Team Leader

Overview:
We are Forward, the social enterprise that empowers people to break the cycle of crime, addiction and other disadvantage to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

What you will be doing?:
You will be responsible for line managing a team of at least 7 Tenancy Support Workers and supporting the Service Manager heading up a new Housing Support team.

The overarching aim of the project is to ‘increase the proportion of people recovering from addiction in stable and secure housing’. Expected outcomes are to;
- Improve the rate of successful recovery from drug and alcohol use for people in structured treatment.
- Reduce the rate of unplanned discharge from treatment for people with a housing related need.
- Improve access to, and sustainment of, suitable accommodation for people engaging in structured drug treatment.
- Reduce the scale of unmet housing need for people in structured drug and alcohol treatment.
- Build the evidence base on the housing related need for people dependent on drugs and alcohol and the most effective interventions.

On a daily basis you will be allocating caseloads, managing a small number of complex cases, supporting and developing your team, and ensuring deadlines and quality standards are met. You will be responsible for delivering on performance targets set by Forward and commissioners. You will support the Service Manager to ensure data accuracy and data submission deadlines are met.

At times you will be the most senior representative on site and will be required to deputise for the Service Manager to ensure the smooth running of the service. You will be in a position of trust therefore building an excellent relationship with your manager will be a priority, as well as collaborative working relationships with partner agencies.

You will be responsible for contributing to the targets set by Forward and the local commissioners. One of the key targets will be measuring outcomes, so co-operative working relationships with other partner agencies is vital to this role.

Flexibility will be required in this role, this may include some evening/weekend shift and with reasonable notice to travel to other projects in the East Kent region to deliver services, enabling continuity of care for the client group.

**Accountabilities**:
**Strategy**:

- Take an active role in the implementation and achievement of team objectives.
- Build strong relationships with, and makes full use of the support offered by Line Management and Head Office functions.
- Develop supportive relationships with supervisees and other colleagues in the service.
- Communicate all new developments to all members of your team.
- Support the service manager in developing relations with Districts and Housing Providers.
- Set team and individual objectives to implement and achieve strategic objectives.
- Co-ordinate the team of preventative and maintenance Tenancy Support Workers in terms of timetable and co-location with districts.
- Co-ordination of referrals into the team and caseload allocation.
- Monitoring of caseload allocation according to thresholds defined by Service Manager to ensure service is operating at capacity and is not overwhelmed by demand.
- Monitor and support caseworkers with prioritisation of individuals that are entering a crisis in line with KPI’s.
- Work in partnership with District Housing Teams on the operational aspects of the programme.
- Provide administrative support to the Tenancy Maintenance team.
- Attend multi-agency meetings as required.
- Facilitate liaison with KCC commissioned LERO.
- Collate service users’ feedback.

**Service Delivery**:

- Work in partnership with Districts and Housing Providers to ensure support needs are met.
- Develop and contribute to assessment and care planning of service users, supporting and coordinating their engagement with specialist agencies to address all their support needs.
- Support clients with their care plan including referral to support services in the community, advice and guidance on housing, benefits, training and employment.
- Use your extensive knowledge and experience to aid direct reports with their ability to develop and carry out interventions relevant to individual client need.
- Coach direct reports to contribute to the thorough care needs of service users, supporting them to plan for their changing lifestyle and engage with outside organisations which are appropriate to their needs.
- Ensure that case management interventions in direct reports are delivered in accordance with the needs of the service users, audit and are CQC compliant.
- Ensure that Tenancy Support workers have a Trauma Informed Approach and