QUO VADIS TRUST
40,495 per year
South-east London, Croydon and Bexley
Full-time
JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title Responsible to Responsible for Hours Salary Supported Housing Deputy Manager Supported Housing Manager Housing Officers, Care and Support Workers, Concierge 35 hours/week including Manager On-Call Commitment Up to £40,495 plus generous holiday allowance and other benefits Organisational Context Quo Vadis Trust (QVT, charity number 1116196) is a specialist housing charity in South-east London, Croydon and Bexley. We provide a service to people who have mental health and behaviours that challenge and who also need support with their housing. Quo Vadis Trust provides homes for around 200 people in South-East London. Our range of support both on and off the premises helps each individual client to maximize their independence. Job Purpose Reporting to the Supported Housing Manager, you will deputise and be responsible for delivering client-focused support and enhancing the quality of life for individuals facing the challenges of compound trauma and complex needs. The person in this role will support the Manager to oversee accommodation-based services and manage care and support workers, supported housing workers, positive behaviour support workers and ancillary staff. You will be accountable for the well-being of clients, and everyone present on the siite, including staff, visitors and clients. This role is essential in providing expert support and interventions for individuals who have experienced varying levels of trauma in their lives. We will adopt a recovery orientated approach to help clients rebuild their lives, giving them the best chances to achieve their full potential. Responsibilities include delivering enhanced housing management services that are comprehensive, provide value for money and are in accordance with QVT’s values and goals. All clients will require medium-to- high level support based on their varied mental health and behavioural needs. As a Supported Housing Deputy Manager, your role will involve ensuring that assessments, needs evaluations, and risk planning are conducted in a proactive and preventative manner. This will enable the development and implementation of personalised recovery plans. You will support the Manager to provide essential support structures for trauma informed and therapeutic individual and group therapy, addressing crises to prevent or limit crisis and offering immediate assistance as needed. Additionally, you will be expected to deputise for the Manager and collaborate with multi-disciplinary partners and agencies. such as Mental Health teams, Social Workers, and other healthcare professionals to deliver a holistic and recovery-focused service. You will also support the Manager to ensure that your team receives appropriate training for their roles, thus maintaining a high standard of trauma-informed care and support for our clients. Duties and Responsibilities Customer Service Our customers are the heart of everything we do. They are our partners, beneficiaries and the individuals we serve. We expect courtesy, kindness, compassion and passion in all our interactions with one another. We are here because of our customers, and we exemplify our Values of Dignity, Excellence, Respect, Integrity and Kindness. By joining this dynamic team, you will become an extension of our love-based approach. Management of a group or cluster of services Our client work is central to everything we do at QVT. Therefore, our Supported Housing Deputy Managers must: • Oversee case management and ensure the development and implementation of individualised support plans for clients; tailored to address specific needs. • Effectively monitor clients’ progress and adjust support plans as necessary based on ongoing assessments and feedback. • Promote a trauma informed environment by maintaining a safe and supportive environment that minimise triggers and encourage healing. • Support the Manager to ensure the Team provides an effective, efficient, responsive and customer-focused holistic enhanced housing management service. • Deputise in the absence of the Manager and take initial responsibility for managing complaints from clients and all stakeholders. • Record and audit the handling of all complaints, compliments and incidents and report findings to the Supported Housing Manager. Support the Manager to conduct regular trend analysis of the services and report any concerns to the Manager. Assist in the collaboration of clients and stakeholders to compile agreed standards for each scheme. These standards will cover health & safety, cleanliness; client behaviour and engagement; maintenance, service charges, rent responsibilities, and any other areas identified by staff and clients. • Ensure that each scheme under your oversight meets the agreed standard in all identified areas and take necessary actions to maintain these. • Liaise with the Maintenance Team regarding all maintenance matters, with a particular focus on void and re-let policy & procedures. Proactively minimise void periods and turnover times avoid unnecessary income loss. • Ensure each scheme remains compliant with all Health and Safety requirements and take responsibility for the timely and accurate reporting of any safeguarding issues. • Organise and attend regular house meetings with clients at least once a month, ensuring agenda items are identified prior to the meeting and that minutes are taken and distributed promptly. • Audit each scheme at least twice a month for Health & Safety, maintenance, regulatory compliance, and cleanliness. • Assist the Manager to ensure t h a t audit trails are timely and available for inspection when requested by senior colleagues and Commissioners. • Assist in conducting monthly spot checks of all services and the reporting of the findings to the Chief Operating Officer. • Ensure that all clients receive regular key working sessions, and that risk assessments and support plans are updated based on their needs. • Ensure that all clients work towards SMART goals that support their recovery and promote independence. • Manage QVT’s InForm database ensuring it is kept up to date. Line Management of Care & Support team and Concierge team. • Support the Manager to collaborate closely with the Chief Operating Officer and the HR department in various areas concerning the team members you are responsible, including: • Recruitment and induction, • Training, • Supervision, • Annual appraisals, addressing performance issues, grievances and disciplinary matters. • Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with each team member you manage at least every six weeks. These meetings will focus on agreeing upon work plan objectives, discussing achievements, and identifying areas for personal and professional development. • Conduct staff team meetings at least o n c e a month and ensure that agenda items are identified in advance, and that minutes are taken and distributed promptly after each meeting. Additionally, participate in the Manager-On-Call Rota and maintain detailed reports for audit purposes. • Manage scheme-based rotas and arrange relief cover if needed, utilising bank staff, or covering shifts in emergencies when necessary. • Oversee team members effectively by ensuring that annual leave is taken regularly and that no more than one team member is on annual leave at any given time. • Plan rotas ensuring adequate staff cover for each scheme. • Be prepared to cover the role of Positive Behaviour Support or other shift Worker at a scheme when a staff member is absent. External Agencies • Represent Quo Vadis Trust to external agencies to develop and strengthen partnerships, while effectively communicating the Trust’s vision, values and strategic objectives. • Collaborate with external agencies that can help achieve clients’ goals. Including Croydon Council, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust, other statutory and voluntary organisations as well as families and friends. • Encourage and support client engagement with the community and build alliances with community organisations. • Maintain the highest level of professionalism at all times. Budgetary control Support the Manager to collaborate with the Chief Operating Officer regarding specific aspects of the service budgets. This will involve: - Assisting in identifying areas to be included in the budget, - Monitoring expenditure and managing petty cash and personal expenses prudently, - Striving to minimise variances and adhere to the budget by realising economies of scale, ensuring value for money, and maintaining the highest quality at all times). New Services Support the Housing Manager to collaborate with the team through effective project management, including the Chief Operating Officer and other internal and external colleagues when launching a new property. Health and Safety • Ensure that all staff adhere to lone working policies & procedures and that personal safety equipment - including alarms and mobile phones – is maintained and used effectively at all times. Regular Stress tests should be conducted as part of this routine to verify the effectiveness of these procedures. • Guarantee that all services are upheld to a high standard in terms of health and safety, cleanliness and that audit trails are readily available for inspection by the Chief Operating Officer and other regulatory agencies. • All employees must observe, comply and continually promote Quo Vadis Trust’s policies and procedures for Health and Safety. General • QVT is a regulated provider and is responsible to the Regulator of Social Housing for compliance with regulatory requirements. The post holder is part of the reporting process and must maintain accurate and timely records and be ready for inspection at any time; announced and unannounced. • Undertake any other tasks which might reasonably be requested by the Supported Housing Manager, Chief Operating Officer or the CEO. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion All employees must observe, comply and continually promote QVT’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy. This job description is as it is presently constructed. This will be reviewed periodically to ensure that the job description fully reflects the responsibilities of the role. It will be updated and amended in keeping with service changes and developments. PERSON SPECIFICATION Job title Department Supported Housing Manager Operations Education, Qualifications and Training Specialism in a therapeutic approach and related qualification Specialist relevant training or experience in the Recovery Model. Experience Experience in working with clients who live in supported accommodation Experience working in the mental health sector Demonstrable customer service experience Experience of managing a team, rotas and a budget Computer literate, with knowledge all Microsoft applications particularly word and excel Experience of managing a CRM database or similar Service improvement experience Skills/Abilities High standards of numeracy and literacy Excellent leadership and supervision skills - develops and communicates vision. Awareness of current housing issues and tenancy sustainment Essential Desirable Method of assessment Application form and interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form/test Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form/test Application form Interview Application form Interview Knowledge of welfare benefits related to housing Knowledge of rights and responsibilities of landlord and tenant A creative but logical analytical approach to problem solving Attention to detail, including documentation standards Able to relate with clients and Stakeholders Ability to represent QVT at external meetings and create sound working relationships with external stakeholders Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines Able to demonstrate a conscientious and dedicated attitude Ability to work on own initiative and commitment to team working Have a flexible, adaptable and proactive approach Be approachable, collaborative and collegiate and a real team player Other relevant criteria Able to travel swiftly and easily between sites with the ability to drive and access to own vehicle Able to participate in Manager-On- Call rota and get to destinations easily and swiftly if necessary Effective staff management and problem-solving skills Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Application form Interview Interview Interview Interview Interview Application form Interview Instruction If more than the required number of applicants pass the minimum shortlist score, only the required number of applicants will be interviewed. However, should any candidate who suffers with a disability meet the minimum shortlist score, they will automatically be invited to attend for interview, which may mean interviewing more than required number of candidates.