Citizens Advice South Derbyshire

Personal NavigatorJOB DESCRIPTION

JOB DETAILS

Job Title / Personal Navigator
Location / Citizens Advice South Derbyshire
Salary / £24,344 per annum
Reports To / Deputy Chief Executive
Work Pattern / 37 hours per week
Status / Fixed term for three years
Start Date / November 2016
Staff / N/A
Budget / N/A
General / Citizens Advice South Derbyshire have been awarded funding as part of the Advice Nottingham Consortium from the Big Lottery and the European Social Fund to deliver an innovative project working with financially excluded people across South Derbyshire.
The whole project entitled ‘Money Sorted in D2N2’ works across the D2N2 area (Nottingham and Derbyshire) and is about excluded people.
It offers a programme of person centred support and a range of bespoke interventions designed to enable people experiencing financial crisis and financial hardship to take control, build confidence, and improve their money management skills to tackle
their problems and move out of poverty and exclusion.

BACKGROUND

JOB PURPOSE
To provide bespoke support and enablement to participants throughout their journey on the ‘Money Sorted in D2N2’ programme, in order to help them achieve their financial goals.
Principle Duties:
1.Undertake proactive outreach, working innovatively as needed, to engage clients relevant to the Money Sorted in D2N2 project criteria.
2.Use the ‘Assessment and Evaluation Tool’ with each participant, enabling them to form a Personal Financial Resilience Plan,with a focus on an improvement in the person’s money management skills and longer term financial well-being.
3.Work with and support participants in all aspects throughout the implementation of their Personal Financial Resilience Plan
4.Ensure support to participants in actions to address the financial well-being issues, money management and relevant wider life factor needs, as identified in the participant’s Personal Financial Resilience Plan – including both immediate crisis work and with short, medium and long term issues.
5.Provide advice and advocacy to project clients on welfare benefits, debt, housing and generalist social welfare law.
6.Engage all other wider external services relevant, and liaise effectively and positively with those services.
7.Help the participant to identify the most appropriate financial capability/ money management interventions for their needs and learning style, and support them to access these.
8.Provide supervision and support to volunteer Money Mentor(s) and management of mentor expenses.
9.Support the participant to access their Personal Financial Resilience Plan during their time on the project.
10.Ensure the person’s ‘Assessment Tool’ record is kept up to date.
11.Carry out an evaluation with the participant at the end of their journey, using the ‘Tool’, to measure improvements in financial well-being, money management and distance travelled, assessing against the person’s baseline, according to the project’s objectives.
12.Identify if participant is eligible for a ‘Personal Budget’ and, where relevant, oversee the participant’s use of it.
13.Attend any meetings or training sessions for Personal Navigators in the Money Sorted in D2N2 project.
14.Maintain records and files according to the needs of the project and to Advice Quality Standards and provide evidence required for project monitoring.
15.Treat all participants with the utmost respect throughout.
16.Provide culturally sensitive advocacy and support, removing any barriers to ensure maximum accessibility.
17.Ensure clear and effective communication with project participants throughout.
18.Ensure the confidentiality and security of all agency and client documentation and/ or information.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

CRITERIA
Experience
  1. Minimumof1 years’ experience of Welfare Rights, Housing and Debt advice
  2. Experience of working and negotiating effectively with different levels of statutory and voluntary agencies.

Knowledge
  1. Knowledge of Dept of Work & Pensions law legislation.
  2. Knowledge of the procedures and practices of statutory organisations including the DWP, Inland Revenue & Housing Offices.
  3. Sound knowledge and understanding of financial capability/ money management and of effective approaches to financial capability and of different learning styles.
  4. Sound knowledge and understanding of poverty, financial exclusion and factors important for improving financial well-being.
  5. IT literate and fully proficient with Word, Outlook and using the internet.
  6. Experience of supporting volunteers.

Skills and Abilities
1.Strong commitment to enablement and empowerment of clients.
2.Able to treat all clients with respect and understanding.
3.Ability to work holistically and identify and engage wider partner services as relevant for the client.
4.Ability to be proactive, creative and resourceful in outreach to excluded and vulnerable people and to engage them effectively.
5.Ability to prioritise needs and plan accordingly.
6.Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to listen and to communicate clearly.
7.Proficient with IT systems.
8.Clear commitment to addressing poverty and exclusion.
9.Clear commitment to equality and diversity and awareness of issues affecting these.
10.Ability to provide effective support to a volunteer.
11.Ability to learn and use new Management Information Systems.
12.Ability to maintain clear records, filing and monitoring information.
13.Ability to maintain and respect confidentiality.
Core Values
All members of the organisation will commit to:
Communicate: We will be consistent, positive,passionate, and listen.
Ownership: We will be accountable, make a difference, meet deadlines, keep promises and have solutions.
Respect: We will be honest, work with integrity, trust each other, be fair, tolerant and stand for equality.
Effective: We will deliver quality, focus on detail and be professional.