Call Taker/Worker (Emergency Duty Service)

Our Emergency Duty Service (EDS) is an out of normal office hour’s generic social work service covering Children and Adults. 

As a call taker you will

•  provide a professional response to all initial contacts made by service users and outside agencies, ensuring an appropriate response is received.
• support social work staff undertaking service user’s assessments when required.

You will be expected to cover 5pm-8am Monday-Friday and provide 24 hrs cover on a rota basis on Saturdays, Sundays and also bank holidays.

This role is fixed term for 9 months.

You will be based at Lindum House, a Staffordshire Police building and any person who is not a Police Officer or a member of Police staff is subject to NPPV (non-police personnel vetting). This post is subject such vetting and your will be required to complete a NPPV form prior to any formal offers of employment being made.

Main Responsibilities

You'll be supporting the Team Manager in the operation of the Emergency Duty Service to ensure that a high quality service is provided through covering our telephone based duty and referral service, all with a commitment to keeping children and young people safe.

You'll also be:

• The first point of contact for all initial referrals, obtaining in a calm and sensitive manner sufficient information from members of the public and other professionals so that decisions can be reached regarding the most appropriate course of action.  
• Completing Initial Referral/records to the highest of standards and ensuring relevant professionals and service users are kept informed in a timely manner and referrals are acknowledged in writing within 24hrs.
• Updating the Client Information System and the electronic Social Care record system.
• Completing appropriate checks of historical information held before then working with the team manager / coordinator to decide on the best course of action against the departments eligibility criteria.
• Provide up to date information in order to assist service users or other professionals in respect of those referrals that do not meet the criteria for further assessment.
• Support the Team Manager and coordinators on social work visits when required and Stand by Social Workers on visit/assessments when needed.

The Ideal Candidate

Working in the Emergency Duty Service requires teamwork, good organisational skills and a good level of competency using IT systems. You’ll also need:

• Good communication skills because you’ll interact with lots of people across the organisation and externally through phone, in person and email
• Good organisation skills and attention to detail, as you’ll be keeping data updated and you’ll be working to deadlines
• A flexible approach to work as sometimes things can change, and so you’ll need to be able to prioritise work and sometimes change tasks quickly
• A passion to always give the best service
• Ability to cover 5pm-8am Monday-Friday and provide 24 hrs cover on a rota basis on Saturdays, Sundays and also bank holidays

For further information about this role please contact Matthew Pepper: matthew.pepper@staffordshire.gov.uk

Interviews will be held a date to be confirmed.

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.