Role: Referral Officer

Salary: £20,600 pro rata

Location: Exeter

Contract/Hours: Permanent 17.5 hours per week, Mon -Fri (negotiable hrs.)

This role is a Hybrid role, but we can accommodate if you would rather be office based.

Benefits: 29 days annual leave (pro-rated) PLUS bank holidays, professional qualifications, excellent training and development opportunities, flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages, up to 7% employer contribution pension, discount portal with your favorite brands.

Closing Date: Midnight on 14th of October 2022 – if we receive a high number of applications, we may have to close earlier than advertised.

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you’ll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 670,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It’s the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children’s lives.

A bit about the role

As a Referrals Officer you will build strong relationships with Local Authority Commissioners and social work teams by being dependable, responsive, and supportive. You will work in partnership to advocate for best practice when making placements and represent Action for Children’s values in your delivery. You will support our social workers and carers by providing clear and concise information and support the delivery of safe processes to ensure placements are made in line with contractual specifications.

How you’ll help to create brighter futures

  • By providing a high-quality range of administrative services to colleagues, Foster Carers, and professionals.
  • By supporting the placement of young people with our foster carers to ensure we provide safe and stable homes for our children.
  • By monitoring mailboxes and responding as required
  • By building strong relationships, Liaising with foster carers, social workers, and local authorities
  • By placing the child at the centre of placement decisions.

Let’s talk about you

Our attached job description outlines the requirements of the role but the ‘must-haves’ are:

  • Experience within an administrative role with excellent communication skills is essential.
  • To have a good understanding and experience of use of various IT systems including Microsoft Office 365 within the workplace – SharePoint, Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
  • Being able to Work as part of a team yet can work on your own using your initiative when required.
  • To have a professional yet personable approach to give the best first impression of our services.
  • The ability to maintain confidentiality, understand safeguarding responsibilities and act with discretion.
  • You will be proactive, highly motivated with a can-do attitude and the ability to work flexibly to meet changing demands.

Working here is so much more than a job. Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we’d love to hear from you.

Good to know

Application Process

There are five sections to complete: Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration.

Talent Pool

We know talent when we see it. But sometimes we find the right person but not for the right job. We’d love to keep your details for when the right job comes up. Let us know if you’d rather we didn’t.

Diversity, equality, and inclusion

At Action for Children, we’re dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children.

Male staff are under-represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles.

Don’t meet every single requirement?

Studies show that women and Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic people are less likely to apply for a job unless they meet every qualification. So, if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with the job description, we’d love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family.