First response Officer

Job description

Contract terms

Starting salary: SC6 (£36693 – £37794)
Work location: 48 Station Road, Wood Green, London, N22 7TY
Hours per week: 36 per week
Contract type: Permanent  
Closing date: Sunday, 29th November 2026 at 23:59
Expected interview date: W/c 14th December 2026

About Haringey

Haringey is a fantastic place to live and work – the world in one borough. A place brimming with creativity, personality, radicalism, and community. It is a place where we stand up for each other. A place that is proudly distinctive. We’ll be celebrating all this and more as the “rebel borough” when we are the 2027 London Borough of Culture.

Our history champions change-makers and everyday rebels; revelling in our differences, battling discrimination, championing equality, and doing things our own way. Haringey’s people are a huge asset, with knowledge, expertise, and passion. Our staff members embody our organisational values: Caring, Creative, Courageous, Collaborative and Community-focused. These values keep us looking forward, ambitious for the future, and continuously striving to do our very best for all of our residents.

About the role

You will be a first point of contact by telephone, in writing and through electronic channels. This is a busy, high-volume role where enquiries can be sensitive, complex or urgent. You will need to listen carefully, remain calm under pressure and record information accurately while managing competing demands.

• Provide clear information, advice and signposting, including to community and voluntary sector support.
• Gather information about needs, risks and desired outcomes, applying agreed Tier 1 screening criteria and procedures.
• Resolve enquiries within your authority and arrange timely, well-documented handovers to Tier 2 or specialist services.
• Recognise safeguarding concerns and escalate promptly through agreed procedures.
• Maintain accurate records on council systems, support routine referral administration and work as part of the duty rota.

About the team

Our First Response Team sits at the heart of Adult Social Care and plays a crucial role in supporting residents, carers and partner agencies. Working closely with social care teams, safeguarding services, health professionals, occupational therapists, commissioning teams and community organisations, we focus on prevention, early intervention and delivering positive outcomes for local people. This is a collaborative, supportive environment where colleagues work together to manage demand effectively, share knowledge and continuously improve the customer experience.

About you

You will have customer-facing experience in adult social care, health, housing or related public service, and experience of working effectively in a fast-paced environment. Strong communication, customer service and IT skills are essential, along with an understanding of prevention, early intervention and safeguarding.

You will be comfortable handling sensitive conversations, applying guidance and making proportionate decisions within your role. You will be committed to equality and able to adapt your communication to individual needs. Experience in a Front Door or contact centre is desirable. Familiarity with Liquidlogic is helpful, but full systems training will be given.

If you want to help people feel listened to and take the next step towards support, we would like to hear from you.

Working for Haringey

At Haringey Council we are committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included, and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce so welcome applications from all ethnicities and communities so that we continue to make a difference to our residents and community. Our benefits package includes a leave entitlement of up to 31 days + bank holidays, potential hybrid working opportunities, health and wellbeing support, a generous local government pension scheme and a range of discount schemes across leisure and culture that provide both financial and money-saving discounts.

Please note: we reserve the right to end this advert before the noted deadline if we receive sufficient applications. If you wish to apply for this role, please ensure that you do so as soon as possible.

Additionally, we are aware that automated emails may be diverted through to junk email folders. Please continue to check these through the application process. If you have any questions about the status of your application, please contact ResourcingHub@haringey.gov.uk