Advice Session Supervisor
Full time: 37 hours per week
Salary: NJC Scale 17 (£30,060)
Hybrid – 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home
We provide free, confidential, and independent advice to help local people overcome their problems. We are a voice for our clients on the issues that matter to them.
Join our Generalist Advice Team, providing face to face, email and phone advice on a range of issues (e.g benefits, debt, relationships, employment and immigration) to clients in Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire.
Experience of giving advice in these areas and of advocating for clients is essential. Prior supervision of staff or volunteers is desirable, as is knowledge of assessing advice quality.
Efficiency, excellent oral and written skills and a commitment to Citizens Advice aims and principles are key to this role, which in return will be stimulating, sociable and meaningful for the successful applicant.
Benefits
- 7% pension contribution.
- Holiday: 24 days pa plus Bank Holidays.
- Christmas closure: Up to 4 additional paid days during the festive period.
- Long service: increase by one day for each year of service during your first five years.
- Death in Service insurance, EAP Scheme and Cycle Scheme
- Variety of learning and development options.
- Family Flexible policies including job sharing.
Closing date: Sunday 17th August 2025
Interviews to be held: Week commencing Monday 1st September 2025
Job Description
Employer: Cambridge & District Citizens Advice
Responsible to: Generalist Advice Manager
Based at: Hybrid – 3 days at 66 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL and 2 days working from home.
Purpose of Role: To act as supervisor of advice sessions. To help and support volunteer and paid advisers. To monitor the quality of advice and the written output of advisers.
SERVICE DELIVERY
- Manage the advice session as part of a team and provide supervisor cover as required. Identify priorities and allocate resources as necessary.
- Work together with all specialist teams to determine the best possible advice routes for our clients.
- Monitor the quality of advice given to clients by advisers in the office, working from home and at other locations.
- Supervise the work of designated staff/volunteers to ensure that standards meet Citizens Advice quality requirements. Ensure all relevant policies and procedures are followed during the advice session.
- Ensure all advisers record cases thoroughly, including recording of the AICs, outcomes and all other statistical information required by funders.
- Share the review and dispatch of follow-up emails confirming advice given to clients.
Trainee deployment, development and retention
- Work within SLT to proactively identify gaps in service delivery to inform focused recruitment and retention of staff and volunteers, with an emphasis on responding to increasing or changing demand as appropriate.
- Develop and deliver a personalised model of support, assessing and understanding individual needs and making reasonable adjustments to ensure inclusivity
- Organise shadowing and buddying arrangements, developing skills within the team to complement this
- Ensure that trainees are provided with ongoing support, coaching and mentoring as they work towards reaching competence in their role.
- Monitor trainee progress through activities like observations, listening to calls, checking case notes and doing Independent File Reviews. Ensure completion of required sections in the Learning and Assessment Record (LAR).
- Share the regular case checking workload to ensure high quality standards of advice provided to each client, give constructive feedback to the advisers and take corrective action where required.
- Develop and maintain standards of service delivery by sharing the monthly case checking for QAA (Quality of Advice Assessment) case monitoring quality standards.
- Have a comprehensive understanding of Citizens Advice systems and tools and be able to support advisers in the use of these systems.
VOLUNTEER AND STAFF SUPERVISION
- Assist with annual Volunteer chats and training reviews.
- Participate in volunteer recruitment process, including interviewing applicants.
- Attend regular meetings of volunteers and paid staff.
- Monitor and update advice rota to ensure adequate cover is provided.
- Provide feedback on Generalist Adviser paid staff to Generalist Advice Manager.
- Encourage good teamwork and lines of communication between all staff and volunteers.
- Support trainee advisers as they move into advice provision, helping them with training, observations and good write ups.
- Ensure equality and diversity principles are adhered to at all times.
GENERAL ADVICE
- Be responsible for driving continuous improvement within the organisation across all advice and casework services, this includes identifying trends with case checking, QAA and IFRs.
- Review feedback from the internal Quality of Advice Assessors and summaries of IFRs to identify any areas of learning that need addressing.
- Provide training to members of the team to improve quality of advice and casework given.
- Lead on establishing good practice with regarding to case checking, QAA and IFRs.
ADMINISTRATION
- Maintain effective and efficient administrative systems.
- Abide by the health and safety policy with regard to staff/volunteers, clients, equipment and premises within statutory requirements.
- Identify safeguarding issues and discuss next steps with safeguarding lead.
- Maintain complaints procedures in accordance with Citizens Advice guidelines.
- Add client appointments to the calendar system.
- Support reception as needed.
- Contribute to the weekly team briefing and attend the daily Generalist Adviser morning meetings on Teams.
- Assist advisers with completing relevant grant applications
- Write emails and letters on behalf of clients and liaise with 3rd parties as necessary.
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
- Contribute to the business plan as required by the organisation’s management team.
- Participate in organisation initiatives as appropriate and get involved with the work of associated committees, working parties and projects.
- Advise management on service delivery issues and problems.
- Work together with ASS team to refine procedures and implement best practice.
- Attend external meetings and presentations with 3rd parties as appropriate, and represent CDCA at these events.
TRAINING AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Maintain full knowledge of all advice areas, in order to facilitate clear support to advisers.
- Identify and implement own training and development needs.
- Participate in reviews of training materials.
- Deliver training to new volunteers and staff as and when required.
- Identify training needs for advisers through quality monitoring and report to line manager.
OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
All staff at Cambridge and District Citizens Advice are required to have:
- Have a full commitment to the aims and vision for the organisation as laid out in the business plan and take part in annual processes such as business plan reviews.
- Have a commitment to ongoing change management in order to achieve those aims and objectives.
- Have an understanding of and commitment to the aims and principles of the service and its equal opportunities/diversity policies.
- Have an active commitment to promoting Social Policy/Research and Campaigning as a key driver for effecting positive change for our clients.
- Work as a team player; supporting and respecting each other in a time of limited staff resource, and having a flexible approach to covering functions that may be outside a specific job.
- Undertake duties in a resource efficient way, minimising impact to the environment wherever possible.
- Undertake any other duties connected with the operation of CDCA as may be required from time to time.
Person Specification
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Charity 1056102. Company 3191085. Financial Conduct Authority FRN: 617537