Pet Welfare Assistant - Off-site Services

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee; Manchester; On-site; GBP 11,000 - 14,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday allowance

Wellbeing support

GP access via MetLife

Health cash plan

Employee assistance programme

Pension with enhanced employer contrib

CPD support

Job summary

Blue Cross in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, is recruiting a Pet Welfare Assistant for off-site services on a two-week rota averaging 18.75 hours per week. The role supports rehoming and fostering, ensuring welfare standards and assisting with pet assessments so homes can be found quickly.

The position involves strong customer service, collaboration with foster carers, and adherence to Blue Cross values in a compassionate team.

Qualifications

• Experience of having previously worked or volunteered with domestic animals or in an animal welfare environment.
• Good experience of recording information and conveying it clearly when communicating with others.
• Previous experience in a customer focused environment with high customer satisfaction.
• Good organisational and administration skills including computer systems.
• A full driving licence.
• Ability to demonstrate and apply Blue Cross values.

Responsibilities

• Manage a specific number of pet cases within the off-site care service (rehoming or Home Direct).
• Ensure welfare standards are met and rehabilitation plans are followed for pets in foster homes.
• Assess pets for new homes and complete assessments quickly.
• Provide excellent customer service as the centre is a public-facing point of contact.
• Collaborate with foster carers, clients, and stakeholders to support pets and families.

Skills

Animal welfare

Customer service

Record keeping

Communication

Driving licence

Tools

Computer systems

MS Office

Job description

Contract: Permanent, part-time, 18.75 hours per week Salary: £12,488 per annum (FTE £24,976 per annum) Location: Radcliffe, Greater Manchester Closing date: Wednesday 28th October 2026 Interview date: Wednesday 4th November 2026 We’re recruiting a Pet Welfare Assistant for off‑site animal care, for our Rehoming & Fostering team in Radcliffe! Since opening our high street centre in Radcliffe in 2018, we've been proud to support pets and people across our local community and beyond. Rather than housing animals onsite, many of the pets we help stay with their current owners through our Home Direct scheme or are looked after by our experienced volunteer foster carers. This allows pets to remain in a caring home environment while they wait for their forever families. Although the role doesn't typically involve daily animal care, you'll be making a real difference by helping pets find suitable homes and supporting people when they need it most. At Blue Cross, we're dedicated to providing the best care possible to pets in need. As a Pet Welfare Assistant for our off‑site services, you'll play an important role in our mission, ensuring that every pet receives the love, attention, and support they deserve whilst they are in our off‑site care.

More about the role

As a Pet Welfare Assistant - Off‑site Services, you will be responsible for expertly managing a specific number of pet cases within the off‑site pet care service, these can be rehoming pets in foster or Home Direct service. You will be ensuring welfare standards are met and that rehabilitation plans are followed and supported for pets in foster homes. As we want to help as many pets as possible, this role will be responsible for ensuring the assessment of pets preparing for a new home in off‑site services is completed in the quickest amount of time. For many, the centre will be the ‘public face’ of Blue Cross so you will need to ensure that good customer service is at the heart of every interaction. At Blue Cross we are ambitious, and the work carried out by our centres is key in achieving our strategy and ensuring that ultimately, we help more pets and people. This is part‑time role working an average of 18.75 hours per week on a two‑week rota which will include weekends and public holidays. Week one: Sunday, Monday Week two: Monday, Wednesday & Saturday If you excel in an environment where you can see the difference you make every day, then this is the role for you.

About you

The person will be empathetic, intuitive, and focused on animal welfare, with experience in a similar environment. You can assess pet needs, recognise behavioural signs, and have a basic understanding of medications like flea treatments and diabetes management. Self‑motivated and collaborative, you bring practical, creative solutions for the best care outcomes. Your communication skills are first‑class, making you approachable and effective in sharing critical information with fosterers, clients, and stakeholders. You're resilient and emotionally intelligent, able to thrive in emotionally charged situations while supporting both clients and colleagues with empathy.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• - Experience of having previously worked or volunteered with domestic animals or in an animal welfare environment.
• - Good experience of recording information and being able to accurately convey this when communicating with others
• - Previous experience in working in a customer focused environment and used to achieving a high level of customer satisfaction.
• - Good organisational and administration skills to include computer systems.
• - A full driving licence.
• - The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values.

Although not essential, it would be great if you also had:

• - Qualification or similar experience in animal behaviour or animal training.
• - Experience of cash handling.
• - Experience of working to strict health and safety procedures.
• - Understanding of safeguarding issues.

Blue Cross benefits

Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today. In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are. Our generous benefits package includes:

• - Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
• - Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
• - Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
• - Health cash plan
• - Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
• - Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
• - Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
• - Life assurance
• - 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
• - Enhanced family friendly policies
• - Recognition scheme
• - Annual volunteer days
• - Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers

To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' (https://www.bluecross.org.uk/why-work-for-us) page on our website.