Trainee Income & Service Charge Officer

Description

Job Title: Trainee Income & Service Charge Officer

Contract: Full time, contract, permanent

Hours:  38 hours per week

Salary: £31,578

Location: Tottenham Hale, London

About Outward.

For 50 years, Outward has been providing high-quality support and care services to vulnerable people across London, predominantly in North East London. Established by families seeking alternatives to institutional care, we’ve grown into a respected provider of person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, and complex needs. We support over 1,000 people across nine boroughs, guided by our core values: engage, enable, and empower.

Outward is proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer. This means we are committed to paying the Real Living Wage – not just the government minimum or national living wage – to our frontline Support Workers and other eligible staff. We recognise the value of the work our teams do, and we are committed to ensuring fair pay that reflects the true cost of living. The Real Living Wage is updated annually by the Living Wage Foundation, and Outward remains committed to aligning our pay accordingly.

About the Role

We are looking for a proactive and passionate Trainee Income & Service Charge Officer to join our dedicated team. The Trainee Income & Service Charge Officer will develop the essential skills and knowledge required to support rent collection, service charge administration, and welfare benefit engagement across Outward’s services. This role provides structured professional development with the aim of progressing to a full officer role.

As a Trainee Income & Service Charge Officer, you will support the delivery of high‑quality, person‑centred income and service charge functions. You will work flexibly across a range of tasks to maximise customer income, ensure accurate service charge processes, and help customers access appropriate advice and support. Working alongside the Income & Service Charge Manager, you will contribute to efficient, well‑managed services that reflect Outward’s core values of Engage, Enable, and Empower.

Your Responsibilities

As a Trainee Income & Service Charge Officer you will:

• Support monitoring of rent accounts and contacting residents about payments
• Assist with Housing Benefit and Universal Credit claim administration
• Support service charge budget collation, invoice checking, and statement preparation
• Maintain accurate electronic records and follow income procedures
• Build working relationships with Housing Benefit teams, landlords and internal staff
• Support basic welfare benefit advice with training and supervision
• Attend court for observation only and assist with documentation
• Engage in structured professional development and supervision

Requirements

Essential Criteria                                   

• Good understanding of safeguarding and risk management in a supported housing setting
• Knowledge of health and safety issues within supported housing or care environments
• Understanding of confidentiality, GDPR, and data protection principles
• Staff must have access to a smartphone capable of receiving SMS messages and installing authentication apps for secure systems access
• Right To Work in the UK. Please note: Outward will not provide visa sponsorship.
• Strong communication skills and willingness to learn
• Good numeracy, IT skills and attention to detail
• Ability to follow procedures and work under supervision
• Understanding of confidentiality and professionalism
• Empathy and commitment to tenancy sustainment
• Interest in housing, welfare benefits or finance.

How to Apply

The above is not an exhaustive list of requirements for the role.

If you think you are who we are looking for, please submit a CV and statement detailing how you feel your experiences meets the requirements of the role by referring to the Job Responsibilities and the Person Specification.

There is no specific closing date for this advert. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. It would be great to hear from you.

Benefits:

We value everything our staff do for the people we support, so we provide a great benefits package:

• 25 days Annual Leave excluding Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time)
• Comprehensive Learning & Development Programme

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme
• Death in Service Benefit
• Health Assured – Employee Assistance Programme
• Eye care Vouchers
• Flu Jab Reimbursement
• Pension Scheme
• Purchase Additional Annual Leave
• Refer-a-Friend Scheme

Diversity and Safeguarding at Outward :

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Outward applies its Equal Opportunities Policy at all stages of recruitment and selection.  Shortlisting, interviewing and selection is carried out without regard to gender, sexual orientation, marital status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, age or trade union membership. 

As an employer, who aspire to become Disability Confident Committed, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. Please indicate clearly at the beginning of your supporting statement if you have a disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010), and you wish to be considered for an Offer Of an Interview (OOI) Please note that the OOI is available to disabled candidates only. Regrettably, any false declaration of disability in order to secure an interview will impact on your overall application.

Outward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require a DBS for successful candidates.