***THIS JOB VACANCY HAS NOW CLOSED***
Contract Type: Permanent
Full time: 37.5 hours per week
Salary: £31,502 Plus £4,000 London Allowance
Working Pattern: Monday to Friday
Location: Timber Wharf, Hackney
Applications may close before the deadline, so please apply early to avoid disappointment
For your application to be considered please ensure you complete and attach alongside your CV a supporting statement detailing in a few sentences why you have applied and feel you are a suitable candidate for this role
Op FORTITUDE is the newly established pathway to end veteran rough sleeping in the UK. The Op FORTITUDE Pathway Team will play a central role in achieving this by creating the links between the veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness and the organisations that can provide them the support they need.
The difference you’ll make
You will be responsible for the operational delivery of the National Op FORTITUDE referral Pathway, ensuring that it achieves its mission of ending veteran homelessness.
This role will be incredibly rewarding. You and your team will change the lives of veterans affected by homelessness across the country on a daily basis.
Making this happen is all about people – as you’ll also be managing the broad range of relationships needed to achieve this.
Part of this will be reporting to the Op FORTITUDE Pathway Governance Group on Pathway performance and acting as an ambassador for Riverside and Op FORTITUDE across the veteran and homelessness sectors.
So, who are you?
If you would like to join us as we aim to end veteran homelessness this is the role for you.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a team that will make a significant and meaningful difference to the lives of veterans in the UK.
While desirable, being a member of the Armed Forces Community is not essential.
If you have a passion for the mission, the ability to create excellent working relationships, and an understanding of the causes and solutions to homelessness, then you could be ideal for this role.
Enjoy the rewards
Working with us, you’ll enjoy competitive pay, 28 days holidays plus bank holidays, a wide range of benefits, flexible working, and the chance to learn valuable new skills. We empower our people to do great work by investing in learning, personal development, and technology.
If you’re the kind of person that wants to do a really great job and make a difference to our customers, we think you’ll love it here. Sound like a challenge you’d like to take on? Then get in touch and let’s talk about how you can help us transform lives and revitalise neighbourhoods.
We encourage applicants from all sections of the community so that we can truly reflect the neighbourhoods in which we work.
Role Profile
You will be responsible for the operational delivery of the national Op FORTITUDE Referral Pathway, that is a government funded referral service that supports veterans who may be rough sleeping or are at risk of homelessness ensuring that it achieves its mission of ending veteran rough sleeping.
You will provide motivational leadership to empower and engage your team to deliver an outstanding service to put customers first and empower them to achieve their goals and aspirations.
Role requires you to:
- Manager and embed the referring pathway strategy and work with Homeless Link to deliver the referral service through the appropriate portals to ensure an effective referring service.
- Manage and embed the accommodation strategy with stakeholders, by creating a single database of veteran supported housing services where providers can provide information on their services and accommodation choices, which enables the Pathway team and veterans to seek safe and suitable accommodation opportunities to suit their short term or long-term needs.
- Ensure the Pathway referral process, criteria and support mechanisms are embedded and manage the performance to ensure the Pathway meets contractual targets and objectives.
- Be responsible for delivering the Pathway and maintaining effective working relationships with the Op FORTITUDE Pathway Governance Group members.
- Ensure the Pathway database for both veterans and accommodation suppliers are meaningful, updated and ensure the data is quality driven and meets Pathway objectives.
- Identify and continuously develop relationships and networks with a range of stakeholders, including housing providers to identify pathways to plan and deliver positive move-ons, other supporting agencies, grant giving bodies or other third sector support services to assist with tenant sustainability.
- Arrange the quarterly Op FORITUDE Pathway Governance meetings, collating, preparing and presenting quarterly reports on overall Pathway performance.
- Prepare quarterly reports on overall Pathway performance for the Office for Veteran Affairs (OVA), the Minister for Veteran Affairs and the Veterans’ Advisory Board.
Internally:
- Assist the Group Veteran lead in the development and delivery of the 2023/26 Veterans and Armed Forces Strategy.
- Assist the Group Veteran Lead in developing and embedding the Veteran Champion network.
Externally:
- Actively build positive relationships with all key stakeholders by attending forums, tasks groups and networking events to promote and act as an ambassador for Riverside externally on veteran issues.
Leading and engaging a team:
- Line manage a team and create a safe environment where colleagues can talk openly and honestly.
- Work together to set expectations and performance targets.
- Hold regular ‘Conversations that count’ sessions with your direct reports to reflect on achievements, performance, development, career aspirations and support individual personal wellbeing.
- Facilitate regular team meetings to update and empower your team to share ideas and best practice.
- Embrace reflective practice techniques so the team can learn from their experiences.
- Recognize, praise, and acknowledge the achievements of colleagues and team.
- Build effective partnerships with regional and other colleagues across Riverside, participating in wider initiatives.
Leading a service:
- Manage the Pathway to ensure effective operation by meeting targets and objectives of the Pathway criteria, to deliver excellent outcomes for customers.
- Participate in the setting and management of the Pathway budgets, monitoring spending by accessing the finance system and reporting budget variances to the budget holder.
- Recruit great people for your team, resource, plan and deliver a colleague rota that covers the Pathway effectively.
- Devise, plan and deliver comprehensive induction and continuous development plans for all colleagues.
- Be responsible for cash handling, ordering goods, administration of monthly timesheets, raise and approve invoices through accurate record keeping.
- Produce reports and other written documentation as required to support contract delivery.
- Ensure compliance with health and safety legislation and other regulatory obligations, assessing risk, putting in control measures and reporting risks.
- Work with customers and colleagues to deliver the objectives within Riverside’s corporate plan.
- Monitor the out of hours service that is delivered from supported housing colleagues
Supporting customers:
- Lead your team to provide a person centred, service for customers in line with our psychologically and trauma informed approach and where relevant support veterans with complex needs in securing suitable and safe accommodation.
- Promote the highest levels of customer consultation, co-production, communication and partnership working in all aspects of service delivery.
- Involve and engage customers in the design and delivery of all aspects of the service, including encouraging participation in internal audits.
- Work with your team to continuously identify and build relationships with community resources and promote multi-disciplinary working to enhance the service for customers.
- Guide your team to record customer information on Riverside and relevant local or external digital platforms, ensuring information is clear, accurate and strengths based.
Other Information
- You will be required to work flexibly to meet customer and business needs, which may include out-of-hours working and participating in an ‘on-call’ rota.
- Undertake regular training and take responsibility for continuous development to enable you to deliver your role safely.
- Use the Lone Worker system as and when necessary.
- Carrying out all of your duties within Riverside’s Policy and Procedure framework e.g. health & safety, safeguarding, dignity at work, GDPR, cash handling, etc.
- Deliver your role in line with Riverside company values – “Our Riverside Way”.
- Participate in team meetings, attend regular supervisions and reflective practice sessions.
- From time to time you may be required to undertake additional duties and responsibilities in consultation with your Line Manager.
Person specification
Knowledge, Skills and Experience:
Essential:
- Experience of leading an operational service or referral programme.
- Track record of delivering innovative service solutions.
- Understanding of the needs of vulnerable veterans experiencing homelessness
- Able to work in partnership and communicate with other people to reach positive outcomes.
- Able to organize tasks and plan accordingly.
- Be a team player with a caring, flexible, resilient, can-do attitude.
- Able to use initiative and have confidence to make decisions.
- Competent and accurate administrative and IT skills.
Desirable:
- Personal lived experience of serving in the forces or of homelessness.
- Experience of leading a team.