Early Help Advisor

• 26 days’ holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years’ service (prorated for part time staff)
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave 
• A generous local government salary related pension  
• Up to 5 days of carer’s leave and 2 paid volunteering days per year  
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave 
• An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing  
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources 
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping 
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents. 

This role has a starting salary of £31,659 per annum for working 36 hours per week.

We are excited to be hiring a new Early Help Hub Advisor to join our Early Help Hub team within the East Surrey Children's Single Point of Access (CSPA) Team. We are dedicated to the recruitment and development of employees who are passionate about supporting and safeguarding vulnerable children and families.

We support hybrid working with the right balance. We come together in person for 1 day per week on average and support working from home the rest of the time.

The CSPA is an exceptionally busy service providing a critical response to the County’s children and families who need help, protection and support. The Early Help Hub has the objective of directing children and families to early and preventative support services whenever safe and possible to do so. Our team consist of Early Help Advisors who bring a diverse range of experience across the span of children and family services.

You will work as part of a well-supported team consisting of a social work qualified team manager and advanced practitioner alongside other Early Help Advisors and social workers. You will be provided with regular guidance and support inclusive of regular case review and reflection, supervision, and support from colleagues who have a diverse range of experience and specialisms.

The role primarily consists of screening contacts within the CSPA which includes:

• Prioritising and undertaking screening for families with a diverse range of support needs and degree of safeguarding concerns.
• Providing less experienced colleagues with advice and guidance on screening if needed, as well as support with formulating child focused and professionally curious actions to aid practitioners with undertaking screening duties.
• Providing advice and guidance to the public and partner agencies on suitable support services in the community.
• Working directly with children and families via clear communication and in a respectful, professional manner.
• Working effectively with multi agency partners and internal colleagues in a clear and respectable manner, inclusive of seeking information and informing agency partners of outcomes.
• Conducting information sharing in compliance with legislation and under the principle of consent.
• Identifying and escalating any safeguarding concerns or potential safeguarding concerns to management as appropriate for timely threshold outcome.
• Maintaining clear, concise, accurate and up to date recordings on the appropriate internal recording systems within the parameters of Data Protection and Council Policies. 
• Prioritising workload to ensure families have the most timely response, we strive to ensure each family have an outcome within 24-48 hours.

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills and align with our behaviours:

To apply, we request that you submit a CV and you will be asked the following questions: 

1. Please describe your relevant qualifications (e.g., Level 3 in Education, Social Care, or a related field) and/or your experience of directly supporting children and families. Include examples of how you have responded to safeguarding concerns in your previous roles.
2. What is your understanding of the role and purpose of the Children’s Single Point of Access (CSPA), and how does this relate to the principles of Early Help?

An enhanced DBS ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’ check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children’s and Adults’ Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description and our Life at Surrey handbook to get an insight into working at Surrey.

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment. For an informal discussion please contact Louise Makem via email at louise.makem@surreycc.gov.uk.

The job advert closes 1st November 2026 with interviews planned to follow.

Please note that the successful applicant must be available to commence employment on or before 31st January 2027.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Surrey County Council is undergoing Local Government Reorganisation and will move to new authorities in April 2027. This role is currently employed by Surrey County Council and will remain so until then. If you are employed by Surrey County Council on 1 April 2027, your employment will transfer under TUPE arrangements to one of the new councils, with your current terms and conditions protected. The provisional allocation for this post is East Surrey Council, subject to final confirmation through the wider transition process later this year. Please see more information here: Information for applicants on Local Government Reorganisation - Surrey County Council.

We are a disability confident employer which means if you have shared a disability on your application form and have evidenced you meet the minimum shortlisting criteria as displayed on the advert, we guarantee you an interview.  

Your skills and experience truly matter to us. From application to your first day, we’re committed to supporting you with any adjustments you need, we value inclusion and warmly welcome you to join and help build a workplace where everyone belongs.

• BM-2019-269 - PS6 - Early Help Advisor.pdf - Early Help Advisor - Job Description

Contract: Permanent N/A