Social Care Direct Advisor

Social Care Direct Advisor

Permanent, Part Time

£25,959 to £28,621 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Operational field-based worker

Closing Date:14th April 2026 

Social Care Direct Adviser

Permanent, Part Time – 25 hrs per week

5 hours per day Monday-Friday 7am-12 noon (These hours are not negotiable or flexible)

£25,959 to £28,621 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Due to the time of the shifts, it is required that you drive and have access to a car.

The Role

Responding to enquiries and requests for information and advice from service users, carers, agencies, medical, care and professionals and members of the public and undertaking a telephone assessment between 7am-9am. From 9am-12 noon general admin to include handing over to day services and support for the EDS team.

Job Purpose

To provide a prompt and efficient response to service users within Adult and Children's services, carers, agencies, medical care and professionals, giving information advice. Carrying out general admin duties.

If you’re ready to bring your skills, compassion, and energy to a team that’s changing lives, we’d love to hear from you.

To read more about us please visit: Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

Key Accountabilities

• Using specialist knowledge and judgement on Adult and Carer services available within Social Care, including the application of Fair Access to Care criteria, to give high quality advice.
• Identifying and responding to urgent or critical situations by passing referrals, via agreed fast-track procedures, to the appropriate professional teams.
• To support the development of other team members by participating in learning activities such as one-to-one coaching or work shadowing.
• Taking personal responsibility for providing accurate and up-to-date information and advice to callers on Social Care policies and services, including eligibility criteria, and services provided by other statutory, private and voluntary agencies.
• Ensuring that all information is recorded accurately and is entered onto the appropriate database.
• Ensuring that all information recorded complies with data recording legislation and guidance, captures all data required for performance indicators, and is in a format or style which allows it to be transcribed on the appropriate system.
• Taking personal responsibility for participating in training to update knowledge on the full range of systems and databases used by Emergency Duty Team (EDT).
• Continuously updating own and sharing new information with colleagues on eligibility criteria, and the Social Care Policies, including the range of services provided by Social Care and other Statutory, Private and Voluntary agencies.
• Representing EDT on project and consultation groups where appropriate and to ensure any knowledge and information is shared with colleagues.
• Actively contributing to own personal professional development, and to the developing role of EDT Advisors across all specialisms.
• The duties of the post may be changed and/or varied to meet changing circumstances at the discretion of the EDT Manager.

Skills and Knowledge

• Good general level of education, including English and Mathematics at GCSE grade A - C, or demonstrably equivalent abilities.
• Customer Service NVQ or equivalent experience/ability
• European Computer Driving License (ECDL) or equivalent experience/ability
• Experience of working in a local authority setting and/or Customer Services role.
• Experience of communicating by telephone and electronically recording information.
• Working in a setting with direct customer contact.
• Giving information and advice to customers by telephone.
• Knowledge and experience of administrative and clerical processes.
• Detailed knowledge and working experience of IT systems including Word and a customer database.
• Awareness of Health & Safety at work
• Knowledge of requirements of Caldicott, GDPR and Freedom of Information.
• Achievement of agreed objectives
• Specialist knowledge to be able to handle calls involving children at risk and Vulnerable Adults.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. More information can be found on https://www.workingforessex.com/benefits

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.

If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please contact the Resourcing Team on 0333 013 5888.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you. 

In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR)) on our careers site

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Further details can be found on our careers page.

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