Information, Advice & Guidance Duty Officer

Avenues is a place where people smile, laugh and grow - and achieve extraordinary things.

Our charity runs specialist services for autistic people, people with learning disabilities, acquired brain injuries and complex needs. We work across Hampshire, South East England, London, Hertfordshire, East Anglia and Shropshire.

We are pleased to offer a brand new opportunity for a part time Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Duty Officer to join our IAG team.

We are offering hybrid working and so the role will be based 2 days a week at either our Autism Hampshire subsidiary office in Whiteley or the Bitterne Hub in Southampton, as well as working from home. The role is 30 hours per week to be worked over 4 days or 5 days per week depending on the applicants' preference. We are looking for some level of flexibility to be able to cover annual leave within the team.

In this role you will support the Information, Advice and Guidance Team in successfully achieving the delivery of a first-class service to families, individuals and professionals pre, during and post autism diagnosis.

• To be the first point of contact for all new referrals from families, professionals and external agencies through the helpline, email inbox.
• Work with the Business Support Administrator to ensure enquiries are delegated to the appropriate team member.
• To ensure all safeguarding incidents are dealt with immediately by raising with the IAG officers and Service Manager and reported
• To assist within the organisation of promotional events relating to booking arrangements, confirming guest speakers, resources, promotional materials, and attend such events when required.
• To maintain an accurate and up to date referral record system relating to all contacts received and established.
• To support the Service Manager and Bid team with statistics for any new tenders.
• Ensure that all methods of communication are checked on a daily, regular basis and ensure that all communication and messages are dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner and in accordance with GDPR compliance.
• To attend meetings and minute-take as and when required.
• To ensure awareness and knowledge of current Community Projects so that cover and information can be provided in the absence of any of the Information, Advice and Guidance Team members.

Our ideal candidate looks like this!

• Proven office administration experience/skills
• Proven history of working with neurodivergent people and their families.
• An understanding of challenges faced by autistic people and/or people with learning disabilities and other neurodivergent conditions
• Ability to develop and maintain excellent relationship building skills at all levels inside and outside Avenues group.
• An understanding / knowledge of safeguarding vulnerable adults, confidentiality and GDPR.
• IT literate, with a good understanding of Microsoft Office including Microsoft Teams.
• Ability to work well and build relationships with a wide range of people.
• 4 GCSE's or equivalent including Maths and English
• Autism Pathway training or willing to work towards.
• A commitment to the mission, vision and values of Avenues and Autism Hampshire.

Please refer to the role profile for full requirements of responsibilities, experience, skills and knowledge needed to be considered for this role.

Why join us?

We are committed to supporting our employees to achieve a good work-life balance and support flexible working including working from home.

We encourage our central services employees to really get to know the organisation and to spend time visiting services, meeting people we support, their families and our support staff.

You'll be part of an organisation that takes pride in its values at all levels, making sure the people we support are at the forefront of our decisions.

We value the differences that a diverse workforce brings and are committed to inclusivity and to employing and supporting a diverse workforce so we would love to hear from anyone who feels is able to take those opportunities to the next level.

As part of our commitment to the "Disability Confident Scheme", candidates who declare a disability, and meet the key criteria for this role, will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at interview stage.

Benefits you can expect!

• Flexible Working including working from home.
• 31 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays (pro-rata), increasing after to 2 years' service and after 5 years' service.
• Access to high quality training that supports your career development.
• Free and confidential 24/7 access to the health portal and employee assistance programme.
• Contributory pension scheme with life assurance.
• Recommend a friend scheme.
• And more.

Don't miss out on this great opportunity - we are looking forward to hearing from you today!

(We reserve the right to close this advert earlier than stated in case of any unforeseen circumstances or if the right candidate has been found.)