Rent Support Specialist

Rent Support Specialist

**Full Time Salary**
- £30,100

**Employment Type**
- Full time

**Hours Per Week**
- 35

**Region**
- Merseyside

**Location**
- Watson Building 4 Renshaw St, Liverpool L1 2SA

**Contract Type**
- Fixed Term Contract

**Contract Duration**
- 12 months

**Job Type**
- Property Services

**Closing Date**
- 16/05/2025

**Ref No**
- 2456

**What you can expect from us**
- We offer a competitive salary of £30,100
- 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Opportunity to further increase annual leave with service or through the holiday purchase scheme.
- Immediate entry to our Pension scheme (matched contributions up to 10%).
- A great flexible working environment, with a range of family friendly policies.
- Simply Health cash plan with financial benefits and the option to extend to your family.
Cover includes dental, optical, physiotherapy, 24HR private GP access and much more.
- Paid leave for absence including sickness, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
- Access of up to £150 annually through the ‘Learning for life’ scheme.
- Access to a wide range of discounts and cash back offers, ranging from retail and automotive to holidays and cycle to work scheme.
- Develop your career with support and access to training and qualifications.

We are now recruiting a **Early Intervention Specialist (Rent Support Specialist)**to join our operations team on a **fixed term basis of 12 months based within the Merseyside area**.

Occasional work outside of office hours as and when required to attend meetings.

The purpose of this role is to provide a professional, cost effective and high-quality property and leasehold management service, managing a portfolio of properties across a range of dispersed sites.

Working closely with our Customer Account Managers the focus will be to provide proactive and early intervention support to lower-level arrears cases, supporting our customers in sustaining their tenancies and leases and protecting Onward’s income.

You do not necessarily have to have previous income management or social housing experience to be successful.

**Key responsibilities**

**Rent and Service Charge Accounts and Sundry Debts**
- Management of rent and service charge accounts up to court level for all tenures across Onward Homes
- Assist with tenancy sign-ups, informing customers of required payment in advance and their responsibility for ongoing payments.
- Ensure customers and former customers are contacted via various methods at the appropriate times to secure payments and maintain high income collection; using technology effectively to make sure we’re having the right conversation with the right customers at the right time.
- Take accountability for handling income related inbound and outbound customer interaction via various channels, working collaboratively with the Customer Services Team
- Working proactively with colleagues to achieve high levels of performance and seek out opportunities for efficiencies.

**Legal Action**
- Ensure action taken complies with pre-action protocols and Equality Act requirements prior to hand off to the Customer Accounts Specialist where applicable.

**Welfare Benefits**
- Provide accurate advice and assistance to maximise income for customers.
- Refer customers to internal and external agencies as appropriate.

**Collaborative Working**
- Work effectively with internal service areas to deliver a holistic package of housing related services to customers and maintain high income collection.
- Work with external agencies to achieve the best outcome for the customer and the business.

**Customer Service**
- Deliver excellent customer service to our customers on a consistent basis; offering a bespoke tailored service to ensure high levels of satisfaction and outcomes, whilst adhering to the Customer Charter and delivering the quality of service set out in the Onward Style Guide.

**What skills, knowledge and experience do you need?**
- Willingness to develop knowledge and awareness of related housing regulations/ law.
- Ability to take an assertive yet supportive approach to negotiate successful outcomes for Onward, Contour Property Services, S4B and their customers.
- Demonstrates high levels of motivation and resilience combined with enthusiasm, commitment and a curious, inquisitive approach to challenge and seek continuous improvement.
- Experience of delivering high levels of Customer Service.
- Experience of liaising with external partners.
- Ability to adapt to change to improve performance.
- Competent user of technology with an understanding of its role in communication and driving business success.
- Good understanding of the social, economic, and political context in the neighbourhoods in which we operate.
- Excellent written and oral communications skills, conveying information in a suitable and relevant way.
- IT skills - Microsoft office to Intermediate level.

**Essential Qualifications**
- Educated to GCSE standard or equivalent qua