Your new organisation
Southend-on-Sea City Council is a Unitary local authority, providing vital services to meet the needs of the local community. We employ around 1,800 staff who are working alongside our partners and local communities to deliver the Southend 2050 ambition and make lives better for the people of Southend. Southend itself is a vibrant place to live and work, offering coastal living alongside excellent and fast transport links into London.
Working for Southend-on-Sea City Council offers a challenging and rewarding career in local government within a collaborative and innovative environment. As a Unitary Authority we are responsible for all local government functions ranging from regulatory services, transport, public health, and parks through to planning, social services, community safety and education, so we offer a wide range of career opportunities. The diversity of our economy and communities and investment in a number of exciting regeneration projects makes our Council a great place to work, learn and make a difference.
Your new role
Southend City Council has been awarded funding to implement a rough sleeping initiative and therefore we are recruiting for a Rough Sleeping Navigator ( x2 ) as part of the Governments initiative to help end rough sleeping. The post holder will support individuals who are rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping within the City of Southend. The post will be on a fixed term contract until March 2025.
You will act as Navigator, supporting a caseload of service users to provide intensive support for people who are rough sleeping. This will include people with complex needs, advocating and enabling them to access appropriate services to ensure a recovery pathway to sustained outcomes away from the street. Tasks will include supporting with housing and homeless applications or any other access to statutory and support services. You will be required to support rough sleepers and those in temporary accommodation in a flexible, responsive way to meet local needs which may include early morning, evening and weekend working to fit the needs of the individuals you are supporting.
To meet the changing needs of this post, the successful candidate would be required to be flexible in regards to the working pattern (visiting client / working from home / temporary accommodation etc).
For an informal discussion please contact Alexander Pool, Senior Rough Sleeping Coordinator AlexanderPool@southend.gov.uk , 07775820991 (Mob).
To request a copy of the full job description, please contact Uzo Nebechi via email uzo.nebechi@hays.com
What you need to succeed
To be successful in this role, it is essential that you understand the issues that can lead to entrenched, long-term rough sleeping and be passionate about improving the lives of people with multiple and complex needs. You need to be solution focussed with an ability to motivate others and provide personalised solutions which demonstrate innovation, creativity as well as iterative learning. The approach taken with clients will be psychologically informed, incorporating an understanding of Personality Disorder, complex trauma, and addiction.
You will need to have the ability to manage challenging behaviour in a positive manner, be able to work professionally with a range of statutory and voluntary agencies, have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and excellent planning and recording skills.
What you’ll get in return
If you join the Council, you will enjoy a range of benefits including flexible working (with a blended approach to office and home working), salary sacrifice schemes, 25 days holiday (excluding bank holidays) and excellent training and development opportunities. A full list of benefits provided by Southend-on-Sea City Council can be found on the Jobs at the council web page under the “Why Work for us Tab”.
Previous experience of working with homeless charity or outreach programmes or rough sleepers or worked as a housing officer would be highly advantageous.
What you need to do now
If you’re interested in this role, click ‘apply now’ to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.
Please note: Applications for this vacancy may close prior to the date advertised above so you are advised to apply as soon as you are able to.
Southend-on-Sea City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. All applicants for this role will require an enhanced DBS check.
