone counselling services

Enhanced family friendly leave and occupational sick leave

Access to ‘Blue Light Card’ and other charity discount schemes