Choice Lettings Officer

We have an excellent opportunity for a Part Time Choice Based Lettings Officer to join our fast-paced Housing Service. This is a key role within the team delivering expert housing options advice.

Please note, this is a secondment/ fixed-term contract opportunity for 12 months. It is offered on a part-time basis working 17 hours per week. The salary advertised will be pro-rata for the part time hours worked.

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the countytocreate positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.

Your role will be to provide advice and support to a diverse client group including vulnerable and disadvantaged households in relation to the council’s housing register, Bucks Home Choice. Responsibilities include assessment of social housing applications, shortlisting and lettings of social housing under Part VI of the Housing Act 1996 within the framework of the Councils statutory Allocations Policy, signposting and referral to our homelessness prevention and advice service, offering housing options advice and assisting senior officers with informal and statutory reviews, complaints, member enquiries and FOI requests.

Key Accountabilities

• To deliver expert professional advice in line with our allocations policy.
• To assess applications for housing, monitor and upkeep of the housing register and to effectively and swiftly, provide nominations of residents to registered providers, including direct lets where necessary, in line with the policy, ensuring the best use of stock.
• To provide a housing options advice service to all those seeking accommodation, giving relevant, appropriate and accurate housing advice on all housing options available including Choice Based Lettings, low-cost home ownership, mutual exchanges, under occupation, transfers, and intermediate/affordable rent.
• To undertake assessments of social housing applications, determine eligibility as defined by current legislation under the Housing Act Part VI and associated statutory guidance and to determine the qualification and shortlisting of applicants, which includes; the interpretation and application of the Council’s housing allocations policy correctly and accurately for each application based on the household’s circumstances.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

You’ll thrive in a fast-paced environment and be able to manage working to tight deadlines. If you’re good at using your initiative, thinking on your feet, customer focused and ambitious, we want to hear from you!

With a number of different tasks coming into the team on any given day, you’ll need to be able to prioritise work quickly, have good time management skills and have excellent communication and written skills. You will need to be an excellent problem solver and highly adaptable. You will be able to build relationships quickly and provide an empathetic and non-judgmental service to customers.

You will need excellent ICT skills and a broad knowledge and understanding of the service area including, legislation, regulations, systems, welfare benefits and policies would be desirable.

Please see the attached job summary for further information on the role.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have…