IAG Caseworker

Under the direction of the Service Manager and Team Leader, to provide an effective and efficient person-centred casework support service to disabled people, vulnerable adults and people with mental ill health. The postholder will be required to be compliant with and adhere to DRC’s contractual arrangements in place for the delivery of IAG Physical Disabilities/Neurological Conditions Service 16 Hours per week Fixed Term Contract until September 2027 Salary (16 Hours) £12,999.

08 per annum Key Tasks: To provide an effective information and advice service, comprising telephone and online enquires received via email and the website, for disabled people – vulnerable adults and people with mental ill health, working to agreed organisational & Contractual standards and ensuring that all targets and outcomes are met.

To deliver effective information and advice support by telephone, email, virtually, face to face, home visits and via outreach. To work effectively with the service commissioner and/or the lead provider and with DRC to provide high quality, impartial information and advice to clients that comply with Matrix and other organisational standards – supporting and empowering them to address presenting issues relating to housing, welfare benefits, debt, personal budgets, health, employment, access to statutory services, discrimination, and social exclusion.

To provide IAG casework to clients accessing the service. To ensure that the information and advice service stays current, and up to date with disability related legislation and policy guidance. To establish and maintain strong contacts with other partners to maintain an effective information and resource bank to support clients.

To develop DRC’s on-line information resources and ensure these are kept up to date and continue to meet clients’ needs. To provide person-centred support across a range of presenting issues relating to housing, welfare, income maximisation and welfare benefits, debt, personal budgets, grant applications, Personal Independent Payments, social care and health, safeguarding, employment, advocacy, access to statutory services, energy efficiency, discrimination and social exclusion.

To support the establishment and maintenance of external referral procedures with relevant statutory and specialist Third Sector providers to achieve positive outcomes for clients. To establish and maintain internal referral and joint working with other DRC teams and services where this is appropriate to meet client need and achieve effective outcomes.

To maintain accurate and up to date client records and statistics through DRC’s CRM system, including details of advice, casework, attendance, monitoring of progress against client action plan and SMART targets, supporting the provision of service reports and key performance indicators information to DRC’s Executive Team, , Board of Directors and funders.

Personal Specification Good standard of education including English & Maths

• Essential NVQ 3 in Information, Advice and Guidance(IAG) or willingness to complete a qualification within first 12 months of employment – Essential Degree or equivalent qualification – Desirable A minimum of 12 months’ experience working in an advice/support/legal setting with disabled people or other social excluded groups.
• Essential Proven track record of advocating on behalf of excluded groups, supporting them to achieve positive outcomes in relation to housing, welfare, debt, personal budgets, health, employment, access to statutory services
• Essential Experience of caseload management, including developing and maintaining client case files
• Essential Experience of working in a multi- faceted role within a small organisation
• Essential Proven track record of meeting targets and working to deadlines
• Essential Proven track record of networking and undertaking outreach work
• Essential Proven track record of working with disabled people
• Desirable Excellent ICT skills and the confidence to use ICT Packages to coordinate events and communications and record beneficiary data.
• Essential Awareness and understanding of equal opportunities
• Essential A clear understanding of the issues affecting disabled people and/or their families and carers
• Essential A good knowledge and understanding of housing, welfare benefits, personal budgets, education, health and social care legislation and its impact on the rights and entitlements of disabled people
• Essential A good knowledge and understanding of the support services available to the client group and referral processes to the statutory and non-statutory agencies
• Essential A good understanding of safeguarding procedures for vulnerable adults
• Essential Communicates clearly and is able to effectively remove barriers to communication – Essential
• Essential Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Essential The ability to produce correspondence, reports and written documentation using Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook
• Essential An understanding of the purpose of outcomes monitoring and project evaluation and the ability and willingness to capture outcomes data
• Essential Excellent time management skills with the ability to prioritise workload and effectively multi-task
• Essential Understanding of the Social Model of Disability – Desirable