Information And Advice Caseworker Jobs in Coventry, West Midlands
We have an exciting opportunity to join us in making a difference!
Citizens Advice Birmingham has partnered with Alzheimer's Society to deliver Welfare Benefits Advice for people living with dementia. This includes those with the condition and their carers.
Are you an experienced adviser who has a strong background in the delivery of high-quality advice and a good working knowledge of welfare benefits?
We are looking for an enthusiastic caseworker to join the team, to provide the following:
- You will undertake casework, assisting clients to access their entitlement to welfare benefits and other sources of financial help, up to and including tribunal representation.
- Advice will be delivered virtually according to the service user’s needs and preferences. This will include phone, secure email or secure video calls.
- Help to design welfare benefit information leaflets and upskill referrers, preparing and providing training on our referral processes.
- Working independently and building relationships with third sector colleagues will be important, as will the ability to achieve targets, and support the work of volunteers.
Annual Leave: 25 days plus 8 bank holidays pro rata per annum from 1st January to 31st December. This rises to 30 days pro rata over the next 5 years
Previous applicants need not apply
Closing Date: Thursday 2nd May 2024 at noon
Interview Date: Monday 20th May 2024
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Job description
Caseworker Role (OISC Level 1, 2 and 3)
About us
The Refugee and Migrant Centre (RMC) is an established, multi award winning charity that provides a safe, welcoming environment to thousands of refugees and migrants living in the Black Country and Birmingham.
Our highly skilled and diverse staff team provide a broad range of services including advice and support on immigration (OISC regulated level 1, 2 & 3), employment, welfare, education, ESOL, housing, homelessness, destitution, citizenship, health and wellbeing.
RMC have been assisting beneficiaries to access and sustain appropriate accommodation and improve their housing and living conditions for nearly two decades. RMC also deals with many aspects of homelessness, destitution, rough sleeping, exploitation, etc.
Why work for us
Our culture is what makes us unique. We encourage an open, honest working environment where people are valued. We're always challenging each other to learn and improve, because we know when we work together, we can deliver better outcomes.
What you will be doing
All Caseworkers (Levels 1,2 and 3) will be required to carry out the tasks shown below. The skill level to progress from one level to the next level is also detailed below.
· To provide professional and effective OISC regulated casework as well as advice, guidance and support to a broad range of RMC’s service users.
· To assist/support the team and the management to meet the needs of the beneficiaries and achieve targets.
· To support and supervise colleagues on a lower level of OISC regulation and designated volunteers.
· To deliver presentations and represent RMC at meetings/events when required by management.
· To take responsibility of projects related to the job
Working within the team
· To ensure the requirements of OISC are respected and met during the delivery of immigration-related advice and casework.
· To assist the senior colleagues and managers in order to drive efficiency, quality, systems improvement and target achievement.
· To supervise and/or manage colleagues on a lower level of OISC-regulation and designated volunteers.
Casework and advice
· To offer advice & casework to service users with various aspects related to their immigration case.
· To deliver the appropriate level of casework either independently or under supervision, depending on the level of OISC registration.
· To provide appropriate support and mentoring to any caseworkers and/or advisors that are under this role’s supervision.
· To maintain confidentiality in all dealings with service users and ensure their needs are met in a satisfactory and sensitive manner.
Other
· To be responsible for the day to day delivery of specific projects if requested by the Senior Management Team–this is flexible and could change depending on the nature of funding.
· To represent RMC at external meetings and events when required by senior colleagues.
· To maintain effective working relationships with partners and stakeholders.
Flexibility
In order to deliver the stated aims of this post, a degree of flexibility is needed and the post holder may be required to perform work not specifically referred to above. Such duties will fall within the scope of the job within the appropriate pay grade. The job description will therefore be subject to periodic review with the post holder to ensure it accurately reflects the duties that are being performed
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OISC Level 1
Skill / experience Essential Desirable
· OISC Level 1 Accreditation or equivalent
· Commitment to working towards level 2
· Experience of advice work dealing with asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
· Ability to communicate complex information clearly to distressed clients.
· Commitment to equality and diversity.
· A proven high standard of communication skills, including written, oral, presentational and inter-personal skills.
· An ability to self-motivate and work independently.
· Fluent in a community language
· Experience of working in a multicultural environment and sensitivity towards other cultures.
· Educated to degree level or equivalent.
· A proven record of team work and flexibility.
· Excellent listening skills and ability to empathise as well as establish boundaries to avoid emotional over involvement.
OISC Level 2
Essential Desirable
· OISC Level 2 Accreditation or equivalent
· Commitment to working towards Level 3
· Experience of complex advice work dealing with asylum seekers, refugees, vulnerable migrants and ‘outside of rules applications
· Ability to communicate complex information clearly to distressed clients
· Commitment to equality and diversity.
· A proven high standard of communication skills, including written, oral, presentational and inter-personal skills.
· An ability to self-motivate and work independently.
· Fluent in a community language
· Experience of working in a multicultural environment and sensitivity towards other cultures.
· Educated to degree level or equivalent.
· A proven record of team work and flexibility.
· Excellent listening skills and ability to empathise as well as
· establish boundaries to avoid emotional over involvement.
OISC Level 3
Essential Desirable
· OISC Level 3 Accreditation or equivalent
· Experience of delivering complex advice work dealing with asylum seekers, refugees, vulnerable migrants, ‘outside of rules applications’ and representation at tribunal.
· Ability to communicate complex information clearly to distressed clients.
· Commitment to equality and diversity.
· A proven high standard of communication skills, including written, oral, presentational and inter-personal skills.
· An ability to self-motivate and work independently.
· Fluent in a community language
· Experience of working in a multicultural environment and sensitivity towards other cultures.
· Educated to degree level or equivalent.
· A proven record of team work and flexibility.
· Excellent listening skills and ability to empathise as well as establish boundaries to avoid emotional over involvement.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Our system keeps your personal information hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
Why Access Social Care Exists
Every day millions of older and disabled people are denied the social care they need. Most local authorities can’t meet the growing demand for care, and none are confident they can meet their legal duties in the future. This affects all of us - we will all need social care at some point in our lives.
We all have a right to hold public bodies to account, but most of us cannot afford lawyers so rely on legal aid. The 92% drop in legal aid cases since 2010 means that we have nowhere to turn. Without access to justice, our rights do not exist. The rule of law is broken.
What we do
Access Social Care provides free legal advice and information for people with social care needs, helping achieve a better quality of life. We work with communities to increase knowledge of the law and our rights. We highlight the gap left by cuts to Legal Aid and provide advice for those who can’t afford it.
With a 98% success rate, our network of lawyers provide access to justice when things go wrong. We collaborate with social services whilst ensuring legal obligations are met. We are working towards a future where social care is adequately funded and we all get the support we need.
We provide rights awareness training to front line managers, and legal advice and support to families and individuals. As well as providing access to justice, our aim is to drive system level change through evidence-led influencing and strategic casework. We operate our casework service mainly under a membership model where organisations involved in the social care sector contract with Access Social Care to provide legal assistance to their clients.
This is an exciting time to join ASC. We have a new strategy and are growing quickly. We have more than doubled in size and income since we started operating in April 2020 and we anticipate that this strong growth will continue for the duration of our next strategic period. We are dedicated to the people who need our help, but we also care deeply about our team, and we think that work should be an exciting and satisfying place to be.
About the role
As we move into 2024, Access Social Care is launching a new workstream aimed at training more experts in community care law. To achieve our aims, we will be developing learning and development programmes for internal and external use. We are looking for an experienced learning and development professional to lead this programme of work.
We want you to:
- Oversee the development and delivery online and in person training on the Care Act 2014 and associated legislation, regulations, guidance and caselaw. We already have some training materials in-house, but you will need to expand and develop these for different audiences (carers, social care providers, advocates, advisers and caseworkers).
- Work with external stakeholders at academic institutions to develop degree/diploma level learning modules.
- Work closely with others at ASC and play a key role in developing the skills and knowledge of our trainee caseworkers and other new staff.
- Work alongside the Head of Business Development to develop a learning and development income stream.
Responsibilities
1. Project management of the Access Social Care learning and development offer: Working with internal and external stakeholders and using project management tools and software you will drive the project forwards ensuring milestones and deadlines are met, delivering reports
2. Content and resources development: Work closely with our Head of Digital Content, Product Manager and legal team members to develop training materials for use online and in person on the Care Act which enable people with different starting points to understand the rights of social care users, to enforce those rights, and to understand the responsibilities of social care providers and local authorities.
3. External training strategy development. Work with the Head of Business development to develop an income stream from learning and development.
4. Training delivery: Deliver training internally and externally, online and in person, using a variety of training techniques, and tailored materials to engage different audiences with different immediate purposes.
5. Intelligence gathering: Contribute to our understanding of systemic problems in the social care and community care law systems, feeding back to legal colleagues' issues that are brought up in training session.
6. General tasks: Undertake such other tasks as may reasonably be required or asked of you in order to respond to organisational needs and specifically needs within the legal team.
This list of tasks is not exhaustive and will be reviewed from time to time in discussion with the post holder.
For full details on this role please see attached job discription.
How to apply
We hope that having read this far; you still want to apply!
Please ensure that your CV and supporting statement do not include your name – use initials only. This will ensure that we avoid unconscious bias in our shortlisting process. To apply, please provide the following documents:
- An up-to-date CV
- A completed diversity monitoring form - linked in the full job discription attached.
- A supporting statement of no more than two pages, addressing why you meet the essential requirements of the person specification
If you want support applying, contact us.
Timeline for the recruitment process
Closing date: 23.59pm on Tuesday 23rd April 2024
Interviews: will be held virtually on MS Teams on Thursday 2nd May and Friday 3rd May 2024
Please ensure you keep these dates free.
At Access Social care, we aren’t interested in tokenism. We know that if we are to make the biggest difference for the people that need us the most, we need to get Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and anti-racism right. Part of this is recruiting greater diversity in all our teams.
With this in mind, we particularly welcome applications from candidates with experience of the communities we serve, including people with direct experience of the social care system, and from marginalised groups, particularly Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, older and disabled people, and trans and non-binary people.
To note we are only able to accept applicants with the right to work in the UK.
How to apply
We hope that having read this far; you still want to apply!
Please ensure that your CV and supporting statement do not include your name – use initials only. This will ensure that we avoid unconscious bias in our shortlisting process. To apply, please provide the following documents:
• An up-to-date CV
• A completed diversity monitoring form
• A supporting statement of no more than two pages, addressing:
o The essential requirements of the person specification
If you want support applying, contact us.
Timeline for the recruitment process
Closing date: 23.59pm on Tuesday 23rd April 2024
Interviews: will be held virtually on MS Teams on Thursday 2nd May and Friday 3rd May 2024
Please ensure you keep these dates free
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.