Breckfield & North Everton Neighbourhood Council – Welfare Rights Support Worker

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Hours per week – 35 hours.
Salary: £27,000 / 3 year contract.
Place of work: The Breckfield Centre and community outreach locations.

Purpose of role

The Welfare Rights Support Worker will be part of a wider team working with individuals and communities in Anfield & Everton to enable them to take greater control of their social and economic circumstances through a better understanding of debt, poverty, managing their money, affordable healthy eating, mental well being and digital technology.

The ‘Welfare Rights Support Worker will

1. Organise and deliver advice & support sessions in-house and outreach locations accessible to people needing help with particular benefit debt, housing, employment and other money issues
2. Work with community groups to raise awareness of the government’s welfare agenda, including the introduction of Universal Credit, ensuring that local people know how their personal changes will affect them and understand their rights and responsibilities
3. Work with community groups to engage and deliver informal money management workshops that meet the needs of disadvantaged people struggling to budget and avoid debt
4. Identify issues of concern in the local area, for example loan shark activities, proliferation of pawn shops, payday lenders etc and work with individuals to raise awareness of pitfalls and promote positive alternatives
5. Work with local Credit Unions to promote the advantages of savings and community-based finance initiatives, and help to develop locals schemes that encourage membership
6. Raise awareness of fuel poverty issues and promote schemes which cut costs and improve energy efficiency
7. Make sure that welfare reform and money management information reaches the widest possible audience by organising mobile street-level activities throughout the area
8. Help support and train local people to assist in the delivery of the programme and to act as ‘sign-posters’ for further sources of help
9. Work closely with the project’s ‘ Kick Start 2 Health -Health and Well-Being ’ worker to assist people in budgeting to shop healthily
10. Work closely with the project’s IT team to empower people to manage their money online, making safe informed choices which mean they pay less for goods and services, while avoiding scams
11. Support BNENC’s on going anti poverty programmes ie: Uniform Connect, Food Voucher scheme, emergency food bank, & the feeding Liverpool programme.

Person Specification

The person appointed will

1. Have substantial experience of proving rights-based advice in disadvantaged communities
2. Have a thorough practical knowledge of the welfare benefits system, in particular the support available to low income families and disabled people
3. Have a sound knowledge of ‘welfare reform’ issues and their current and potential impact on low income communities
4. Understand the relevance of financial capability interventions and money management advice for people living on a low income
5. Be a confident IT user with a good knowledge and understanding of how online resources can help meet advice needs, and have the ability and commitment to share this knowledge
6. Have excellent communication skills and the ability to relate to people from a variety of backgrounds and community organisations
7. Be literate and numerate to the level required, for example case recording, benefit calculations etc
8. Understand the relationship between advice work with individuals and social policy/campaigning work
9. Have the confidence and self-management skills to work unsupervised in community outreach locations
10. Be a responsible team member, willing and able to share their own skills and expertise and to learn from the skills and expertise of colleagues within the wider partnership
11. Have a flexible attitude, embracing a multi-channel approach to advice delivery and prepared to work with and from a range of different community locations.

Deadline: Unknown. Please note that this vacancy was first published in May 2023 and have closed for applications since then.

For more information and the application pack, please contact bob.blanchard@thebreckfieldcentre.com.