Internal Only - Senior Traveller Sites Officer

Working within The Corporate Traveller Services Unit, you will support in the successful management of the Council’s two authorised sites at Patchway ( Highwood Road) and Winterbourne (Northwood Park. You will develop, promote and deliver positive policies and procedures for the benefit of the travelling community.

This is a front-line post with the overall aim of working to ensure that travellers and their families thrive on the Council’s authorised sites and across South Gloucestershire and has a significant education and training role in ensuring that the legal status of the travelling community and the rights and duties to which they are entitled are recognised, understood and supported including finance, housing, education, health and welfare.

What will you be doing?

• Supported by the Traveller Sites Manager, you will have the responsibility for the day-to-day supervision of the Council’s authorised traveller sites, monitoring compliance with pitch agreements and the collection of miscellaneous rent, charges and to account for all monies collected including the collection of arrears.
• You will make regular inspections, determine maintenance requirements and monitor security of the sites and supervise contractors as appropriate, you will also review existing risk assessments, develop and promote new site policies and procedures.
• As a first point of contact you will signpost and support travellers to access council services to facilitate their inclusion and entitlement and to access advice, assistance and information and to give assistance with completion of forms e.g. Housing Benefit and drafting letters. You will act as a critical link between the Site residents and various Council Departments (e.g. housing, education, welfare, legal etc).
• You will coordinate information to provide an informed response to enquiries and complaints from and about the Sites and provide responses to enquiries and complaints, recording and resolving complaints and reporting to the Manager those issues not able to be resolved.
• In the role you will oversee vacancy management and provision of information to the Homechoice team to assist with the allocation of pitches, monitoring and reporting unauthorised activity (including unauthorised entry) on the Sites. You will offer support to manage evictions from the Sites as directed, which will include evictions from authorised sites, and from unauthorised encampments and liaising with the police, partner agencies, members, officers, Parish & Town Councils and Council service departments.
• Assisting with the management of unauthorised encampments you will offer a liaison and mediation role with partner agencies and the public, ensure that encampments are physically safe with minimum impact on the surrounding community whilst safe guarding the welfare of the site inhabitants.

• You must have experience of working with Traveller and Gypsy community groups and have excellent interpersonal skills.
• We require you to have a good standard of numeracy, literacy, IT and record keeping skills
• To be successful in the role you will have the ability to work under pressure in a front-line post, with people in a challenging environment.
• It is essential that you have a clear understanding of the principles and practical application of equalities, inclusion and safeguarding and have a commitment to the highest standards of professional integrity.
• In this role you require a valid driving licence.

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.

• We’re building and shaping communities which people are proud of
• We’re providing essential services across our communities to ensure they are safe and well maintained.
• We’ve achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.

We’remaking a difference, be part of it!