Contact Supervisor

This full-time, permanent role has a starting salary of 34,660 per annum based on a 36 hour working week (Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm).

We are excited to be hiring Contact Supervisors to join our fantastic, county-wide Contact Service Team, with office bases in either Reigate or Woking.

We support hybrid working with the right balance. We come together in person for 3 days per week on average (60% of the working week) and support working from home the rest of the time.

Our Offer to You

• 26 days' holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years' service
• 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

About The Role

As a Contact Supervisor, you will play a key role in the delivery of high quality, safe, child-focused family-time arrangements. This will include coordinating and supervising family time sessions between children and family members, ensuring all interactions take place in a safe, supportive and structured environment in line with safeguarding procedures, legislation and service standards.

You will prepare for, and manage, family time sessions, including welcoming families, setting expectations and sensitively observing interactions. A key responsibility will be maintaining accurate, timely and analytical recording of sessions to inform Social Care assessments and decision-making.

The role includes regular liaison with social workers, carers and external agencies as well as undertaking administrative tasks to ensure the smooth running of the service. Flexibility is essential as you will need to respond to changes in demands, manage complex or sensitive situations and support the wider team when required.

Whilst this role does not include formal line management responsibilities, you will be expected to contribute to a positive team culture, supporting colleagues and sharing knowledge and best practice where appropriate.

In this role, you will contribute to the ongoing development and improvement of the Contact Service including:

• Supporting the consistent delivery of high-quality supervised family time sessions that promote positive outcomes for children across all service locations
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of the Surrey Contact Service, aligned with the Children, Families and Lifelong Learning Directorate priorities
• Strengthening partnership working with Children's Social Care and other internal and external partners
• Supporting the development and embedding of practice improvements that promote safeguarding, inclusion and the child's voice in Family Time Session planning and delivery
• Ensuring families receive timely support

This is an important frontline role where you will make a direct contribution to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. By supporting positive and safe family time sessions, you will help maintain relationships where appropriate and contribute to better long-term outcomes for children. Your work will support Surrey County Council's commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, ensuring that services are responsive, child-centred and outcome-focused.

Your Application

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills:

• Experience of working with children, young people and families within a contact, safeguarding or social care setting, with an understanding of the needs of vulnerable children
• Knowledge of safeguarding practices and procedures, with the ability to identify and appropriately respond to concerns, maintaining a child-centred approach at all times
• Strong observational and recording skills, with the ability to produce clear, accurate and objective written records to inform decision-making
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills, enabling you to build professional relationships with children, families, colleagues and partner agencies, including in sensitive or challenging situations
• Ability to manage and respond to complex or emotionally charged situations, demonstrating resilience, professionalism and sound judgement
• Good organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing demands, prioritise workload and maintain attention to detail
• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, ensuring services are responsive to the needs of families

To apply, we request that you submit a CV and answer the following 4 questions:

1. Please describe your experience of working with children and families, particularly where there may be complexity or vulnerability. Tell us how you ensued a child-centred approach and what impact your work had on outcomes.
2. Please provide an example of how you have applied safeguarding knowledge in your role. Include how you identified concerns, what actions you took and how you ensured appropriate recording and reporting.
3. Please describe a situation where you had to manage a challenging or emotionally charged interaction. How did you handle this, and what skills did you use to achieve a positive and safe outcome?
4. Surrey County Council values working together' and being open, honest and accountable. Please given an example of how you have demonstrated these behaviours in your work with colleagues, partners or service users.

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.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 04/10/2026 with interviews planned to follow.

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

Surrey County Council is undergoing Local Government Reorganisation, moving from a two-tier system to two new unitary councils in April 2027. If you are employed by Surrey on 1st April 2027, your role will transfer with current terms and conditions to one of the new organisations, supporting local devolution and greater powers for our communities.

Our Commitment

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.