Job Details:
Housing Caseworker

Job Description

Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton (CABB) is a leading provider of legal 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 face to face, over the phone and digitally.

Our communities are facing unprecedented challenges with rising costs. The rising cost-of-living continues to directly impact individuals and families, with more people than ever in negative budgets, debt and housing crises.

Our Housing team provide both one-off advice and casework (through Legal Aid contracts) across Greater Manchester. They provide support to vulnerable clients across a range of issues that include:

• Possession claims
• Anti-social behaviour injunctions
• Unlawful eviction injunctions
• Disrepair claims
• Homelessness appeals - in the last financial year we have worked with over 500 clients with threatened/ actual homelessness.
• Judicial reviews
• Housing loss prevention (HLPAS) delivered at Wigan County Court.

There’s no ‘average’ case – each client and case is different and you’ll have your own caseload from instruction through to completion. It can sometimes be a challenging role, but you will be fully trained and supported, working as a key part of an approachable and supportive team in a rewarding environment – and working alongside an established team of solicitors, caseworkers and support staff.

This is a fantastic opportunity for personal and professional development, where you will be fully supported in this role, with development opportunities that expand past CPD requirements.

About you:

• Experience in working within the housing sector, with an understanding of housing law
• 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,
• Be empathetic, compassionate and resilient, understand how to use trauma informed approaches and be adaptable to client needs
• A genuine passion for continual professional development

Key tasks within this role include;

• Provide high quality housing advice to clients, assessing and effectively diagnosing clients’ needs, delivering one-off specialist housing advice and casework.
• Manage a complex caseload of 30-50 cases at any one time that includes internal and external referrals, as well as cases taken on from court duty.
• Guide and empower clients – explaining options and implications to help clients make informed decisions about their next steps.
• Communicate and negotiate with private landlords, social housing associations, local authorities and any other organisations (statutory or other) that may be involved in the case.