**INTERNAL APPLICATIONS ONLY**

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: SO2 £40,182 - £42,060

Contract Type: Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 19/05/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2120

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

We have a fantastic opportunity for a Senior Hostels Officer to join our Temporary Accommodation Contracts team. This role offers a genuine chance to make a positive difference to people’s lives every day.

We are looking for someone who is committed to delivering a responsive, efficient, and high-quality hostels service to our residents. This will include ensuring hostels are kept clean, appropriately serviced, and returned to a lettable condition as quickly as possible.

You will need excellent customer care skills and a strong focus on achieving the best possible outcomes for residents. As this is a busy, customer-facing service, you must be highly organised, proactive, and able to manage competing priorities effectively.

The role of Senior Hostels Officer is varied, with no two days the same, so the ability to think on your feet and adapt to changing situations is essential.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

To ensure that vacant rooms are reserviced and returned a lettable condition as soon as possible.
To manage the hostel and Regen voids relet process ensuring that relevant computer systems are updated timely.
To ensure that the hostel rooms are surrounding environment are clean and free of hazards, spillages, graffiti, abandoned items and other detritus through prompt and hygienic disposal.
To instigate actions in the case of breaches of license conditions, working with housing management in the case of Regen Voids, communicate with residents about required standards of behaviour, and enforce license conditions and restrictions regarding storage of belongings, allowing access, visitors, etc.; to maintain required signage and dispose promptly of all un-authorised and out-of-date items.
To deal effectively with enquiries from residents and matters escalated by the Building Maintenance Officers
To liaise effectively with contractors, utility companies, fire service officers and others to ensure access is granted to all properties as appropriate and standard checks are carried out and recorded
To ensure that the service maintain adequate supplies of cleaning materials, infestation products and all other supplies needed to maintain the buildings in an acceptable condition
To ensure that items of post are distributed to residents as required; to move furniture and other items between units where needed; to ensure standby rooms are available daily to the service and are in a fit condition to be re-occupied.
Promote excellent customer care.
Maintain accurate records and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
Contribute to policy, practice, and team development.
To carry out residency checks and take appropriate action in relation to abandonments, unauthorised use, and any issues raised by residents.

Qualifications and Requirements:

To be considered for this position, you should meet the following requirements:

Experience of producing reports and statistics
Experience of using Housing Management systems including Northgate (NEC) and Jigsaw system to update and record information.
Good understanding of the homelessness legislation, caselaw including welfare benefits.
Ability to guide and support the Building Maintenance Officers
Ability to interpret policies and develop working procedures. customers/residents/stakeholders
Ability to work across multiple sites ensuring cleaning and maintenance standards are maintained in every building
Ability to prioritise so that urgent tasks are completed ahead of routine tasks
Ability to communicate effectively with hostel residents and contractors to ensure the smooth running of all hostel buildings
Commitment to high standards of cleanliness and hygiene to ensure that hostel residents live in a safe and clean environment

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
Satisfactory declaration of interest;
Satisfactory DBS check;
Suitable driver’s license;
As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Chidi Egbom, Temporary Accommodation Contracts Manager at Chidi.egbom@walthamforest.gov.uk.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.