Disability Benefits Officer

One of our core goals is increasing residents' income by tackling benefits under-claiming in the borough. The Income Maximisation Team, within which this role sits, is focussed on increasing income for some of the borough's most vulnerable residents, by ensuring that they claim and contest disability benefits. It is a highly skilled and successful team, generating over £1.5m in additional income over the past three years for residents. In this role you will support disabled people (or households with a disabled person) to access a full range of welfare benefits, discretionary support, reductions and exemptions. You will lead on mandatory review and tribunal work, including deciding on applications to take through the review process, preparation of documentation, supporting the individual resident and representing them at tribunal hearings. You will also support the wider Money Hub team by working collaboratively on cases, developing colleagues' skills and understanding of the support available for disabled people, people with long-term illness, and people with caring responsibilities and by giving feedback on likely eligibility on a case-case basis.

In order to be successful in this role you will need to have strong knowledge of welfare and disability benefits;

• Experience of drafting grounds for appeal, written submissions and tribunal representation, experience of working with a close knit team;
• Be comfortable working directly with residents and taking a holistic, empathetic approach in order to understand the resident's full range of needs and respond as fully as possible
• Strong organisational and time management ability, in order to assess a high rate of incoming applications across several discretionary support schemes
• Able to be flexible, work independently and take a problem solving approach when working with residents and on different types
• Have excellent communication verbal and written communication skills
• Comfortable working with case management software to record resident contact and outcomes (Here To Help uses Google-based AppSheet)
  
  Hackney is one of the most dynamic and progressive local authorities in the UK. We are a resilient, vibrant, and creative borough in the heart of London, with strong, diverse communities and a powerful set of shared values.
Over the past twenty years, the Council has built up first-class services, outstanding public infrastructure, and a reputation for excellence, innovation, and ambition. We are leading the way on essential work such as our fight for equity in Hackney with a particular focus on becoming an actively anti-racist borough. But the work doesn't stop there, we are proactive in our approach to bringing fairness to all aspects of life including gender, neurodiversity and across the poverty divide. Hackney Here To Help is an easily accessible, resident-facing, multi-disciplinary service that brings together benefits advice with assessment for a range of discretionary grants, in a delivery model that has data-led, active community outreach at its heart.