Resettlement Officer - Resettlement Team

Human Resources & Development - Form 35a Version 16 - Issued February 2025 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT ▪ Job Title: Resettlement Officer ▪ Post Number: TBC ▪ Grade and SCP: Grade 8, SCP 19-22 ▪ Directorate: Place Where your role fits at Shropshire Council As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven to be a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome, particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and a focus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan: Healthy People, Healthy Environment, Health Economy and Healthy Organisation. We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision 'Shropshire - living the best life'; to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be. We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proud workforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities. As a member of the Resettlement Team within Housing Services, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Working across Shropshire you will support refugees to fully integrate in the community and thrive in their new homes. Overview of your role As a member of Housing Services you will ensure that efficient support is given to the Resettlement Team regarding the resettlement programmes being undertaken in the county. Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for? You will be: ▪ reporting to the Resettlement Team manager who is in turn responsible for your health and safety, training and development. ▪ expected to lead and/or contribute to a range of projects and build relations with both internal and external partners in order achieve specified outcomes but will not have direct authority over those involved. ▪ Responsible for completing within expected timescales all mandatory corporate and role specific training. Training requirements will be detailed in your corporate induction and Personal Development Plan (PDP). Courses are accessed via the council Learning Management System via the Intranet. What will you be doing? ▪ The purpose of the job is to assist individuals and families in their resettlement into life in Shropshire. Interventions will be aimed to ensure families gain independence and feel integrated into their new communities. ▪ To support individuals and families through five stages of integration to include: Housing, Finance, Education, Health and Employment. ▪ To work with key partners across the geographical area to ensure refugees and asylum seekers are referred and signposted into appropriate support services and networks. ▪ An enhanced DBS check will be required for this post. ▪ To undertake the resettlement duties and provide administration assistance to the Resettlement Team. ▪ To develop and deliver comprehensive support plans for families who have newly arrived and throughout their first years in the UK. This includes reviewing these at regular intervals to ensure they continue to fully meet the needs of all family members. ▪ To be responsible for managing the full support needs of caseload families including helping them to apply for benefits and learn to manage their finances; organising and ensuring attendance at ESOL classes; facilitating access to medical services including initial health assessments and follow ups; applying for schools and ensuring children are supported to settle in; encouraging attendance at community groups and with other practical arrangements as needed on a bespoke basis. ▪ To support individuals and families with complex physical and physiological vulnerabilities in order that they can link with the help that they need to overcome these as fully as possible. ▪ To record, monitor and evaluate casework practice and maintain confidential records for each family using in-house data recording systems. ▪ To manage the transition of allocated families from intensive support to independence by empowering families to understand the systems and develop the skills required to live well in the UK. ▪ To provide support and advice in a manner which understands the core elements of the refugee journey, the impact of trauma and principles for effective recovery. ▪ To build and maintain collaborative relationship with partner agencies and community services to provide effective support for families. This will include Benefits, Housing, English Learning, Healthcare and Social Care providers as well as others as needed. ▪ To help other agencies understand the needs of the families of this programme and to help to avoid misunderstandings between parties due to cultural and language differences. ▪ To connect families with meaningful engagement opportunities to enable them to build community connections and networks, develop confidence and learn new skills to improve their well-being. ▪ To manage workload effectively using flexibility and adaptability, to ensure a good balance between competing priorities such as urgent client issues, pro-active casework support, medium to long term plans and other project work. This will include providing regular updates on all areas of work. ▪ Keep up to date with legislation, policies and procedures and undertake appropriate training particularly with migration. ▪ Undertake cultural awareness training where appropriate and understanding of UK processes to assist the new families and individuals as they settle. The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: ▪ adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, ▪ act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, ▪ meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Personal Development Review Process, learn from experience and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, ▪ work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. ▪ meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. ▪ A priority for the Council is the protection of vulnerable people, ensuring they are able to live as independently as possible. The post-holder will promote and engage with Council's responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children, young people and adults, and protect their right to be safe from harm. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. Your primary work base will be at The Guildhall with the requirement to regularly work from home. Your post is subject to the following: ▪ The post is fixed term for 12 months, for 37 hours per week, ▪ Normal office hours are 9 - 5 Monday - Friday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. Occasional evening/night/weekend work may be required, ▪ The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. This post carries eligibility to join the Local Government Pension Scheme. Information about this will be sent with any formal offer of appointment. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is required to open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over into your next leave year but must be used by the end of March. The appointment is subject to one months' notice in writing on either side. The appointment is subject to Six months' satisfactory probationary service during which time the notice period will be one week on either side. Smoking is not allowed in Council buildings, in Council vehicles or in any Council place of work. It is a condition of your appointment that you provide a suitable vehicle for the performance of your duties and that this is readily available for use during normal working hours. You are entitled to claim for reimbursement of the costs of travel on council business at the rate of 45 pence per mile. What pre-employment checks will we undertake? The appointment is subject to receipt of the following pre-employment checks; 1. Satisfactory employment references, 2. Medical report, 3. Evidence of the qualifications required for the post/listed on your application form, This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such all applicants who are appointed to this post will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed. This check will include details of cautions, reprimands or warnings as well as convictions and non-conviction information. Once appointed, the successful applicant(s) will also be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure at pre-determined intervals during the course of their ...