Housing Advice Assistant

Westfield Secondary School; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

Sheffield City Council is seeking a motivated Housing Advice Assistant to join the Housing Advice Service. You will be a frontline contact, delivering empathetic and practical housing guidance to residents, including those at risk of homelessness.

The role emphasizes triage, accurate advice, and collaborative work with partners. You will support Housing Register processes, apply allocations policies, and help residents explore options across private rented sectors.

Qualifications

• Experience in busy customer-focused environments.
• Ability to communicate sensitively with people in challenging circumstances.
• Comfort handling sensitive information.
• Ability to follow policies and make decisions.
• Organised with ability to manage priorities and deadlines.
• Good IT skills with Word, Excel and SharePoint.

Responsibilities

• Triaging customers and identifying appropriate action based on circumstances.
• Providing advice on housing options and homelessness prevention.
• Assisting with Housing Register applications and bidding.
• Applying Housing Allocations Policy when considering eligibility.
• Discussing housing options including private rented sector.
• Supporting Housing Register updates and annual reviews.
• Maintaining accurate records and workload management.
• Collaborating with internal teams and partner organisations.
• Safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Skills

Customer service

Empathy

Communication

Problem solving

IT literacy

Tools

Word

Excel

SharePoint

Job description

Do you have excellent customer service skills and want to help people find practical solutions to their housing needs?

We are looking for enthusiastic and customer-focused Housing Advice Assistants to join our Housing Advice Service.

The Housing Advice Service is the city's front door for housing advice, supporting people who need general housing advice as well as those who may be homeless or at risk of homelessness. As a Housing Advice Assistant, you will be one of the first points of contact for customers and partner organisations, providing an empathetic, professional and strengths-based service.

About The Role

• You will work with customers to understand their circumstances, identify their housing needs and provide clear and accurate advice on the options available to them.
• Your responsibilities will include:
• Triaging customers and identifying the appropriate action based on their individual circumstances.
• Providing advice and practical assistance with housing options and early homelessness prevention.
• Supporting customers with Housing Register applications and bidding.
• Applying relevant legislation and the Council's Allocations Policy when considering Housing Register eligibility.
• Discussing realistic housing options, including the private rented sector.
• Supporting Housing Register updates and annual reviews.
• Maintaining accurate customer records and effectively managing your workload.
• Working collaboratively with internal teams and external partner organisations.
• Supporting the safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

About You

• Has experience of working in a busy, customer-focused environment.
• Can communicate sensitively and effectively with people in difficult or challenging circumstances.
• Is comfortable handling sensitive and emotive information.
• Can follow policies and procedures and use these to make appropriate decisions.
• Is organised, able to manage competing priorities and can work to tight deadlines.
• Has good IT skills, including experience of packages such as Word, Excel and SharePoint.
• Can work independently while also contributing effectively as part of a team.
• Takes a proactive, problem-solving approach.
• Can build positive working relationships with colleagues and partner organisations.
• Can provide a non-judgemental service to customers from a wide range of backgrounds and with diverse needs.
• An awareness of the Council's Housing Allocations Policy, together with a basic understanding of housing and homelessness legislation and welfare benefits, forms part of the essential requirements for the role.

Why this role?

• This is an opportunity to work in a varied front-line housing role where you'll help customers understand their options and take practical steps towards finding sustainable housing solutions.
• You’ll be joining a service focused on preventing homelessness while helping residents access appropriate housing advice and support.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.