Behind the job ad

The job: Housing advice manager

The employer: Citizens Advice Bureau, Peterborough

“Busy”

Peterborough has a fairly dire lack of social housing: 7500 people are on the waiting list for social housing, so it’s quite a pressurised area to work in. There’s great variety because we see all comers and we’re never sure what’s going to happen day to day. It’s difficult to plan because clients tend to leave things to the last minute, like coming in the day before a court hearing to seek representation.

“a range of issues”

We focus on homelessness and we’re in a dispersal area for asylum seekers. This brings additional challenges because as people get refugee status, they expect to get housing, but they’re not a priority. The job also runs the whole gamut of issues from notices seeking possession to evictions, housing disrepair and nuisance.

“complex casework”

You will need to be a technical expert on housing law and have done advocacy because there will be representational work. Ideally, we’d have someone from the not-for-profit sector because local authority people’s knowledge tends to focus on assured tenancies – their wider knowledge of housing law is not always as great.

“manage a team”

You will need the people skills to manage and motivate a team of two specialist workers and a part-time administrator who work under a lot of pressure. We’re looking for someone with a track record of doing something similar before – probably someone who’s a housing manager now. We have two major contracts, with Peterborough council and the Legal Services Commission, so we’re not going to take a gamble on this post.

Salary: £24,001

Holiday is between 20 and 25 days a year and goes up every year. We’re not expecting to attract people who are purely motivated by money. But we have a fairly relaxed and supportive working environment and I can put my hand on my heart and say you’re putting something back into the local community.

Deadline: 25 January