Communities and Welfare Officer

The Communities and Welfare Officer is a specialist business support role within the Communities Service, responsible for coordinating and enabling the effective delivery of welfare, community engagement and resilience programmes. The role supports senior leadership by managing key processes such as grant funding, commissioning activity, contract oversight and performance reporting, ensuring services are delivered to a high standard and aligned with wider organisational and public health priorities. It plays an important part in maintaining strong relationships with partners and providers while using data, research and insight to support decision-making and continuous service improvement. This role will be essential in the delivering Surrey County Councils key priorities set out in the 'Surrey Way'. Day to day responsibilities:

• Manage and coordinate grant funding processes, including maintaining accurate financial information and supporting the monitoring of large funding programmes.
• Support commissioning activities, including drafting contracts and working with resilience and crisis programme teams.
• Provide direct business support to the Communities Leadership Team across key priority areas (e.g. welfare, community engagement, multiple disadvantage).
• Maintain, analyse and report on performance, finance and management information data, ensuring providers meet reporting requirements.
• Liaise with delivery partners, stakeholders and service providers to monitor outputs and resolve issues.
• Organise and coordinate meetings, workshops and engagement events, including preparing agendas and taking minutes.
• Produce reports, briefings and documentation for senior leaders to support planning and decision-making.
• Undertake research and data collection to inform service development, policy alignment and strategic priorities.
• Ensure high standards of customer service when interacting with colleagues, partners and members of the public.
• Help maintain efficient processes, systems and administrative functions to support service delivery and continuous improvement.
  
  Experience providing project support and coordination, including working across multiple priorities and stakeholders
• Strong ability to build and maintain effective stakeholder and partnership relationships
• Experience supporting grants, commissioning, or contract management processes
• Ability to collect, analyse, and report on data and performance, using insights to inform decisions
• Well-developed organisational, digital, and communication skills, with attention to detail and accuracy
• Proactive, outcome-focused approach with a strong commitment to delivering excellent service for customers and communities
  
  The starting salary of this role is £36,873 per annum, based on a 36 hour working week. This is a fixed term contract / secondment opportunity until March 2029.
We have a great opportunity to join the Communities Service as a Communities and Welfare Officer. We support hybrid working with the right balance and come together in person for 2 days per week on average (40% of the working week) and support working from home arrangements. 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 Service The Communities Service at Surrey County Council is committed to fostering vibrant and resilient communities where everyone can flourish. We aim to strengthen the feeling of community across Surrey, so that more people are participating, engaging and living a healthy and fulfilled life. To help ensure no one is left behind. Our focus is on empowering communities, so people feel connected, and confident they have a say over the places in which they live and the services they use.