Bereavement and Coronial Support Officer in Sheffield

The Medico-Legal Centre is situated at Watery Street, near Shalesmoor/Kelham Island. It is purpose-built to provide facilities and services required for the investigation of sudden or unexpected death. It comprises the public mortuary, offices, and courts of HM Coroner for South Yorkshire (West) jurisdiction, which covers Sheffield and Barnsley. This service is run by a mixture of local authority, South Yorkshire Police, and judicial staff. The Centre is dedicated to providing a high standard of service to the bereaved and is recognised as a model of good practice in this field of work.

Everyone working at the Medico‑Legal Centre is committed to dealing with the technical and legal side of the investigation of sudden death in a professional, dignified, and sympathetic manner. The centre manages some 14,000 telephone calls a year as well as visits from bereaved family members, professionals such as doctors, lawyers and expert witnesses attending court, funeral directors, and other agencies as well as the general public.

The service strives to maintain the core values of the council by ‘being open and honest’, ‘working together to get things done’ and, most importantly maintaining our own mantra ‘that people are at the heart of what we do’. We are looking for motivated self‑starters who have excellent customer service and interpersonal communication skills. The ability to work with, and support, multi‑agencies is paramount. You need to be able to work using your own initiative as well as being a good team player, be flexible and resourceful, know how to prioritise your workload and meet deadlines, own a problem or task through to completion, demonstrate good planning, organisation and speak to the bereaved in a sympathetic and empathic manner.

As first point of contact to the service, you will need to demonstrate professionalism, empathy, sensitivity and be able to manage several concurring tasks, sometimes under pressure. There is also a requirement to be familiar with, and competent at using, Microsoft Office packages.

Key requirements include:

• Managing difficult conversations with the bereaved.
• Being sensitive and empathic to the needs of the bereaved.
• Reacting positively to change and embracing new ideas.
• Demonstrating energy and commitment to providing a professional service.

Please read the job description and person specification for this post carefully before completing your application. If you would like to find out more about the Medico‑Legal Centre post, please make enquiries with Stuart Gray 0114 2039630 or email: stuart.gray@sheffield.gov.uk.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under‑represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly. It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full‑time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share. If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade. Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.