Oldham District

Citizens Advice Bureau

Vacancy Information Pack

Peripatetic General Caseworker

Closing date: 10 am, Monday 30th July 2012

Contents / Page
Summary Terms and Conditions / 3
Job Description / 3333
Person specification / 6
Background Information / 8
Equal Opportunities in Employment policy / 9
Notes for completing the Application Form / 10
Application Form – separate attachment
Equal Opportunities monitoring form – separate attachment

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for expressing an interest in our vacant post.

Oldham District CAB is an innovative organisation, always looking to address the advice needs of local people. We are looking to appoint an experienced general adviser/caseworker to join our team who are working hard to help the people of Oldham, particularly during the economic downturn.

Our main office is Ascroft Court in the centre of Oldham however we also deliver gateway assessments and advice from a number of outreach centres including local libraries, GP practices and children’s centres across the borough. The post will be based at ourcentral Ascroft Court office, however due to the peripatetic nature of the role you will be required to work from a number of different outreach centres each week.

Before completing the application form, please make sure you fully read all of the attached pages, particularly the guidance notes on how to fill in your application form.

You will not be short listed for interview unless you clearly demonstrate how you meet the requirements of each person specification point and so we are therefore unable to accept Curriculum Vitae.

The deadline for submitting a completed application form is:

10 am on Monday 30hJuly 2012

In the first instance all completed application forms should be returned to:

/ Ryan Wharmby Oldham District CAB, Ascroft Court, 1 & 2 Peter Street, Oldham, OL1 1HP

We plan to short list applications the following day and anticipate that interviews will be held on 2nd August 2012.

Maria Cuschera

HR & Training Manager

SUMMARY TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Job title: / Peripatetic General Caseworker
Salary Band: / Scale 4 – 5 (£17,161 - £19,126) depending on skills and experience
Hours of Work: / 35 hours per week, 26 days holiday (pro rata) + bank holidays where these fall on your normal working day
Location: / Outreach Centre(s) / Ascroft Court, Oldham
Reporting to: / Caseworker Manager

JOB DESCRIPTION

Context of role: / You will be a member of Oldham CAB’s Social Welfare Law Casework team, offering gateway assessments and advice from various CABx outlets and outreach venues as required to meet the advice needs of the community.
Role purpose: / To provide a flexible and adaptablegateway assessment and general casework service to the local community, within the aims, policies and principles of the CAB.
Key areas of work: / Below is a list of the key areas of work the post-holder will be
expected to perform and examples of what tasks are involved in those areas. The list of tasks is not exhaustive.
Key accountabilities / Key elements / tasks
1. Gateway Assessing / Assess clients’ problem(s) using sensitive listening and questioning skills.
Identify key information about the problem including time limits, key dates and any requirement for urgent advice or action (using Adviceguide, scripts and any other diagnostic tools, as necessary).
Identify and summarise the essence of the problem.
Establish what the client wants.
Assess and agree the appropriate level of service, taking into consideration the client’s ability to take the next step themselves, the complexity of the problem and the bureau’s resources.
Refer clients appropriately (both internally and externally) to suit client’s needs following agreed protocols, including making arrangements and informing clients of what to expect.
Signpost clients appropriately to suit their needs, following agreed protocols.
Record information given during gateway assessment interviews onto CASE gateway screens.
2. Advice Giving / Casework / Interview clients using sensitive listening and questioning skills in order to allow clients to explain their problem(s) and empower them to set their own priorities.
Use the Citizens Advice Information System to find, interpret and communicate the relevant information.
Research and explore options and implications so that clients can make informed decisions.
Act for the client where necessary by calculating, negotiating, drafting or writing letters and telephoning.
Negotiate with third parties such as statutory and non-statutory bodies as appropriate.
Refer internally or to other specialist agencies as appropriate.
Make home/outreach visits as necessary, as this is a peripatetic post this will be on a very regular basis.
Provide support to other staff / volunteers in the service as necessary.
Ensure that all work conforms to the bureau's Office Manual and the Citizens Advice quality standard/Legal Services Commission's Quality Mark as appropriate.
Maintain case records for the purpose of continuity of casework, information retrieval, and statistical monitoring and report preparation.
3. Social Policy / Assist with social policy work by providing information about clients' circumstances through the appropriate channel.
Alert other staff to local and national issues.
Contribute to local social policy campaign work as appropriate.
4. Professional development / Keep up to date with legislation, case law, policies and procedures relating to Debt and Money Advice and related bureau work and undertake appropriate training.
Read relevant publications.
Prepare for and attend supervision sessions / team meetings / bureau team meetings / external meetings as agreed with the Line Manager.
Assist with initiatives for the improvement of services.
5. Administration / Review and make recommendations for improvements to bureau services.
Assist with the maintenance of Bureau information systems.
Use IT for statistical recording, record keeping and document production and provide regular reports of the work undertaken or needed.
6. Public relations / Liaise with statutory and non-statutory organisations and represent the Service on outside bodies as appropriate.
7. Other duties and responsibilities / Provide occasional session support to front line generalist services.
Carry out any other tasks that may be within the scope of the post to ensure the effective delivery and development of the service.
Demonstrate commitment to the aims and policies of the CAB service.
Abide by health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for own safety and that of colleagues.

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PERSON SPECIFICATION

  1. Essential: Hold the CAB’s certificate in General Advice or demonstrate
    recent experience of giving advice in the law relating to debt, benefits, housing, consumer, employment.
  2. Effective research skills using appropriate resources.
  3. Effective oral communication and written communication skills with particular emphasis on negotiating and preparing correspondence.
  4. Ordered approach to casework and an ability and willingness to follow and develop agreed procedures.
  5. Understand the issues involved in interviewing clients, especially when at outreach or home visit.
  6. Numeracy skills required to understand statistics and check calculations.
  7. Ability to prioritise own work, meet deadlines and manage a caseload.
  8. Ability to use IT in the provision of advice and the preparation of client/third party correspondence.
  9. Ability to give and receive feedback objectively and sensitively and a willingness to challenge constructively.
  10. Flexibility and willingness to work as part of a team.
  11. Ability to monitor and maintain own standards.
  12. An understanding of social trends and their implications for clients and service provision.
  13. Understanding of and a commitment to the aims and principles of the CAB service and its equal opportunities policies.

All person specification criteria will be tested at the interview. In addition criteria 1, 2, 6 and 7 will be tested in a task at interview.

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Background Information

Oldham CAB provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to

everyone on their rights and responsibilities. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.

We aim:

• To provide the advice people need for the problems they face

• To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives

Our advice is free, independent, impartial and confidential. The Service is non judgmental, offering assistance as appropriate to all callers. We aim to be equally accessible to everyone who seeks or needs our help, regardless of age, race, religion, gender, HIV status, disability, sexuality or other form of discrimination. All our advice workers, whether paid or voluntary, are professionally trained to provide an accurate, quality service and to be supportive to clients.

How the service operates:

Oldham CAB deals with over 40,000 enquiries a year, giving detailed information, advice and support to people on every subject. The majority of problems concern social security benefits (30%) and debt (30%), followed by employment and housing law.

You will be joining a dynamic team who are proud of their past achievements but know that so much more still needs to be done.

The current economic downturn has seen more and more people lose their jobs, struggle to pay their bills and face the risk of losing their home and so our services are needed now more than ever.

For more information about the work of the CAB service you can either arrange to visit our offices or you can visit the following websites;

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Equal Opportunities in Employment policy

  • As an equal opportunity employer, the bureau has a commitment to equal opportunities including the recruitment, training and promotion of employees;
  • It opposes all forms of discrimination or harassment on the grounds of: sex, marital status, colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origin, disability, religion, HIV / AIDS status, sexual orientation and age;
  • It requires all members of staff to adhere to the CAB service equal opportunities policies;
  • Where appropriate, employees will be given special training to ensure that equal opportunity is achieved within the bureau;
  • Where appropriate, breaches of the bureau’s equal opportunities policies will be dealt with under the dignity at work policy or grievance procedure [or equivalent];
  • Provision is made (where practicable) to meet the needs of both men and women caring for children and other dependants;
  • The bureau will ensure that the terms and conditions of employment are such that lesbians, gay men and bisexuals can be open about their sexual orientation if they so wish; that consideration is given to accommodating disabled people, and that there are no differences in the terms and conditions of employment on the grounds set out above;
  • The terms and conditions of employment will be reviewed from time to time to ensure that equal opportunities requirements are complied with.

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Application form

Please complete your application and return it by post or email (as a Word document) no later than the closing date referred to in the advert.

The application form plays a key part in our recruitment and selection process. We use the information you provide about your skills, experience, career and education history to decide whether or not to invite you for an interview. It is important that you complete the application form as fully and accurately as possible, ensuring that you give specific examples which demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for the role for which you are applying.

Disability

Please let us know if you require any adjustments to be made to the application process or would like to provide any information you wish us to take into account when we are considering your application. If you are selected for interview, we will ask you to let us know if you have any access needs or may require reasonable adjustments to the interview or assessment (if applicable) at that stage. Please be assured that we will be supportive in discussing reasonable adjustments with you at any stage of the recruitment and selection process.

Entitlement to work in the UK

A job offer will be subject to confirmation that you are permitted to work in the UK in accordance with the provisions of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996. You will be asked to provide evidence of your entitlement to work in the UK if you are successful and an offer of employment is made.

Please note that Oldham District CAB does not hold a sponsor licence and, therefore, cannot issue certificates of sponsorship under the points-based system.

Diversity Monitoring

Our bureau values diversity and promotes equality. We encourage and welcome applications from suitably skilled candidates from all backgrounds. Monitoring recruitment and selection procedures is one way of helping us to ensure that there is no unfair discrimination in the way that we recruit people. To do this we need to know about the diversity profile of people who apply for posts at Oldham District CAB. This information is given in confidence for monitoring purposes only and is not seen by anyone responsible for making recruitment decisions. However, if you would prefer not to answer any of the questions we ask, please leave them blank.

Information, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities

This is a key section of the application form which allows you to provide evidence of your experience, knowledge, skills and abilities that are relevant to the role as described in the role profile. Selection is based on an assessment of the evidence you provide against the requirements of the role as set out in the person specification. It is important that you tailor your response to clearly demonstrate how you meet each requirement. No assumptions will be made about your achievements and abilities.

Please provide one example for each requirement. You should choose examples of past experience that clearly demonstrate what we are looking for, and be precise about what you did, how you did it and the outcome or result of your actions. Please try to limit your response to each criterion to a maximum of 200 words.

A useful guide might be S.T.A.R:

Specific – give a specific example

Task – briefly describe the task/objective/problem

Action – tell us what you did

Results – describe what results were achieved

Please provide recent work examples wherever possible. However, do remember that relevant examples from other aspects of your life, for example: voluntary or unpaid work, school or college work, family or home responsibilities, can also be given.

Shortlisting outcomes

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview. Some positions may require additional assessments (practical task/test or assessment centre). If this is the case, you will have received details with the application pack - further details will be provided if you are shortlisted.

References

All job offers are subject to the receipt of two satisfactory references: One should be from your current or most recent employer or line manager (if you are employed through an agency), or your course tutor if you have just left full time education. The other should be someone who knows you in a work related, voluntary or academic capacity. Both referees should be able to comment on your suitability for the role.References will only be taken up for successful candidates following interview.

Criminal convictions

Anyone who applies to work within Oldham District CAB will be asked to disclose details of unspent convictions during the recruitment process.

Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working for Oldham District CAB – much will depend on the type of job you have applied for and the background and circumstances of your offence. However, we are not able to employ anyone with a conviction for a sexual offence against a child or vulnerable adult, regardless of when the offence took place. All other convictions will be considered on an individual basis.

Criminal Records Bureau Disclosures are only requested where proportionate and relevant to the post concerned. If the post for which you are applying for requires a CRB Disclosure, this will be noted in the application pack.

Oldham District Citizens Advice Bureau

1 & 2 Ascroft Court, Peter Street, Oldham, Ol1 1HP

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