Are you a Welsh speaker?  

Would you relish the opportunity to speak Welsh in your daily work, to provide a service to our Welsh speaking customers? 

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy and is responsible for helping people move into employment, supporting pensioners and protecting some of the most vulnerable in our society. 

We at the DWP are committed to making our workforce reflect the communities we serve and as such we are looking to add to our existing network of Welsh Speaking colleagues, by recruiting bilingual (Welsh/English) Work Coaches across Wales. 

As a bilingual (Welsh/English) Work Coach you will play a key role in making a real difference to people’s lives, particularly with those customers who choose to liaise with us in Welsh by supporting them to access DWP services.

Job description

Your role will include:  

• Having a caseload of customers for whom you will be responsible. Some will choose to correspond in English; some will choose to correspond in Welsh.
• Building positive relationships with your customers that encourage and motivate them to make the most of their work and earnings potential and become financially independent. 
• Offering advice and support to help your customers to look for work and where necessary support them to develop skills to be successful in their job search in a digital environment. i.e. job search websites, email, uploading documents etc. 
• Undertaking face to face, digital and phone discussions with customers on a daily basis, in both Welsh and English. 
• Proactively developing an in-depth knowledge of the local labour market, recognising the roles that our Partners and Employers have in helping our customers secure employment. 
• Making timely decisions, based on the needs of the customer, to refer them to appropriate support. 

 On appointment successful applicants must:

• Work on site, in person, in the Jobcentre or outreach location you are posted to.
• Work with customers face to face. Telephony and digital contact will also be an essential requirement.
• You must be able to work in a fast paced, busy environment as part of a team and independently.

The Department will provide reasonable adjustments to enable people to complete the requirements above.

Person specification

Key Criteria 

• We are looking for individuals who have B2 (speaking & listening) and B1 (reading & writing) ability in Welsh (based on the Common European Framework of Reference – CEFR). (Essential Criteria).

You should be able to conduct customer conversations with confidence and ease in both English and Welsh, be able to answer verbal enquiries as well as respond to correspondence in both languages in the customer’s journal. Written Welsh will be limited to writing brief notes or messages.

To be successful you will need to meet the standards below:

Standard of Spoken Welsh required – Candidates should be able to converse clearly and understand spoken Welsh to: 

• Discuss customers personal circumstances, work history and explore job goals 
• Explain benefits rules, requirements and decisions 
• Understand customers questions and be able to respond. 

Standard of Written Welsh required - 

• Written Welsh will be limited to writing brief notes or messages to your customers by email, text, etc. 

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,137, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £9,310 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.