​I work providing the Hiss advice service. The service has developed from our face to face Hiss Drop in which was open to all twice a week. Pre-Covid the most we would see in a week was 10-15 people.  In comparison I often take 30+ calls in a week; these are all recorded on a spreadsheet.
 
Providing a frontline service such as this can mean I am often the first person the clients have spoken to about their difficult and distressing situations.
 
This is an example of my day to day work in a week.
 

• Deposit Guarantee referrals: Collating information to the deposit guarantee team. In reality, a lot supporting documents need to be included with a referral; this has taken weeks in some cases.
• A2A:  Completing A2As with clients over the phone. This can be tricky as often the clients are not in the best place (physically) to be able to answer the sensitive questions asked of them, but we do our best to work around it.  I also receive a lot of calls from clients and professionals about where people are on the waiting list, which I pass onto the A2A hub.
• Devon Home Choice: Support ranges from assisting people to re-set their passwords, registering or updating DHC.  Working with the Community Mental Health Team to support a vulnerable patient with a hope to prevent a hospital admission by accessing more appropriate accommodation. Band B awarded.  Assistance given to bid and accept offers of accommodation, which leads to…
• Making applications to the Discretionary Housing Payment for rent in advance for social housing. Applying to DHP for rent arrears and (eg) a shortfall award for a person who needs to downsize.
• Benevolent and charity applications: Applying for other funding including Vicars Relief for rent in advance for those who do not qualify for DHP.  Eg A young lady who has 2 weeks until her due date, she is having twins and has no other way to be accommodated before the birth of her babies.
• Universal Credit: Assisting clients to update their journals with rent details.  Requesting and completing mandatory reconsiderations for the limited capability for work assessments, no result as of yet…
• Environmental Health: Advocacy on behalf of a professional and their client and family regarding dangerous private rented, liaising with Environmental Health to ‘encourage’ the completion and safety of works. We will be applying to DHP to clear the arrears to improve their move on chances.
• Rough Sleeper Team: Calls from people reporting to be rough sleeping or finding a rough sleeper. Detailed location and information sent to the team for them to check the following morning.  Explanation of how the Outreach service works and what they can offer.
• Advice to professionals: Various Alliance services and other agencies contact the Advice line and it feels good to share our knowledge about what we can achieve for our vulnerable people.

 
All work completed at home, tech can be an issue, but it’s working well today

On a typical day I arrive at the office ready for 9am and check we have enough milk to keep our hard-working staff in tea and coffee throughout the day! If we’re short then I’ll go to the shop to top up.

I will then update our system with the names of any staff who are working off-site so we can track their appointments and ensure they’re safe.  After that I will update the office calendar as to who is off either on leave, training or sick.

If it is a Monday or a Wednesday I will make sure that the folders are ready for the drop-in sessions that we hold twice a week at the Harwell Centre.  The door entry buzzer will often sound numerous times a day signalling the arrival of people wanting to attend the drop-in, clients who have appointments or other visitors.  In between I will take many phone calls, which are often from people wanting advice or information so I forward them on to the relevant worker for support if it’s something I can’t answer myself. 

During the drop-in sessions I will take a form down to each client to fill in whilst they are waiting to be seen. This is a really good use of time because it means - once an advice worker is able to see someone - we can start helping them more quickly. 

I will check my emails and calendar reminders and action items as necessary throughout the day. There are certain tasks that need to be done on a schedule such as the weekly fire alarm test, setting up of the meeting room and the weekly health and safety check and there are ad-hoc tasks such as moving furniture around, fixing computer issues and dealing with any clients who come in without an appointment.  

​A typical day could also include making up bedding and tenancy packs or meeting removal men at our storage unit to unload items.

It is such a varied role that really anything could happen!