Senior Business Support Officer/Business Support Officer in Reading

The Children's Single Point of Access (CSPoA) team is seeking a highly organised and proactive Business Support Officer to help deliver a timely and effective service for children, young people, and families. In this pivotal role, you will provide high quality administrative and customer support, ensuring enquiries are managed efficiently and information is recorded accurately to enable strong decision making by practitioners.

You will work collaboratively with social care, early help, police, health, and education partners, helping to maintain smooth workflows in a fast paced, confidential environment. If you are a detail focused professional with excellent communication skills and a commitment to improving outcomes for children, we would love to hear from you.

In this role, you will need to work confidently at pace while maintaining exceptional organisation and accuracy. The CSPoA environment is dynamic, and you will often be required to multitask—managing calls, processing referrals and supporting practitioners simultaneously. As a first point of contact for children, families, and professionals, you will handle sensitive conversations with kindness, empathy, and professionalism, including speaking with vulnerable individuals and occasionally being the first to hear about potential risks.

Your calm approach, attention to detail and ability to prioritise effectively will be essential to ensuring every enquiry is dealt with safely and respectfully. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, enjoys variety, and is confident communicating with both colleagues and service users.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

About the role: You'll play a vital role in keeping our services running smoothly. Day to day, you'll be the first point of contact for enquiries, ensuring information is handled accurately and professionally.

• Responding to phone calls and face to face enquiries, providing clear information and effective signposting.
• Entering and updating data on electronic systems, including Mosaic and document management tools.
• Managing team mailboxes, incoming post, scanning and indexing documents.
• Raising and receipting purchase orders, processing invoices and ordering supplies.
• Supporting petty cash, vouchers and leaving care allowance requests.
• Maintaining training registers and arranging group training sessions.
• Preparing mailouts, booking travel and updating service information packs.
• Assisting with Subject Access Requests and printing files for Police/Legal purposes.
• Setting up IT and Mosaic accounts, reallocating equipment and supporting new starters.

Alongside these regular tasks, you'll contribute to safeguarding responsibilities and take part in ongoing training to support your development. You'll bring strong organisational skills and a positive, adaptable approach. This is a busy role where accuracy, professionalism and teamwork are essential.

Requirements:

• GCSEs (or equivalent) in English and Maths.
• Previous experience in administration or a customer focused office environment.
• Very Confident IT skills, particularly in Word, Excel and Outlook.
• A high standard of written communication, including accurate typing and good grammar.

What you'll also need:

• The ability to work under pressure and manage changing priorities.
• An understanding of confidentiality and professional boundaries.
• A calm and appropriate approach when dealing with distressed or challenging service users.
• Strong teamwork skills, balanced with the ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Flexibility and willingness to learn new systems and processes.

Team and culture: You'll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you'll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

About Disability Confident: A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.

Benefits:

• Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 30 days after 5 years' service and 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave.
• A wide range of flexible working opportunities.
• Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading.
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
• Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS).
• On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted.
• Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work.
• Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax.