Befriending Coordinator

Role: Befriending Coordinator

Location: Home based with travel throughout Cheshire East.

Reports to: Trish Williams, Service Manager

Hours of Work: 24 hours per week (working pattern to be discussed)

Salary: £13.73 per hour - £17,135.04 actual per annual

We are a local social enterprise and charity that is dedicated to later life. We co-produce excellent services, make opportunities, connect people meaningfully and influence positive change. Because of our work, people love later life in Cheshire. We value putting people at the heart of everything we do, being enterprising, challenging ourselves and others to be better and innovating to deliver what older people want and need.

Primary Purpose:

The aim of the Befriending Service is to reduce social isolation, through face-to-face visits to support service users to connect with and make friendships in their local community, or through regular telephone contact.

The Befriending Coordinator will be responsible for the sustainable delivery of the Sharing Time Befriending Service across Cheshire East. The role will. Recruit, train, and manage a team of volunteers to deliver the service, ensuring volunteers provide regular social interaction through face-to-face visits or telephone calls to reduce social isolation for people across Cheshire East.

Main Duties:

• Service Promotion to ensure referrals meet the agreed targets.
• To liaise closely with other services both internally and externally to identify clients most in need of support and interaction and be the point of contact for the service.
• Support service users to access the correct strand of our Sharing Time Befriending Service, by completing initial face-to-face visits to understand the social outcomes they wish to achieve. Completing a support plan with service users to ensure the intended outcomes are clear and that they understand the scheme’s purpose and the role of the volunteers
• To work closely with our Volunteer Co-ordinator to promote volunteering opportunities in a variety of cost effective and creative ways to attract appropriate numbers of volunteers to the service and to develop robust volunteer communication pathways holding volunteer events and meetings
• To recruit and train a team of volunteers who will complete regular home visits to support service users to make social connections or make regular phone calls and offer social interaction to service users who are unable to access the local community.
• Ongoing supervision and support for volunteers to ensure support plans are progressing, including addressing any concerns which are raised and for seeking resolutions.
• · To monitor, review and maintain the quality of the service given by the volunteers in line with AUKC expectations ensuring that volunteers follow Age UK Cheshire’s policies and procedures including Lone Working, Data Protection and Confidentiality and safeguarding and policies
• To be responsible for all administrative tasks for the service. Keeping comprehensive and timely written records and case notes. Maintaining records on volunteers using Age UK Cheshire’s databases. Adhering to our standards on confidentiality and data protection and seeking and collating feedback reports from the perspective of our clients and volunteers
• Collect specific monitoring information and support the Services Manager in providing statistics and evidence for reporting purposes.
• To attend appropriate training, supervision sessions and organisation wide meetings as required

Essential Criteria

• Experience of managing and working with volunteers i.e. recruitment, selection, support and training
•  A commitment to empowering people to exercise their choice and control over the way they live their lives
• Effective and efficient organisational skills including information, resources and time management, an ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team.
• Ability to set and manage priorities within a busy environment
• Strong administrative skills including case note recording and providing regular reports and updates.
• IT skills, including Microsoft Office suite, spread sheets, internet, email, databases, word processing
• Experience of supporting the promotion of services
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to motivate self and others, able to set and manage priorities in a busy environment.
• Able to communicate at all levels and to work with a wide range of people from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors.
• A good understanding and application of Data Protection and Confidentiality
• Ability to travel freely across Cheshire East and use of a vehicle for work related purposes
• Ability to take a person-centred approach.

If you are passionate about driving success through effective teamwork, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity as Befriending Coordinator where you will enjoy the flexible working benefits of working for Age UK Cheshire.

To apply for this position, please send your CV and cover letter to HR hr@ageukcheshire.org.uk outlining in the cover letter how your skills and experiences match this role.

Click here for further information regarding the Job Specification.

Closing Date for Applications: Sunday 27th July 2025 at 5pm

Interviews: Monday 4th August 2025