Universal Credit Job Centre - Work Coach - Northeast England (Ref: 780)

Job summary

This campaign has roles available in several locations. Whilst you are able to select up to 3 location preferences, this is not mandatory and you should not choose any locations you are not prepared to travel or re-locate to at your own expense. Candidates who are made an offer for any of locations they have expressed a preference for and decline or are unable to take up post within a reasonable timeframe will be withdrawn from the campaign.

Please note that these vacancies are not currently eligible for new applications for Visa Sponsorship on the Skilled Worker route, for any candidates who do not currently have permission to be in the UK as a Skilled Worker where they were sponsored before 4 April 2024, even if relying on tradeable points (including the new entrant tradeable points option) as they are not included in the published Immigration Salary List. This information is offered as guidance only, and we recommend that applicants seek specialist advice on their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship (if applicable) when considering whether to apply for any role. We can never guarantee sponsorship for any role.

About the job

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. We are the UK's biggest public service department and administer the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers.

DWP is committed to being an equal opportunities employer and we aspire to being the most inclusive employer in the United Kingdom.

The Work Coach role is rewarding, varied and complex and no two days will be the same as you will be dealing with different customers face to face and their specific support needs each day.

If you’re looking for a career that makes a clear and positive difference to people’s lives, then a DWP Executive Officer role may be an ideal for you!

About us - Department for Work and Pensions GOV.UK

Job description

As a Work Coach you hold a vital role in the Department, helping individuals and their families towards financial independence through work and enabling them to claim the support they need as they progress.

Work Coaches are customer-focused, dedicated individuals and able to deliver exceptional service with empathy and compassion to people who need their support.

As a Work Coach, you will use sound judgement to help people through some difficult, challenging times in their lives, and your tailored coaching can make a huge difference to their ability to find, stay in, and progress in a job.

If you're looking for a job that makes a clear difference to people's lives, a Work Coach role in DWP could be just what you are looking for.

Key Accountabilities

The Work Coach role is wide-ranging and diverse. You will be working with customers, employers and colleagues through a combination of face to face, digital and telephone contact daily on site in DWP estate. Some of the main activities are set out below:

• Providing support to customers claiming Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support.
• Offering quality advice to customers about job search actions, supporting them to job search effectively in a largely digital world, and matching to suitable vacancies.
• Meeting your legal duty to comply with the Equality Act 2010 and making sure your customers get the additional support and advice to help them access our services.
• Building positive relationships with customers that encourages, motivates, and builds trust.
• Developing an in-depth knowledge of local employment opportunities and the support our service partners offer.
• Making timely decisions, based on customer needs, and referring them to appropriate help and support.
• Be accountable for performance and management of your caseload.

Person specification

What we are looking for:

• Effective communication skills both verbally and in writing to a wide range of diverse customers.
• The ability to understand complex information and give clear explanations to the customer.
• You will be able to coach customers to improve their movement in to work
• You must be able to navigate a range of computer systems to action tasks as well as coach customers to. be confident using digital work search tools.
• You’ll also be required to handle telephony queries and have the ability to manage difficult situations where required in a calm and professional manner.

On appointment successful applicants must:

• You must be able to work on site, in person, in the Jobcentre location you are posted to.
• You must be able to work with customers face to face. Telephony and digital contact will also be an essential requirement.
• You must be able to work in a fast paced, busy environment as part of a team and independently.

The Department will provide reasonable adjustments to enable people to complete the requirements above.

If you’re looking for a career that makes a clear and positive difference to people’s lives, then being a Work Coach may be an ideal role for you! You can find out more and apply here .

Do you want to be part of a team where you can be yourself, feel supported, empowered, valued, respected, fairly treated and able to achieve your full potential?

If your answer is Yes. Join us!

We have exciting, challenging and rewarding roles available across DWP.

We are looking for people who are customer focused, with the right skills, commitment and capability to deliver an exceptional public service.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary, the Department for Work and Pensions contributes 28.97% towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. This means for your salary of £32,137 DWP contributes £9310.08. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

• All this is covered in DWP Employee Benefits: Discover what we offer
• Things you need to know
• Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Ability.

How we will communicate with you

Throughout the selection process we will communicate with you electronically and/or by telephone.

Please ensure you regularly check your Assessment Centre account, as well as your spam/junk email folder.

Telephone calls may show as a withheld number, it is important that you answer so that your interview can be confirmed.

Stage 1- Apply

Please complete the application form and write up to 500 words answering the following question in which you demonstrate the Success Profiles Behaviour Managing a Quality Service at Executive Officer (EO) level.

Tell me about a time when you have taken steps to improve a service whilst taking account of diverse customer needs?

You may provide evidence taken from a work situation or somewhere else, such as work experience, volunteering, in connection with a hobby. You should choose examples that enable you to describe specific things you did and clearly demonstrate the behaviour.

A NOTE ON ANONYMISATION

DWP operates an anonymised recruitment process, you should remove any personal details that could be used to identify you. This relates to name and contact details which might usually appear on your Personal Statement. Failure to do so will result in your application being withdrawn.

More information on Success Profiles and Civil Service Behaviours can be accessed by clicking the links.

Stage 2 - Selection

Situational Judgement Test

After submitting your application, you will be sent an invitation with a link to complete an online Situational Judgement Test. This is designed to test your skills for the EO role.

The Situational Judgement Test is a timed exercise designed to see how you would naturally react in situations and how you would communicate with others . It consists of multiple-choice scenarios . You do not need any knowledge or experience specific to DWP to be able to complete the exercise, nor do you need any specific knowledge or experience relating to the scenario presented. You should allow 30-45 minutes to take the test.

You must complete and submit the test by the deadline stated in your invitation. If you do not complete and submit the test before the deadline, your application will not progress.

IMPORTANT: After the test deadline, we will look at all applicant scores to decide what the job’s pass mark will be. We will consider the impact on protected groups and the number of invitations to the next stage. We may decide to raise the pass mark for the job - if so, you will be informed, and you will be told if you have passed or failed at the raised standard. Meeting the minimum test requirements for a job level is no guarantee of an invite to continue the selection process.

Sift

Those candidates who meet the minimum required test score will have their written application form evidence assessed.

Depending on application numbers we may progress all candidates who have been successful at the online test through to interview without assessing the written application evidence.

Interview

If you meet the required standard and your application is successful, you will receive an invitation to a face-to-face interview, which will be held in Newcastle, Durham and Gateshead. A number of different date and time slots will be made available for you to book onto.

While candidates will have the opportunity to book a preferred location, they must be willing to travel to attend an interview at this or an alternative location as required depending on availability of interview slots. Travel costs will not be reimbursed.

During your interview, you will be assessed against three Civil Service Behaviours (Executive Officer - EO level)

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others

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