Access Housing Officer

Swindon Borough Council; Swindon; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 43,000; Full time

Job summary

Swindon Borough Council is seeking an Access Housing Officer to join the Housing Team. You will help gain access to properties for essential inspections, repairs and compliance work, ensuring safety checks and statutory requirements are met.

You will engage with residents across the borough, explain responsibilities, and encourage cooperation while balancing empathy with accountability. DBS checks apply.

Qualifications

• Experience of working directly with customers or residents in a housing or public service setting.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to manage sensitive conversations.
• Ability to engage with residents, understand barriers to access and encourage cooperation.
• Experience working independently, managing a varied workload and prioritising demands.
• Proactive, solution-focused approach with sound judgement.
• Strong organisational skills to gather evidence, maintain records and update systems.
• Good IT skills and ability to produce clear reports.

Responsibilities

• Help gain access to properties for essential inspections, repairs and compliance works.
• Identify safeguarding concerns and vulnerabilities and escalate appropriately.
• Support tenancy sustainment and respond to tenancy breaches.
• Collaborate with Housing Technical Services, repairs, contractors and partners.

Skills

Customer focus

Communication skills

Resident engagement

Independent worker

Proactive

Organisational skills

IT literacy

Housing compliance knowledge

Safeguarding awareness

Team collaboration

Job description

Access Housing Officer

Ref: 197617

Salary: £39,481 p.a. plus benefits

37 hours per week

Swindon Borough Council are on an exciting journey to transform service delivery. We want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision in the new Swindon Plan is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. Because that's who we're doing it for - the communities and businesses that make our town great. As part of the Council, you'll support a friendly local authority making decisions with real impact. It's all for better public services. Better processes. And a better quality of life, for everyone. Join us, and Swindon will be better with you.

Your next role

We're looking for a proactive, resilient and customer-focused Access Housing Officer to join our Housing Team.

This is an important opportunity to make a real difference to resident safety and the quality of our homes. You'll play a key role in helping the Council gain access to properties where residents have not provided access for essential inspections, repairs and compliance works, ensuring that important safety checks and statutory requirements are not compromised.

Working across the borough, you'll be a visible and approachable presence in our communities, engaging directly with residents to understand barriers to access, explain their responsibilities and encourage cooperation.

You'll work closely with Housing Technical Services, repairs and compliance teams, contractors and Housing colleagues to resolve access-related cases.

You'll identify safeguarding concerns and vulnerabilities, support tenancy sustainment, respond to tenancy breaches and work collaboratively with enforcement colleagues where further action is required. You'll balance empathy and support with accountability, using sound judgement to manage challenging situations and achieve positive outcomes.

If you're someone who enjoys working in the community, building relationships, solving problems and making a tangible difference to people's lives, this could be the role for you.

We're looking for someone who has:

• Experience of working directly with customers or residents, delivering a professional, customer-focused service.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to manage difficult or sensitive conversations calmly and professionally.
• The ability to engage with residents, understand barriers to access and encourage cooperation while maintaining clear expectations.
• Experience of working independently, managing a varied workload and prioritising competing demands.
• A proactive, solution-focused approach, with the confidence to use initiative and make appropriate decisions.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to gather evidence, maintain accurate records and update databases and housing management systems.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office, and the ability to produce clear and accurate reports.
• An understanding of housing management, tenancy responsibilities and compliance-related services, or a willingness to develop this knowledge.
• The ability to recognise safeguarding concerns, vulnerabilities and support needs, and escalation these appropriately.
• A commitment to working collaboratively with colleagues, contractors and partner agencies to deliver positive outcomes.
• A compassionate but accountable approach, with a commitment to resident safety, tenancy sustainment and continuous service improvement.

You must be fluent in the English language (as required by Part 7 of the Immigration Act for the effective performance of a customer-facing role).

The ability to travel throughout the Borough is essential. The successful candidate must hold a full UK driving licence, have access to a vehicle and appropriate business insurance.

You will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Your next package

Please see our Rewards and Benefits offer for more details.

As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.

For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It's why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you'll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We'll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we'll achieve our vision of a prosperous, re-vitalised Swindon together. And you'll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Please see our Vision and Values page for more details and our new Swindon Plan.

Potential applicants are sometimes put off if they don't meet 100% of the requirements. We think individual experience, skills and passion make all the difference, so if you meet the majority of the criteria, we'd love to hear from you.

Your next steps

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early so early applications are encouraged.

For further information about the role please contact Sarah Meehan, Sheltered Housing Operations Manager at [e-mail].

As an inclusive employer, we welcome applications from a diverse range of communities, and in particular disabled people and people from ethnic minorities. Read our statement of commitment to equality & inclusion.

If you are experiencing technical issues submitting your application, please email [e-mail]

Closing date: 4 November 2026