Domestic Abuse Housing Advocate

TN United Kingdom; London; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job description

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Are you looking for a dynamic and rewarding role working for an organisation with the feminist agenda at the core of its ethos? Then Advance Charity could be the career choice for you!

We are looking for 5 x Domestic Abuse Housing Advocates

Location: Hammersmith with travel to other service locations Finsbury Park and Stratford

Hours: 35 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

Please note: Any offer of employment will be made subject to references, confirmation of the right to work in the UK, and satisfactory enhanced DBS check. This role is also subject to Police Vetting.

About us

Advance is an award-winning and innovative women-only organisation, established in 1998, providing emotional and practical support to women and girls survivors of domestic abuse and supporting women with short-term sentences to reduce offending. We believe in empowering women and girls to lead safe, non-violent, equal lives so that they can flourish and contribute to the community.

We are a community-based organisation who lead in best practice approaches to supporting women in their local community. We achieve this by being available to meet and support women in local settings and at our women’s centres, and by working in close partnership with other agencies.

Our values are to listen and support, to empower and respect, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.

About the role:

As a Housing Domestic Abuse Advocate, you will provide intervention, advocacy, and support to survivors of domestic abuse. Working within a fast-paced team, you will help empower women and ensure that the voice of survivors informs every stage of their journey towards improved safety. You will have your own caseload of survivors who hold social tenancies with local authorities or housing associations, and you will encourage them to engage with our service and ensure they have access to support. You will also co-ordinate the provision of multi-agency support which focuses on working with domestic abuse survivors to maintain their tenancies and prevent homelessness.

About You:

To be successful as the Domestic Abuse Housing Advocate you will need the below experience and skills:

You will bring solid experience of supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse in all its forms; coming from a sector with transferrable skills or possess a feminist/VAWG degree and be keen to learn and to train on the job. You will have a good understanding of violence against women and girls with a particular focus on the dynamics of domestic abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, so-called ‘honour-based violence’, forced marriage, stalking and harassment) and its impact on women, children, families, and communities. You will have proven skills and experience in conducting comprehensive assessments of needs and risk for survivors experiencing domestic abuse, including carrying out short risk management and safety planning. We will expect that you have experience in assessing the needs and safety of any children that women using the service may have and an understanding of the criminal justice system and relevant legislation with regard to legal and civil options, housing, benefits, matrimonial and children. Lastly you will bring your knowledge of safeguarding practice, procedures, and legislation.

With many skills and qualities to add to this role, if you have good IT literacy, data collection and monitoring these skills are maximised in your role. If you have experience or have been trained or are qualified in the fields related to substance misuse, criminal justice, law, social work or domestic abuse we would love to hear from you.

We recognise that women often only apply to roles if they meet 100% of the criteria. We encourage you to demonstrate how your skills and experience would make you an asset to the role, and if you don’t have the exact skills/experience, tell us in your cover letter how you think you might grow and develop in the role.

Interviews are taking place on a rolling basis

*Advance reserves the right to close the advert early, or on the appointment of a candidate.

What we can offer you - Employee Benefits:

• An exceptional 30 days of paid holiday per year (pro rata for part time), PLUS public holidays on top (that's nearly 40 days paid holiday per year!)
• Additional days off to celebrate International Women’s Day, and for religious observance and moving home
• Perkbox - an employee discount platform where you can receive free rewards as well as take advantage of savings on clothes, groceries, travel, leisure and more
• Enhanced maternity/adoption provision
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee eye-care scheme
• Clinical supervision for front line staff and first line management roles
• Refer a Friend Scheme - £250 for each referral who passes probation
• One week paid carer's leave
• Organisation wide away days

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Under the Equality Act 2010, we are required to make any reasonable adjustments. If you have a disability as defined under this act and/or have special needs, please email contact the Talent Acquisition Team via our website and will aim to make the necessary arrangements to accommodate your needs.

Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and actively seek to recruit people from groups underrepresented in our current team. We have policies and processes in place to ensure that all employees are offered an equal opportunity in recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits.

Safeguarding

Advance is committed to safeguarding and creating a culture of zero-tolerance of harm and expects all staff, including volunteers to share this commitment. We believe all individuals have the right to live their life free from violence and abuse and the right to feel and be safe. We have a suite of safeguarding policies, procedures and practice guidance, accessible to all staff, which promotes safeguarding and safer working practices across all our services and activities. When we recruit staff, we follow rigorous safer recruitment practices, this involves carrying out pre-employment checks including references, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and identity checks. We ensure all staff undertake mandatory safeguarding training relevant to their role and responsibilities, to empower them to be competent and feel confident in recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding issues and promote wellbeing.