Welfare Officer

Association of Dogs and Cats Homes (ADCH); Horley; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

The Greyhound Trust National Support Centre in Horley is seeking a Welfare Officer (Full-Time) to join our Welfare Team. Based at the National Greyhound Support Centre in Horley, you will drive branch development, ensure compliance, and support welfare operations across the network.

This role requires travel across the UK and a proactive, hands-on approach. Reporting to the Branch Welfare and Governance Manager, you will lead on branch development, coordinate training, and respond to welfare

Qualifications

• Formal animal related qualifications required.
• Ability to supervise and manage Greyhound Trust operations across the branch network.
• Experience presenting updates and reports for internal and external meetings.

Responsibilities

• Support network of 30+ branches with homing and income growth while ensuring compliance and branch development.
• Oversee branch compliance in homing, policies, finances, branding and fundraising.
• Organise Annual Branch Conference and mid-year reviews with data analysis.

Skills

Branch management

IT skills

Communication

Travel readiness

Education

Formal animal welfare qualification

Canine behaviour qualification (level 3)

Tools

Word

Excel

Database basics

Job description

The Greyhound Trust

Location: Horley RH6 9SX

Salary: £29,000

Hours: 37.5

Contract Type: Full time permanent

Closing Date: 19 November 2026

The Greyhound Trust strives for the day when all racing greyhounds retire to loving homes and are treated with compassion and kindness.

National Support Centre - Welfare Officer (Full-Time)

The Greyhound Trust National Support centre is offering a fantastic opportunity for a talented individual to join our Welfare team. Reporting to the Branch Welfare and Governance Manager, you will be a key member of the Welfare Team, as such must be proactive and always prepared to go the extra mile. Dedicated to supporting our branches and providing a high level of support whilst ensuring compliance is maintained, you will lead on branch development. This role requires the ability to balance both supporting and managing operations and getting actively involved in operations and behaviour enquiries as required.

Full time, permanent: 37.5 hours per week.

Based at the National Greyhound Support Centre - Horley, Surrey, RH6 9SX

Salary: £29,000

Key Responsibilities

• Supporting the network of over 30 Greyhound Trust branches with all branch activities, developing greyhound homing and income growth whilst ensuring branch growth, sustainability and homing excellence in line with Greyhound Trust objectives.
• Ensuring branch compliance across all key areas of branch activity - homing, policies, financial, brand and communications, fundraising and general charitable compliance.
• Full compliance assessment of each branch against ADCH and Greyhound Trust Guidance with follow-up support plans. Creation and delivery of both during offsite branch visits (at least annually) across the Greyhound Trust network ensuring maximum impact of each branch across all areas. This could include additional regional training sessions.
• Implementing the homing and welfare strategy, maximizing all potential homing opportunities for Greyhound Trust through branch activity.
• Providing training and support to branches on the internal database system where necessary.
• Supporting the Welfare and Branch Manager to ensure smooth branch operations and advances in welfare and operational policy.
• Support of all Greyhound Trust branch homing activities by responding to and assisting with branch homing queries, escalating these to the Manager when necessary.
• Annual Branch Conference - organization of conference, from location to attendees and content.
• Mid-year reviews for each branch -ADCH Compliance, Query resolution, Budget analysis and RAG ratings
• Events - Organisation and attendance of Nationwide events

Detailed (non-exhaustive) Example Of Responsibilities

• Responding to and assisting with any branch homing queries, escalating these to the Welfare and Branch Manager when necessary.
• Managing the welfare email inbox, responding to all emails within in a timely manner, and escalating anything relevant to the Welfare and Branch Manager.
• Along with the Welfare Administrator, being the initial contact for public homing and welfare enquiries via telephone and welfare inbox, escalating to Management when necessary.
• Supporting the Welfare Administrator with implementing branch improvements such as build projects and grant applications.
• Representing Greyhound Trust by attending and assisting with fundraising and awareness events, such as Crufts and the Global Greyhound Gathering.
• Supporting the Branch and Welfare Manager with branch operations - such as opening new branches within the UK, locating new kennel sites and visiting prospective sites to confirm suitability.
• Supporting the Welfare Manager with regular communication with branches.
• Develop relationships and collaboration with external organisations within the homing and welfare industry.
• Being the initial point of contact for any complaints received, gathering information required from the relevant branch, resolving this with support from management or escalating this when necessary.
• Supporting the Branch and Welfare Manager with branch annual reviews - including collating the relevant data and formulas, to create the threshold within the various categories that branches are reviews against.

• Ordering equipment for branches.
• Generating and issuing vet codes to branches with authorisation from management where required.
• Supporting the network of branches with microchips, updating any required online as needed.
• Volunteer enquiries and applications.

• Responding to general enquiries regarding greyhounds as pets, homing and greyhound welfare from members of the public, including identification requests from other charities.
• Working with the Welfare Administrator, managing the Anilog database, including:

• Providing support for branches with usage.
• Generating monthly Account for payments which are distributed to each branch and resolving any queries.
• Running monthly reports for homings, admissions, returns and recording this data accordingly to be provided to senior management when required.
• Ensuring branches are compliant using Anilog, uploading the relevant required information.
• Any other reasonable tasks as directed by the Welfare and Branch Manager.
• As a member of a small office-based team, an adequate onsite presence is always needed for both administrative and security reasons.
• Other reasonable tasks as instructed by Line Management and senior leadership.

This post and its role requirement will develop with the needs of the charity and should not be seen as an exhaustive list of responsibilities.

Additional tasks may be reasonably requested by your Line Manager and Senior colleagues

Skills And Experience Required

• Formal animal related qualifications
• Ability to support the delivery of high standards of welfare and animal related homing activity.
• Proven experience of business/charity support and development.
• Experience of presenting updates and reports for internal and external meetings.
• Ability to supervise and manage Greyhound Trust operations across the branch network.
• Willing to travel to visit all branches across the UK and attend events where required, often with overnight stays.
• Proven IT skills with various software packages including Word, Excel and basic database use.
• Experience in a similar role, working within a busy environment.
• Highly motivated and organised, with excellent attention to detail.
• Professional, proactive, positive and enthusiastic, with a strong work ethic and “can do” attitude.
• Able to exhibit excellent discretion and adhere to professional standards and confidentiality.
• Capable of handling stressful situations while maintaining a positive demeanour.
• Committed to delivering high standards of branch engagement, support and compliance whilst being a genuine team player.

Desired Skills And Qualifications

• A formal recognised canine behaviour qualification, at least level 3.
• A formal animal welfare qualification with some inspection experience.
• You will need to hold a full, valid UK driving license, with travel/overnight stays and some weekend and evening work form part of this role.
• The ideal candidate would have empathy and enthusiasm for the objectives of the Greyhound Trust. Knowledge of dogs, in particular greyhounds, is desirable and experience of the charity sector in either a voluntary or employed capacity would be desirable.