Housing Officer

Bernicia Group; Ashington; Hybrid; GBP 34,000 - 41,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Working from home up to 2 days per w​e

28 days annual leave + bank holidays

Health cash plan with family cover

Gym discounts and retail savings

Pension scheme 3x salary

Job summary

Bernicia Group in Ashington is seeking a Housing Officer (Income) to lead income collection, support tenancy sustainment, and manage arrears with a proactive, customer-focused approach.

The role requires visiting tenants, handling calls from income systems, and collaborating with teams to deliver improvements while ensuring safeguarding and high service standards.

Qualifications

• Good standard of general education.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Experience dealing with vulnerable customers and managing difficult conversations.

Responsibilities

• Manage a patch of accounts, taking ownership of income collection and arrears management.
• Support tenants through early intervention and tailored repayment solutions.
• Conduct home visits and maintain regular contact with tenants.
• Represent the organisation at court hearings and support legal processes where required.
• Management and collection of former tenant arrears.
• Take incoming calls from the automated income collection system.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams and external agencies.
• Identify safeguarding concerns and respond appropriately.
• Identify opportunities for service improvements and deliver changes effectively.
• Participate in new initiatives to improve performance and service delivery.
• Provide an excellent, accessible, and responsive service to all customers.

Skills

Interpersonal communication

Experience with vulnerable customers

Education

General education standard

Tools

QL

Salesforce

VoiceScape

CRM systems

Job description

Housing Officer (Income)

Ashington

Salary: £37,691 per annum (inclusive of car allowance).

Hours: 37 per week, Monday to Friday

Contract: Permanent

Closing Date: 5PM on Friday 6th November 2026.

Are you passionate about helping people sustain their tenancies and overcome financial challenges? We're looking for a proactive and customer-focused Housing Officer (Income) to join our Housing Services team.

Role Benefits

• 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) for full time employees
• Working from home up to 2 days per week.
• Health cash plan membership so you can save money by claiming cash back – over £1000 each year - towards essential healthcare such as dental, optical, physio and loads more. We’ll also cover the costs of including any dependent children in the scheme – up to the age of 21 or 24 if in full time education – that you may have.
• Access to savings on gym memberships plus cash back and discounts on purchases from major retailers including supermarkets, travel, cinema and more.
• Generous pension scheme with life insurance of 3 x salary

About The Housing Officer (Income) Role

This role will involve:

• Manage a patch of accounts, taking ownership of income collection and arrears management.
• Support tenants through early intervention and tailored repayment solutions.
• Conduct home visits and maintain regular contact with tenants.
• Represent the organisation at court hearings and support legal processes where required.
• Management and collection of former tenant arrears.
• Taking incoming calls from the automated income collection system.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams and external agencies.
• Identify and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns.
• Identifying opportunities for service improvements, make recommendation and deliver changes effectively and efficiently.
• Participating in new initiatives that will lead to improvement in performance and service delivery.
• Provide an excellent, accessible, and responsive service to all customers.

Your Experience

Successful candidates will need:

Essential

• Good Standard of General Education.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Experience dealing with vulnerable customers and managing difficult conversations.

Desirable

• Strong IT skills, including experience using Microsoft Office applications.
• Experience of using QL, Salesforce, VoiceScape, or similar housing and CRM systems.

Experience Of Working With Welfare Benefits

• Knowledge of housing legislation, welfare reform, income management, and tenancy sustainment.
• Experience working within social housing, income recovery, debt management, or a customer-facing environment

About Us

We’re all about helping people in need of housing. We believe a good home makes lots of other things possible, so we provide great homes and services that do just that.

We’ve built Bernicia to be a business that people want to be a part of. We’re one of the North East’s largest and most successful housing providers; building, renting, selling and managing homes as well as providing services to over 60,000 customers.

Looking to grow your career at a company that puts its people first?

Our people are what make us great. Their feedback has recognised us as a Great Place to Work® certified employer.

We operate within a set of simple, but effective values, which blend perfectly to create our unique ‘Bernicia Way’ culture. This ensures we are customer focused, through working together, respecting each other, being accountable for our actions and demonstrating integrity and leadership.

Please note you will be required to drive for business as this forms a requirement of the role. You will be required to hold a current and valid driving licence.

For More Information Regarding This Role, Please Contact

Kathryn Stephenson, Housing Services Manager (Operations) on (phone number removed).

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than advertised, should we receive a large volume of applications.

The Group is fully committed to the promotion of equal opportunities and we particularly welcome applicants from groups who are currently under represented at Bernicia