Helpline Team Leader

Age Uk; Lancashire; Hybrid; GBP 22,000 - 26,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days leave

Pension scheme

Life assurance

Health cashback

EAP

Car scheme

Cycle to work

Season ticket loan

Techscheme

Blue Light Card

Awards program

Job summary

Age UK is hiring a Helpline Team Leader to oversee the Silver Line Helpline service, guiding staff and volunteers on 24/7 calls across the UK. You’ll manage live calls, address safeguarding issues, and support team development in a flexible hybrid setup with quarterly office presence.

We expect experience in frontline customer service, training, and KPI delivery, plus strong safeguarding knowledge and empathy for lonely, vulnerable older people. Weekend work is required.

Qualifications

• Experience managing a front-line customer service.
• Experience in delivering training and coaching, including on digital databases and systems.
• Experience of managing and supporting a team, including delivering KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Oversee day-to-day operation of the national 24/7 Silver Line Helpline.
• Support staff and volunteers on live calls and manage issues including safeguarding.
• Train and manage Loneliness & Support Officers; monitor performance and attendance.

Skills

Front-line service

Training & coaching

KPI management

Safeguarding

IT skills

CRM systems

Empathy

Communication

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

The Silver Line Helpline is recruiting for a Helpline Team Leader to join their fantastic team providing a vital service to older people across the UK.

You'll oversee the day-to-day running of our national Silver Line Helpline service, which operates 24 hours a day, providing older people with friendly conversation and support. You'll ensure our staff and volunteers deliver an excellent service to older people across the UK and be the first point of contact when the team needs help or advice. You'll support the team on live calls, managing any issues that arise during shifts, including safeguarding concerns.

Working flexibly alongside other Team Leaders, you'll train and manage a team of Loneliness & Support Officers, supporting their development and addressing performance or absence issues. You'll report to one of three Silver Line Managers who oversee the service.

Although The Silver Line is a friendship service, many calls are highly challenging, involving older people experiencing severe loneliness, isolation, and complex mental health issues, including suicidal ideation. You'll need strong emotional intelligence, resilience, and empathy, and be skilled in supporting staff and volunteers to manage difficult calls safely, remain within the service remit, and prioritise their own wellbeing.

This role offers hybrid working between home and our Blackpool office, with a minimum office attendance of once per quarter. Occasional additional office visits may be required for training or business needs. As a hybrid employee, you will be responsible for your own travel costs. Office attendance requirements will be reviewed in 2026.

This is a part-time vacancy working 135 hours over 4 weeks with various shift patterns across days and evenings between 07:00-23:00.

Salary advertised is FTE for 140 hours over 4 weeks. Salary for this role would be pro-rata.

IMPORTANT: Please note - this post requires weekend and bank holiday working on a shift pattern basis.

Last day for applications Thursday 1st October 2026.Interviews for shortlisted applicants will take place via Teams on13th 14th and 15th October.

If successful, there will be a 3-day induction onsite at our Blackpool office on 16th, 17th & 18th November from 10am to 3pm.

Please note: Before joining the National Services team at Age UK, we want to be open that the organisation is in a period of change. Age UK works as a network of over 100 independent partners, with national services delivered by the charity and local services delivered by partners across the UK. Our new strategy means more services will be delivered locally in future, although we think our National Services will continue to play an important role. You would be joining a team that is evolving and changing to develop new ways of supporting older people, and we want you to have this context as you consider your application.

Must Haves

The below competencies will be assessed at the indicated stage of the recruitment process.

Application = A, Interview = I, Test = T, Presentation = P

Experience

• Experience of managing or supporting a front-line customer facing service with the ability to work flexibly as part of a team and build and maintain positive and professional working relationships. A, I
• Experience in delivering training and coaching, including training and supporting staff on digital databases and systems. A, I
• Experience of managing and supporting a team, including supporting delivery of KPIs. A, I

Skills and knowledge

• Expert knowledge of safeguarding issues with the ability to assess and manage risk independently. A, T
• Excellent IT skills including data entry, Microsoft Office and CRM systems. A, T
• Excellent interpersonal, written, customer service and communication skills, with the ability to actively listen and adapt communication style, responding in a non-judgemental, empathetic and respectful manner in all situations. A, I, T
• Ability to lead and maintain high levels of morale during challenging shifts whilst effectively managing a busy and varied workload. I
• Ability to adhere to policies and procedures at all times, with a commitment to promoting equality and diversity. A, I

Personal attributes

• Having a passion for supporting older people, staff and volunteers, with an understanding of the issues facing older people, particularly in relation to loneliness, isolation and mental health. A, I, T
• High levels of personal resilience and the ability to stay calm and empathetic during challenging situations, with the ability to effectively manage complaints and challenging calls. I, T

Great to haves

The below competencies will be assessed at the indicated stage of the recruitment process.

Application = A, Interview = I, Test = T, Presentation = P

Experience

• Experience in working in services to support older people. A
• Experience in working in with volunteers. A
• Experience working with colleagues remotely. A, I
• Experience working within services that operate outside of normal working hours. A

What we offer in return

• Competitive salary, 26 days annual leave + bank holidays + annual leave purchase scheme
• Excellent pension scheme, life assurance, Health cashback plan and EAP
• Car Benefit Scheme, Cycle to Work Scheme and Season Ticket Loan
• Techscheme - buy any tech from Apple or Currys, up to £1000, and spread the cost over 12 months, interest free
• Blue Light Card Scheme
• You Did It Awards - recognition awards from £100-250
• Many additional benefits

Additional Information

Supporting statements and anonymisation

Candidates are expected to provide a supporting statement that explains how they meet the competencies, to allow us to assess suitability for the position. Age UK acknowledges and accepts that AI may be used to support the application; we do expect candidates to personalise experience, knowledge and skills and failure to do so, may result in your application being rejected.

CVs will be anonymised by our recruitment system when you apply for a role. Our system is unable to anonymise supporting statements. Please could you remove any personal information including your name before you upload to support our inclusive recruitment process. All equalities monitoring information is also anonymised and not shared with the hiring panel. Your name and address will only be known to us if invited for interview.

Equal opportunities & Disability Confident Scheme

Age UK is an Equal Opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates, regardless of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital/civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity. Age UK is a Disability Confident Scheme employer. Due to high numbers of applications received, Age UK reserves the right to limit the overall number of interviews offered, and therefore, it may not always be practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for the job.

Reasonable adjustments

Disabled job seekers can access reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. All requests for reasonable adjustments are considered on a case-based basis, in collaboration with the disabled job seeker to best meet their needs, by contacting our recruitment team. Disability disclosures will be kept confidential and only shared on a need-to-know basis to support the implementation of adjustments. Disclosures will not be used to inform hiring decisions.

Age UK is committed to safeguarding adults at risk, and children, from abuse and neglect. We expect everyone who works with us to share this commitment.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert at any time.

Age UK politely requests no contact from recruitment agencies or media sales. We do not accept speculative CVs from recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.

For a full list of benefits please visit our website.