We are recruiting maternity cover for a role delivering information and advice to older people (60+), their families and carers on matters including benefit entitlements, housing and community care.

Age UK Lewisham and Southwark (AUKLS) aims to empower and enable older people to lead fulfilled lives. We therefore provide services and support to:

• Address poverty and isolation
• Protect local older people’s human rights
• Promote health and wellbeing
• Connect older people with their communities
• Work positively with partners across all sectors

Key tasks and responsibilities

• To deliver a high-quality Advice Case Work service for older people and carers, in particular on housing, welfare rights and community care matters.
• To interview clients in a way which enables them to express their problem and set their own priorities, whether in person or over the phone.
• To find information relevant to the client’s situation, presenting and discussing it with the client in an accessible form.
• To assist clients by calculating benefit entitlement; form filling; advising on options; and representing their interests with third parties by letter, online, telephone or in person as required.
• Inform clients about appropriate services and how to access them, including AUKLS services and, where appropriate to refer clients to other sources of help.
• To liaise with the Information and Advice Manager and work as a team alongside other paid advisers and volunteers.
• To support service reporting by keeping accurate and up-to-date files and records of interviews on the charity’s database system in line with the Information and Advice Quality Programme benchmarks and the Advice Quality Standard.
• To work as part of, and respond to referrals from, our Community Connections service and other colleagues.
• Develop and maintain relationships with external organisations and bodies, working in partnership with both the voluntary and statutory sector to deliver excellent advice services for older people in both boroughs.