Service Charge Officer

Service Charge Officer

Location
:
Birmingham (Home based – West Midlands)

Minimum office attendance requirement
:
Birmingham office, at least once per month, subject to business needs

Salary
: £36,213 Per Annum

Job Type
:
Full-Time, Permanent

Working Hours
: 40 hours per week (including 5 hours paid lunch break)

Basic DBS check required.

We are a national social justice charity with more than 50 years’ experience of changing lives, building stronger communities, and reducing crime. We help support, house, educate, advise, and speak out for disadvantaged young people and adults - and you could now help us make an even bigger impact going forward.

Ideally you should be experienced in setting rents and service charges in a social housing setting, preferably a supported housing environment
. If you don’t have this experience then knowledge of housing benefit regulations around charges is particularly desirable. A love for Excel and spreadsheets is a must too… you need to have at least intermediate level Excel skills and be proficient in the use of formulas, pivot tables, data analysis – these skills will be tested at interview.

Working in our Rent Setting team provides an exciting opportunity to collaborate with almost other teams across the organisation, and really get to understand the business and increase your network. The role will give you the chance to showcase your problem solving and analytical skills, while being able to make decisions to provide great service to our service users.

• Maintain a clear model and methodology for setting and reviewing rent and service charges, ensuring a full breakdown of charges and evidence base linked to the budget is produced for each property.
• Work to the annual review timeline for rent increases and be responsible for keeping that on track, ensuring that all stakeholders (internal and external) are fully aware of any deadlines and requirements.
• Liaise with Local Authorities to ensure rent charges are approved at the appropriate levels, and maximising income where rent is HB eligible.
• Manage and prioritise own workload on a day to day basis, ensuring all activities are completed to agreed timescales and requirements, including:
  • providing regular updates on the service charge and rent reviews
  • providing detailed estimates of future costs as part of budget setting and as new schemes are acquired
  • calculating budgeted expenditure against those forecasted and or actual expenditure.
  • checking contracts and budgets against the allocation of costs to actual schemes
  • reviewing exceptions within schemes and resolving issues
  • ensuring that the processes for logging invoices, coding and apportionment of costs relating to service charges are correctly managed

• At least 2 years’ experience of rent setting in a social housing environment, with an emphasis on supported housing
• (SME) on matters such as rent setting, rent standard legislation, housing benefit regulations surrounding eligible charges
• Actively contribute towards meeting team performance targets in respect of the service. Take accountability for performance targets that fall within your sphere of responsibility e.g. budgetary control and provision
• Take responsibility for committing to learning and development and actively designing actions through the appraisal and supervision process that will help improve practice and support skills

If you have a criminal record, this will not preclude your success in this role; any criminal record information will be subject to a fair and proportionate assessment. If you would like advice about applying for work with a criminal record, please contact our confidential Criminal Record Support Service on  or by email at

For any questions about the role please contact:
Jack Baxter –  Rent & Service Charge Manager