Social Care-Helpline Team Leader

The Helpline Team Leader is a new post which has been created following a review of the Helpline to strengthen integration between health, social care and community-based services, ensuring residents are provided with the right help as quickly as possible.

Job purpose

- Lead an effective, efficient and safe helpline for the residents of Tower Hamlets.
- Day-to-day management and leadership of a team of 4 Helpline Advisors and 3 First Response Officers.
- Be the key day-to-day contact for Tower Hamlets Connect Helpline, liaising effectively with community health and adult social services to ensure well-integrated and safe working practises and efficient and appropriate referral pathways.
- Monitor, develop and review the Tower Hamlets Connect Helpline service, ensuring quality and continuous improvement.

Main tasks

- Support and supervise the Helpline team, ensuring strong team culture and ongoing professional development.
- To oversee and co-ordinate the Helpline rota to provide sufficient cover day-to-day and during annual leave periods.
- To maintain excellent working relationships with professionals across adult social care, health and community providers to develop and deliver appropriate and proportionate skills and knowledge exchange to build and support strong integrated working practises and referral pathways.
- Act as safeguarding lead for the Helpline Team, advising colleagues and liaising with adult social services when required.
- Ensure that all information resources are appropriate, up to date and fit for purpose.
- Conduct routine quality checks on call handling, data entry and case recording across all systems and feed this into supervision and training plans.
- Gather and collate key data sets for service improvement and reporting purposes.
- Represent Tower Hamlets Connect at appropriate meetings, events and consultations as requested.
- To undertake any other duties within the competence of the post holder as may be required from time to time for the smooth running of Age UK East London.
- To undertake all duties in line with Age UK East London policies and procedures (e.g. Health & Safety, Complaints, Confidentiality, Equal Opportunities).

Person specification

Experience

- Support and supervise the Helpline team, ensuring strong team culture and ongoing professional development.
- To oversee and co-ordinate the Helpline rota to provide sufficient cover day-to-day and during annual leave periods.
- To maintain excellent working relationships with professionals across adult social care, health and community providers to develop and deliver appropriate and proportionate skills and knowledge exchange to build and support strong integrated working practises and referral pathways.
- Act as safeguarding lead for the Helpline Team, advising colleagues and liaising with adult social services when required.
- Ensure that all information resources are appropriate, up to date and fit for purpose.
- Conduct routine quality checks on call handling, data entry and case recording across all systems and feed this into supervision and training plans.
- Gather and collate key data sets for service improvement and reporting purposes.
- Represent Tower Hamlets Connect at appropriate meetings, events and consultations as requested.
- To undertake any other duties within the competence of the post holder as may be required from time to time for the smooth running of Age UK East London.
- To undertake all duties in line with Age UK East London policies and procedures (e.g. Health & Safety, Complaints, Confidentiality, Equal Opportunities).

Knowledge and Understanding

- Excellent understanding of key legislation i.e. Care Act, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act
- Excellent knowledge of both the statutory role and preventative approaches to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
- Knowledge of services available to residents and their carers in Tower Hamlets (e.g. through health service, social services, voluntary sector) and the issues affecting them.
- Knowledge of Information Access Standards.
- Understanding of confidentiality policy and practice.
- Understanding of equality and diversity in practice.
- Understanding and commitment to empowering service users and person-centred practices.

Skills/ Attributes

- Excellent IT skills and ability to problem solve across multiple systems.
- Professional and courteous manner
- An open minded and challenging approach to work with the ability to work on own initiative
- Excellent communication skills both written and verbal with the ability to tailor to diverse audiences
- Good planning and organisational skills
- Flexible, committed and conscientious

Additional requirements

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Checks.

To apply, please return the application form and the equal opportunity form to recruitment@ageukeastlondon.org.uk.

Closing date: 16th August 2022

We encourage early applications since we will evaluate applications as they come in. We may fill the post before the closing date.