What is the job role?
As Coventry City Council’s Housing Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA), you will provide specialist support to survivors of domestic abuse who are facing housing or tenancy challenges. This role involves working with individuals who may present with high‑risk or complex needs, so previous experience supporting similar client groups is essential.
Working in a fast-paced crisis intervention, advocacy and support service, you’ll ensure the voice of survivors informs every stage of the process. You will be embedded within the local authority housing team, ensuring housing professionals adopt a trauma-informed approach, can recognise the dynamics of domestic abuse and provide more holistic support.
You will:
1. Have experience providing high-quality crisis intervention, information, advocacy, and proactive support to domestic abuse victim survivors who are referred to the service.
2. Establish positive, proactive and innovative working relationships with housing services and partner agencies.
3. Assess the needs and risks of survivors, carry out short and longer-term risk management, safety planning & support, identifying and referring to services appropriate to their needs.
4. Advise clients of their rights and options for seeking help and support from other agencies.
5. Work as an advocate to raise awareness and upskill professionals within Housing.
6. Working with other domestic abuse professionals to successfully develop and deliver training.
This post has a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, paragraph 1 of the Equality Act for the successful candidate to be a female. Due to the nature of the role we are only able to accept applications from female candidates
This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for someone with an experienced background in domestic abuse services and with a knowledge of housing and homelessness or related fields. This Housing IDVA role is not an entry level role as it involves managing high‑risk cases and complex safeguarding situations. Ideally the successful candidate will have an IDVA qualification however, if you are successful and you do not currently possess one you will be required to work towards one.
You will be working with people who will have difficult and often traumatic relationships, so you will need to be empathetic and resilient, but at the same time maintain a professional calm approach.
We need someone with a strong organisational background, who will be able to advocate for their customers at all levels, from housing management and support services, through to police and the legal system.
If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our to see how we can assist you.
Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:
7. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
8. Are currently in care or have previously been in care
9. If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.
About Coventry
Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.
We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.
At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.
To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.