Caseworker - Support and Advice Service

Sessional work, 7 hours per week @ £10 per hour, until 31st March 2019

Membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme is a requirement for this post.

Organisation’s Profile

Edinburgh and the Lothian Regional Equality Council challenges discrimination, reduces inequality and promotes good relations between all communities. We work closely with minority ethnic communities from across Edinburgh and the Lothian to identify service needs and gaps and respond to them by delivering short and long term projects which meet these needs.

ELREC Support and Advice Service

The Support and Advice Service is a confidential service which provides free and impartial advice for individuals who:

  • Need housing and benefits advice
  • Have suffered fromdiscrimination
  • Need assistance in working with public bodies
  • Need to report a hate crime

The Service works by appointment or through referrals by another agency. ELREC will consider all requests for assistance. If theinquiry falls outside of the scope of the Equality Act of 2010 and/or the Serviceis not inappropriate, the case, with the client’s consent, will be referred to a more appropriate agency.For example, in complex cases ELREC may refer the case to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Location

This work will be office based in Edinburgh, ELREC office: 14 Forth Street, EH1 3LH

Job Description

The main duties of the post will be:

  1. To provide support and advice to clients on matters such as housing, benefits, discrimination and hate crime
  2. To provide assistance in working with public and statutory bodies
  3. To maintaincase work folders organisedin fashion and keep them updated
  4. To respect confidentiality and data protection of clients’ personal information
  5. To liaise with Police Scotland and other statutory bodies
  6. To manage and supervise volunteers
  7. To undergo relevant training as required
  8. To work occasional unsocial hours
  9. To develop and maintain regular contacts with other relevant organisations
  10. To develop and optimise a feedback system for clients
  11. Any other duties designed by the Line Manager

Person Specification

All of the following requirements will be assessed from a combination of information provided from an application form, the interview process and references:
Personal Skills and Abilities / Essential / Desirable
1 / Excellent verbal and written skills / √
2 / Ability to meet deadlines / √
3 / Strong organisational and administrative skills / √
4 / Ability to use own initiative and organise own workload in consultation with the Manager and Board of Directors / √
5 / Ability to foster collective working between organisations / √
6 / Good administrative skills / √
7 / Understanding of the support needs of clients and commitment to ELREC’s aims and objectives. / √
8 / Sensitivity and empathy in supporting vulnerable people and individuals from diverse background / √
Experience
9 / Experience in counselling, social work or related posts / √
10 / Experience of working in, or with, the voluntary sector / √
11 / Experience of working with volunteers / √
12 / Experience of contributing effectively as a team member / √
13 / Experience of using evaluation and monitoring tools and techniques / √
14 / Experience of report writing / √
15 / Experience of working with people from diverse backgrounds / √
Knowledge
16 / Demonstrable knowledge of welfare, housing and employment laws / √
17 / Knowledge of good practice in volunteering / √
18 / Fluency in English / √
19 / Knowledge and understanding of the 2010 Equality Act / √
20 / Good IT skills including word processing and database management / √
Training and Qualifications
21 / Educated to higher level or professional qualification / √
22 / Degree or higher qualification in psychology, counselling, social work or any related field / √
23 / Understanding of housing, employment and welfare laws / √
Other
24 / Willing to work some evenings and weekends / √

How to Apply

Please complete an application form and monitoring form and email them to:

or post a hard copy to:

Recruitment

Edinburgh and the Lothians Regional Equality Council

14 Forth Street, Edinburgh EH1 3LH

(Please ensure you have paid the correct postage as your application may not be delivered.)

The deadline for submission of applications is Thursday,17th May at 9:0am. Applications received after this time will NOT be considered. Please only complete the application and monitoring form as CV’s if attached will NOT be considered.

Please note that interviews will be held after 21May 2018at the ELREC offices.

If you have any questions please call 0131 556 0441 or email