Welfare Benefits and Money Advisor

We're looking for a passionate and enthusiastic indvidual to join the Action for Stammering Children support team!

About Action for Stammering Children

Action for Stammering Children is the national charity for children and young people who stammer, their families and the communities who support them.  

We exist to ensure that every child who stammers has the support, respect and confidence to live the life they want to lead.  

Founded in 1989, we provide support and information to young people, families and professionals; champion research into childhood stammering; and campaign for policy and societal change. 

About the role

We are looking for an individual with strong social interaction and interpersonal skills to handle enquiries to our new Stammering Support Hub. The Stammering Support Hub is a dedicated service providing reliable information, guidance and sign-posting to parents of children who stammer, young people who stammer, and health and education professionals. The Stammering Support Hub is available online 24-hours a day. This role will involve responding to enquiries from our audiences during a designated period each day.

This is not a clinical advice line and therefore clinical expertise of childhood stammering are not required for the role. Instead, we are looking for someone with enthusiasm, empathy and a commitment to ensuring children who stammer are able to access the right support for them.

This part-time role is designed to fit around other work commitments and offers a great opportunity to gain experience working with beneficiaries in the charity sector. It may be of particular interest to allied health students, teaching or speech and language therapy assistants. However, we welcome applications from anyone with a willingness to support the stammering community.

Daily working pattern

• Support team agents will work regular shift patterns between Monday and Friday (10 – 20 hours per week), to be agreed with the successful candidate.
• You will work from home using a laptop and headset.
• You will receive training to perform this role.
• There may be opportunities to extend your working hours in future.

Key responsibilities

• Acting as a reliable and approachable point of contact for our audiences with regards to the support available for children who stammer, and the services provided by Action for Stammering Children.
• Managing appointments with beneficiaries during your working hours. These appointments will involve interacting with individuals via telephone or video call.
• Responding to enquiries received via email and social media direct messaging.
• Interacting with individuals using the Live Chat function on our website.
• Sign-posting families to appropriate sources of support and information.
• Developing knowledge of local support services available across England.
• Liaising with the ASC staff team to appropriately manage enquiries.
• Remain up to date about relevant projects, events and activities offered by the charity.
• Supporting the charity in maintaining up to date records on the services available to families across the UK.

Training

Candidates are not required to have an in-depth knowledge of childhood stammering. Comprehensive training about the charity and our beneficiary group will be provided.

Person Specification

Essential

• Passion for and commitment to supporting children and young people who stammer, and their families across the UK.
• Strong social interaction and communication skills.
• Ability to interact and build rapport with a range of stakeholders.
• Ability to adapt communication style to accommodate different audiences, including a variety of age ranges, language backgrounds and communication needs.
• Confidence interacting with individuals via audio and written channels.
• Access to a quiet working environment with a stable and secure internet connection.
• Strong written communication skills.
• Self-motivation and ability to organize your time effectively during busy and quieter times for the Support Hub.

Desirable

• Previous experience handling enquiries from the public.
• Experience of working with families.
• Some understanding or experience of speech, language and communication difficulties in children.

Application deadline 25th January 2024. We may close this opportunity sooner should sufficient candidates apply.