A week in the life of… a welfare benefits advisor

Wednesday

It was a relatively quiet day. I continued with my training course on Universal Credit – it’s a good way to get to grips with the topic.

Phoenix was anticipating roll-out of Universal Credit in Lewisham at the end of this year, but when the crisis hit, many of our residents were moved over a lot sooner than expected. So it’s more important than ever they know that we’re here to help and that we can help them navigate through a difficult time.

Thursday

I started the day by finding out what’s happening in the world of welfare. As it’s an area that sees a significant number of policy changes, we need to fully understand how coronavirus will impact on our residents’ access to services and support. We need to know what’s going on with job centres, work commitments and when services are reopening.

Later in the morning, I helped the resident from earlier in the week with their PIP appeal. They sent me photos of their letters through WhatsApp, we read them together and made the appeal online. My colleagues would previously have done appointments like this in the resident’s home or at our community hub, The Green Man.

Friday

Today I called tenants in rent arrears to offer advice on what benefits they might be able to claim or to help them make an appointment with Citizens Advice. It’s not an easy conversation to have but most tenants understand that we’re here to help and work with them to get things back on track.

I had a Teams call with my head of service – it was an informal chat to find out how I’m getting on. I had a similar introduction with our chief executive Jim Ripley a few weeks ago. Even though I haven’t met my colleagues in person yet, I definitely haven’t felt ignored.

I tidied my notes, checked my emails and texts one last time and signed off.

Do you know an outstanding professional who deserves to be featured? Email jess.mccabe@insidehousing.co.uk with your suggestions