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Helpline Call Handler

Introduction

At Age UK Bristol, we want to change the way we age. We aim to keep people aged 55+ well and active, encouraging Bristol to be an Age Friendly city. We do this in 3 ways - through providing practical help and supporting people’s emotional and physical wellbeing in a range of ways depending on their needs.  In addition, we want to prevent people from needing our help wherever possible.  We do this in our strategic work, where we aim to create the conditions for older adults to remain healthy and independent. 

Our organizational objectives are to:

  • Provide top-quality services and support to all older people in Bristol.
  • Lead and enable collaboration between other organisations working with older people in Bristol.
  • Influence public spending and policies in a way that benefits older people in the city.
  • Promote positive attitudes to ageing in Bristol.

We do this by:

  • Providing quality information
  • Delivering quality services
  • Involving older people
  • Giving older people a voice
  • Working in partnership
  • Maintaining an effective organisation

Volunteers are important and valued members of the team at Age UK Bristol. We will do our best to make your volunteer experience enjoyable and rewarding.

 

About the Helpline

The Helpline is Age UK Bristol’s first point of contact for the organisation. Anyone calling will be given information about our current services, and those of other organisations serving older people in Bristol, including:

Active Ageing 

Age UK Bristol  

Alive!

Alzheimers Society   

Bristol & Avon Chinese Women’s Group

Bristol After Stroke

Bristol Ageing Better

Bristol Older People’s Forum

CRUSE

Independent Age   

LinkAge   

RSVP West   

St Monica Trust   

The Marmalade Trust 

The Reader    

WE Care Home Improvement

 

The Role

As a Helpline volunteer you will be answering calls and responding to queries, signposting, and referring callers to other AUK Bristol services or to Support Hub for Older People partners.

You are not required to provide any advice over the phone. Instead, you will be liaising with our Information and Advice team for any callers requiring advice.

 

The qualities and skills required for this role are:

  • Excellent communication and listening skills.
  • Confidence using new applications and software.
  • Ability to assimilate new information and convey it in a calm and friendly manner.
  • To have an understanding of the needs of older people
  • To have an understanding of the barriers older people may face.
  • Punctuality and reliability

Training

We offer induction training, including essential Safeguarding Training and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Training, and other relevant training opportunities to enable you to fulfil this volunteer role.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check

This role requires and basic DBS check.  

Suggested Hours

A minimum of 1 shift of 3 hours each per week. The shifts run 10:00-13:00 Wednesday to Friday.

Location

Based in our office within the Withywood Centre in South Bristol. Homeworking can be arranged, however we encourage volunteers to come to the office to work on the Helpline, as this means more support can be offered.

New volunteers will be required to come into the office while going through training and induction (approx. 5 shifts), even if in the medium-term working from home will be preferred.

Expenses

Age UK Bristol will pay all reasonable out of pocket travel expenses.

Further Information

For further information, please contact;

Carmelle Giganto, Office and Resources Manager