Referral Advice Officer in Birmingham

LOCATION: Birmingham, BAYC office – remote would be considered, but knowledge of the locality is essential.

HOURS: 10 hours per week

SALARY: pro-rata salary: approx. £6,994 pa (£26,228 FTE pa)

Duration: Ongoing – Funding dependant.

Reports to: Co-ordinator

Direct Reports: None

About Resources for Autism (RfA)

Since 1997 when we started as a small playgroup set up by parents dismayed at the lack of provision for their autistic children, RfA has grown into a major deliverer of services and support in London and the West Midlands with a turnover of around £2.5m per year. Our mission is to support and enable autistic people to live happy and fulfilling lives. We want to change society's attitude to autism whilst also providing essential services and enriching opportunities to autistic people. We are a values-driven organisation which employs values-driven people who want to make a difference. Our values are: Inclusion, Creativity, Compassion, Courageousness and Expert. You will play a vital part in ensuring that we can resource and sustain this amazing work.

Our Services

All of our services across children and adults and parent/carers, mirror the wider organisational mission of providing safe, fun and meaningful support that enables personal development. We provide this support by ensuring our staff are skilfully trained, meet the highest safeguarding expectations and are encouraged to develop and upskill throughout their career with Resources for Autism.

The Role

The person in this role offers a friendly welcome to families who have referred themselves/ been referred for Short break provision in Birmingham. These calls provide signposting and advice about RfA's services, as well as signposting to any other relevant support available in Birmingham. This role is also expected to support the Coordinator team with organising and managing the overall waiting list for short breaks in Birmingham and breaking it down into smaller appropriate waiting lists for each club / service – which would include gathering more information on age, needs and location of each family and updating the database. This position is well suited to someone with lived experience of autism to offer a general understanding of autism and the challenges it can present for parents and families.

Main Responsibilities:

• Responding to referrals received and signposting internally and externally.
• Passing referrals to relevant RfA services with basic details about the referral, for further contact, assessment, or placement on the waiting list.
• Offering information, advice and signposting via phone and email to families who are referring to Short Breaks services.
• Keeping up to date with statutory and voluntary autism, wellbeing and youth services available in Birmingham.
• Working closely with the RfA team to ensure accurate information is maintained regarding the services RfA offers to children, young people, parents/carers, and being clear on the criteria for accessing these services.
• Updating and keeping records on RFA's database.
• Following calls with a summary of information via emails
• Attending team meetings and sharing information about changing trends in referrals.
• Provide an efficient and welcoming access point for families accessing a range of services, working as part of a team of staff providing support for effective service delivery.
• Ensure that any families requiring additional or urgent support are flagged up with the Manager/Coordinator to maintain an effective link to more targeted support and providing continuity of intervention.
• Closely manage the waiting list and gather relevant information to allow for appropriate allocation to services.
• Uphold and adhere to the values of RfA at all time.
• Ensure there is always compliance with RfA's safeguarding policies and procedures.
• All staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in our services.
• Undertake any other duties asked of you that are commensurate with your grade.

Flexible working:

Some occasional evening work may be required.

Person Specification

Essential Skills

• A friendly, empathetic listener
• Experience of working successfully in a people service delivery position
• Knowledge and understanding of autism
• An understanding of safeguarding in a CYP delivery context
• Experience of working successfully in an administrative role
• Skills in communicating effectively with members of the public over phone, email and in person
• Experience of data collection, IT and monitoring processes
• Ability to support data and administrative systems under direction
• An understanding of own role in supporting the operational requirements of a multi-disciplinary service
• Values driven and with a passion to make a difference to the lives of those whose voices are often marginalised.
• Knowledge of the local services in Birmingham
• Neuroaffirmative approach to autism with demonstrable passion to work with autistic community.

Desirable Skills

• An understanding of partnership and multi-agency working and an ability to work well alongside colleagues with different roles and experiences
• Previous experience of working within a coproduction lens
• Standard skills expected of all staff
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) adaptable to different populations including: colleagues, external professionals, service users, families, volunteers, donors
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills
• Good understanding of Safeguarding
• IT skills: proficient with Office 365
• Self-starter and able to work independently, using own initiative
• Non-judgemental, compassionate
• Training in the Children's Act and Child Protection is also required however this will be provided.

Confidentiality and Safeguarding

You will have access to confidential information concerning families and other service users and will be required to maintain confidentiality at all times.

All staff have the following safeguarding responsibilities:

• Actively promote the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all children, young people and vulnerable adults accessing our services.
• Follow organisational safeguarding policies, procedures and codes of conduct at all times.
• Maintain clear professional boundaries and model safe, respectful and appropriate behaviour.
• Recognise and respond appropriately to safeguarding, welfare or behaviour-related concerns, reporting these promptly and in line with organisational procedures.
• Work in a way that reduces risk and supports positive behaviour, emotional regulation and individual communication needs.
• Contribute to a culture where safeguarding concerns are shared appropriately, listened to, and taken seriously.

Staff Benefits

90% of our staff say that Resources for Autism is "a great place to work". Not only will the work you do ensure we are making vital differences and inspiring others, but our other benefits also include:

• flexible working patterns with the option to work in a hybrid way (only available for some roles)
• 25 days of leave (pro rata for part time roles) each year plus 8 bank holidays and an additional 3 Celebration days that could be used between Christmas and new year, but may be used for other religious days or significant days such as your birthday
• access to ongoing training and progress in the areas that interest you
• access to our wellbeing initiatives and an Employee Assistance Programme
• enrolment on to our pension scheme
• a supportive, warm and fun working environment made up of values driven people who are passionate about changing the world for autistic people

Application process:

In order that we adhere to Safer Recruitment processes, all applicants are required to complete an application form which must include your full employment history with clear details, any gaps in employment need to be outlined and explained. You are also required to provide details of your full education history.

Non-Regulated roles with some service user contact (e.g. project staff, regular scheme visitors, fundraising roles). This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The successful applicant will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check in line with DBS eligibility criteria and the DBS Code of Practice. This role does not include regulated activity and therefore is not eligible for a Barred List check.

In your personal statement we would like to see how you feel you meet the person specification and the requirements/responsibilities of the role.

If for any reason, such as due to accessibility, you feel completing an application form will present a challenge, you can contact us via the below email and we may explore other options with you.

To discuss the role informally or if you need to contact us you can contact the HR team via recruitment@resourcesforautism.org.uk

We particularly welcome applications from global majority candidates, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates, because we would like to increase the representation of these groups at Resources for Autism. We want to do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for our community.

As you would expect, we are a neuro-affirming employer, with a strengths and rights based approach to neurodiversity which affirms neurodivergent identity – we don't want to "fix" or "cure" autism, and we don't see it as a "disability" however we do recognise it can be "disabling". We are working to improve the ways in which we recruit and support neurodiverse employees and those with lived experience of neurodiversity.

RfA is a Disability Confidant employer and candidates who meet the minimum essential criteria, that have a disability will be guaranteed an interview.

Deadline for applications: 21 June 2026

Interviews: week beginning 22 June 2026