Outreach Officer -Benefits and Housing Needs Officer

12 Months Fixed Term Contract / Secondment Opportunity

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.

One of our core goals is increasing residents’ income by tackling benefits under-claiming in the borough. Here To Help assesses applications for the new Crisis and Resilience Fund – this means, assessing incoming applications for immediate help, plus working with residents on longer term help to improve their financial resilience.

The Outreach Team is one of three teams within Here To Help. Rather than requiring residents to come to us, we work with community organisations to do outreach work in different settings. As an Outreach Officer, you will go to these places every week and provide advice and support to residents on how Hackney Here To Help can help them.

Two Outreach Worker posts are available. One post needs to be full time but there is scope for the other post to be offered on a part time basis.

The main responsibilities of the Outreach Officer role are

– Attending community events at venues across the borough, to offer benefits advice, assess for immediate financial support and engage residents in longer term financial resilience.

Handling incoming case work, particularly focused on the following

– general help to apply for benefits

– assessment of Crisis and Resilience Fund applications (this will be mainly urgent daily living costs and home goods)

– assessing and awarding home goods

– facilitating time sensitive removals

– Ensuring casework systems are maintained with up to date case and decision information

The outreach team is an essential part of putting Hackney’s commitment to reducing poverty and its Poverty Reduction Framework into operational action.

– 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.

– Understand benefits entitlement regulations and have experience in helping residents apply for benefits.

– Able to attend in-person outreach sessions at venues across the borough, occasionally outside of standard working hours, where the rota of attendance at outreach events will change from week to week

– Strong time management ability, in order to assess a high rate of incoming applications across several discretionary support schemes

– Able to navigate relevant systems including Academy, Comino, Jigsaw and LIFT

– Able to be flexible, work independently and take a problem solving approach when working with residents and on different types of cases

– 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)

More information can be found in our attached supporting documents.

As a Council, our most outstanding asset is our staff, who are highly dedicated to serving our residents and committed to our goals as an organisation.

If you want to work in a place where you can represent our values so we achieve the best for our residents, please click on the apply button below.

We operate a fair and open anonymous selection process. Therefore, we do not accept supporting statements or CV’s.

To proceed with your application, you will need to create an account and submit your application.

As part of the application process, you will need to complete a number of competency based questions. These questions allow you to demonstrate your suitability for the role and provide examples of your skills, knowledge and experience outlined in the job description.

We understand the benefits of using AI in the workplace. However, if you are thinking of using this tool to submit your application, we ask you to think about what value it will add. AI tools tend to lack the personal touch and authenticity we value in candidates. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

This application process replaces a supporting statement.

This post is subject to an Enhanced DBS Check

Prior to applying for a vacancy for a secondment opportunity, please liaise with your line manager and inform them of your interest in applying for the role.

Closing date for applications: 27 May 2026 (22:59)

Interview and assessment date: W/C 15 June 2026

We are also working towards our vision, which is to be a place for everyone; where residents and staff can be proud; a place that celebrates diversity and where everyone can feel valued, included and involved. In order to achieve this, we look for people who are: Proud; Ambitious; Pioneering; Open; Proactive; Inclusive.

Hackney Council works to eradicate discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also recognise that people can be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will also work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. We also welcome those interested in flexible working. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people, as this group is currently under represented in our workforce.

The Council has a dedicated employment support service (Hackney Works), which offers Hackney residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you are thinking about applying for a job, please contact the Hackney Works team to find out what support is available: hackneyworks@hackney.gov.uk