Maidstone Borough Council Jobs | 1 Live Vacancy

About Maidstone Borough Council

Maidstone Borough Council is the district authority for the county town of Kent, in the South East of England, serving the town of Maidstone and the surrounding villages of the Weald and the Medway valley. Its main offices are at Maidstone House on King Street, with the housing service based at Trinity on Church Street in the town centre. The council describes itself as a confident, ambitious organisation with a strong track record of innovation, and it sets out five values for its staff: work together, respect everyone, develop and grow, make a difference, and care.

Housing and homelessness services

The council's housing service supports anyone who is homeless or likely to lose their home within 56 days. Officers assess each case, apply the prevention and relief duties and agree a personalised housing plan setting out what the council will do and what the applicant needs to do. Dedicated phone lines cover urgent housing help and people with no safe place to sleep that night, and specialist pathways exist for veterans, care leavers, prison leavers and 16 and 17 year olds. Public bodies can use a duty to refer route to flag people at risk.

Maidstone is unusual among district councils in owning and managing its own temporary accommodation, including Aylesbury House and Magnolia House, and it collects rent directly from households placed in temporary accommodation and on its Gypsy and Traveller sites. Council reports describe plans to expand on the success of Aylesbury House by acquiring further temporary accommodation in the borough. The service also operates a Private Sector Leasing scheme that brings privately owned homes into use for homeless households, a Homefinder deposit assistance scheme, the housing register, renting advice and housing standards enforcement. The council says it is committed to eliminating rough sleeping and has a dedicated outreach team that residents and agencies can contact directly, with concerns also routed through StreetLink.

Working for the council

Maidstone has developed a highly flexible hybrid working policy alongside flexi-time and flexible working arrangements, with the stated aim of improving wellbeing and productivity. Staff receive a generous holiday entitlement that increases after five years of local government service, with the option to buy extra leave and an additional three days to close the offices between Christmas and New Year. Employees join the Local Government Pension Scheme with life assurance of three times salary, and benefits include free parking, an Employee Assistance Programme, a season ticket loan, a lease car salary sacrifice scheme, Cycle to Work, an annual flu vaccine, staff discounts, payment of professional fees where needed and invitations to staff wellbeing events. The council is a Disability Confident employer.

Typical roles

The recruitment portal carries a Housing category, and typical vacancies include housing options and homelessness prevention officers, temporary accommodation officers and scheme staff, rough sleeper outreach workers, private sector leasing and lettings officers, housing register and allocations staff, tenancy sustainment and support workers, and housing standards officers.

• Location: Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, Kent ME15 6JQ (housing service at Trinity, 20 Church Street, ME14 1LY)
• Contact: 01622 602000 (housing enquiries 01622 602440; outreach@maidstone.gov.uk)
• Pension: Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)