Job Introduction
Role: Head of Advice & Benefits – maternity cover
Salary: PO10 - £84,042 - £89,274 (pay award for 26/27 pending)
Start date: 1st August 2026 – 12 month fixed term contract
Location: Hybrid Working, with office location being The Woolwich Centre, Woolwich, SE18 6HQ
Closing date: Monday 15th June
Interviews: Expected to be scheduled Monday 22nd June
About the role
We are looking for an experienced and strategic leader to join us as Head of Advice & Benefits (maternity cover), leading our ambitious Advice & Benefits Service.
This is a high-impact senior role where you will drive our borough-wide approach to financial inclusion, advice services and highly performing benefit assessment functions. You will play a key part in preventing financial hardship, reducing poverty, and ensuring residents can access the support and entitlements they need—before crises escalate.
You’ll lead a large service with a strong senior management team in place, working across council teams and with partners including the NHS, DWP and the voluntary sector, to deliver a modern, integrated and resident-focused system of support.
What you'll be doing
- Provide strategic leadership for advice, welfare rights and welfare policy across the borough
- Deliver the Greenwich Supports Strategy, driving early intervention and coordinated, multi-agency support
- Shape and lead a borough-wide financial inclusion model, maximising income and benefit uptake
- Oversee key services including:
- Welfare rights and money advice
- Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support
- Discretionary and crisis funds
- Benefit assessment and recovery
- Lead on service modernisation and digital transformation, using data and insight to improve outcomes
- Manage significant budgets and ensure strong financial stewardship and value for money
- Build and maintain strong partnerships across health, housing, government and the voluntary sector
- Provide visible leadership to a workforce of up to 100 staff (including 6 direct reports)
You can find out more about our Greenwich Supports strategy here: royalgreenwich.gov.uk/greenwich-supports-strategy
About you
We are looking for a confident, credible leader with:
- Significant experience in a welfare related role
- Strong understanding of social security legislation and/or policy
- A proven track record of strategic leadership and service transformation
- Experience managing resident facing services, large teams and substantial budgets
- The ability to build effective partnerships and influence across organisations
- A passion for reducing inequality and improving residents’ financial wellbeing
You’ll be collaborative, forward-thinking and committed to delivering high-quality, equitable services for diverse communities.
This is a maternity cover position, looking to start from August 2026.
For an informal discussion please contact Corin Hammersley at Corin.Hammersley@royalgreenwich.gov.uk.
Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.
Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated.
Early Advert Close: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any job advert earlier than the advertised closing date where there is reason to do so (for example high volume of applications).
How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statements addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statements section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.
Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this 'Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.
Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.
