Homelessness Prevention Officer

Malvern Hills and Wychavon District Councils; Pershore; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 37,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent pension scheme

Generous annual leave

Committed training programme

Onsite nursery with staff discount

Discounted gym and swim membership

Health and wellbeing support

Cycle to Work scheme

Employee discounts

Job summary

Malvern Hills and Wychavon District Councils is seeking a skilled Homelessness Prevention Officer to work across Housing Services in Pershore. The role focuses on preventing homelessness by coordinating with residents, housing options, and private landlords to resolve financial crises and sustain tenancies.

You will provide financial and housing advice, use mediation and negotiation, and contribute to annual reporting.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a similar role delivering financial support.
• Hold a relevant housing or welfare qualification (or be willing to work towards achieving one).
• Demonstrate ability to problem solve while managing a complex caseload focusing on homelessness/financial crisis.
• Maximise household incomes and reduce poverty.
• Knowledge of the welfare benefits system, including Universal Credit.
• Work with residents facing financial hardship to prevent homelessness.
• Design eligibility for a hardship fund via CRF to support residents most in need.
• Deliver financial capability training and money management through courses and one-to-one sessions.

Responsibilities

• Focus on homelessness prevention and work with residents and agencies to resolve cases.
• Collaborate with private landlords to help tenants remain in their homes through mediation and support.
• Provide financial and housing advice as part of the role and communicate effectively with residents and partners.
• Report outcomes quarterly and develop case studies to share with Senior Managers.

Skills

Problem solving

Persuasion

Negotiation

Communication

Financial advice

Welfare benefits knowledge

Education

Housing/welfare qualification

Job description

Homelessness Prevention Officer

37 hours per week, Fixed term contract for 2 years

£32,578 - £36,581 per annum

We are recruiting for a new position within the Housing Services team at Wychavon and Malvern Hills District. This is a unique opportunity if you are able to problem solve, work in partnership with different agencies and work together with households to ensure they can overcome financial crisis and ensure we are preventing homelessness.

This role will work together receiving referrals from residents engaged with both the Housing Options and Private Sector Housing Teams; focussing on homeless prevention, working with private landlords to ensure tenants can remain in their homes through mediation/support and helping residents facing financial crisis with regard to housing.

You will need to provide financial and housing advice as part of your role, you will be required to have skills in persuasion, negotiation and influencing to support your work with residents along with partner organisations. You will also use your excellent written and verbal communication skills.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced professional Housing Officer to grow their CV and gain further experience in a supportive and ambitious shared service.

About you

The successful candidate will:

• Have proven experience of working in a similar role delivering financial support
• Hold a relevant housing or welfare qualification (or be willing to work towards achieving one)
• Need to be able to demonstrate the ability to problem solve while working with a complex case load with a focus on households facing homeless or financial crisis
• Have the skills and ability to maximise household incomes and reduce levels of poverty
• Have knowledge and experience of the welfare benefits system, including Universal Credit
• To work with residents facing financial hardship – such as mortgage repossession, eviction due to rent arrears to prevent households becoming homeless
• Be required to design eligibility for a hardship fund which will be made available via the Crisis and Resilience Funding (CRF) to help support residents most in need of financial assistance
• Be able to work with residents to deliver financial capability training and money management through training courses, briefing sessions and one to ones
• Support the reduction of Sundry Debtors, to ensure debts to the Council are collected
• Be able to report on outcomes quarterly and produce case studies of success stories to Senior Managers

What we can offer

Our staff are at the heart of what we do and are key to ensuring we deliver Our Council Plan in Malvern Hills and our We are WychavonDistrict Council plan (attached) to make a positive difference to our communities, our economy and our environment. We are always looking to recruit, develop and retain the very best talent we can find. So, as well as a rewarding career, we offer a range of attractive benefits, such as:

• Excellent pension scheme with employer contributions
• Generous annual leave entitlement with options to purchase additional annual leave
• Committed training programme and development opportunities
• Onsite nursery with 20% staff discount
• Discounted Gym and swim membership
• Health and Wellbeing support and a Free Employee Assistance scheme including access to counselling services
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Employee Discounts with a range of companies including EE and the Kaarp discount scheme

We are an employer that values face to face communication, collaboration and connection, therefore all our roles have an office-based requirement with some agile working as part of the role.

Please note: Wychavon District Council does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK.

To discuss the post or for further information, please contact Rachael Tooth (Principal Housing Officer) on [e-mail] or Lisa Williams (Principal Housing Officer) on [e-mail]

Closing date: Sunday 29 November 2026

Interview date: Monday 7 December 2026 (In person in Pershore)

Please note: If we experience a high intake of applications, we may close the role and interview for the position sooner than advertised.

Attached documents

• Job Description
• Employee Benefits
• We are Wychavon