Welfare Rights Officer

Welfare Rights Officer Widnes, Cheshire (Hybrid Working) £24,148 (pro rata) £40,246 FTE Permanent, Part Time - 3 days per week (22.2 hours total) Flexibility Available At Halton Housing, we're looking for a part-time customer-focused Welfare Rights Officer to join our team and help improve people's lives. This is a rewarding role where you'll support customers to maximise their income, access benefits they're entitled to, manage financial challenges, and sustain their tenancies. You'll work with a wide range of people, providing practical advice, guidance, and advocacy to help them achieve greater financial stability and independence. What you’ll do

• Support customers with welfare benefit claims, applications, and appeals, helping them access the financial support they're entitled to.
• Provide money advice and tailored support to help customers maximise income, manage household finances, and maintain their tenancies.
• Identify debt, affordability, and financial wellbeing issues, offering advice, referrals, grant application support, and signposting to specialist services where appropriate.
• Manage a varied caseload, guiding customers from initial enquiry through to successful outcomes while maintaining accurate records.
• Build trusted relationships with customers, colleagues, local authorities, the DWP, and partner organisations to achieve the best possible outcomes.
• Promote financial inclusion services across the organisation and wider community, helping to raise awareness and increase customer engagement.
• Stay up to date with developments in welfare benefits, housing, and financial inclusion to ensure customers receive accurate and effective advice. What you’ll need: We're looking for someone with the passion and skills to help customers improve their financial wellbeing. You'll ideally have:
• Experience providing welfare benefits, money advice, financial inclusion, debt advice, tenancy sustainment, or similar customer support services.
• Experience managing a varied caseload and maintaining accurate records using case management or customer relationship systems.
• Knowledge of welfare benefits, Universal Credit, housing-related support, or a willingness and ability to quickly build expertise in this area.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive relationships with customers, colleagues, and external partners.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to understand customers' individual circumstances to identify practical solutions.
• Good organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and achieve positive outcomes.
• Confidence analysing information, maintaining records, and producing reports where required.
• A customer-focused approach, with a genuine desire to make a difference and improve people's lives. What You’ll Get:
• 30 day holiday entitlement (increasing to 33 days after 3 years’ service), plus bank holidays
• Opportunity to buy or sell holidays
• Competitive salary
• Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Flexible and Hybrid working
• Supported training and development opportunities
• Health and Wellbeing Cash Plan
• Competitive Pension Scheme Why Halton Housing? At Halton Housing, our purpose is Improving People's Lives. We're looking for people who share our values:
• We are Honest – we build trust through openness, integrity and accountability.
• We are Dynamic – we embrace change, seek opportunities and continually improve.
• We Care – we put people first and make a positive difference to our customers, colleagues and communities. If this sounds like you and you're looking for a role where you can make a real difference, we'd love to hear from you. Interview Date: 22nd September 2026 We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible