Advice Worker
Advice workers assist members of the public by providing free, confidential, and impartial advice, typically on issues such as housing, employment, and debt.
Depending on your employer, you will advise and support your clients via telephone, email, live chat, or face-to-face appointments in courts, prisons, community centres or health settings.
Whichever way you are providing support, your objective will be to provide high-quality information to address issues and minimise hardship. For clients with simple and single issues, you can act as the direct line of support; for people with more complex issues, you may work as part of a resolution team and guide clients towards more specialist support.
Responsibilities
Your responsibilities as an advice worker will depend on your job role. Many advice workers start their careers as general advisors before working in a particular area, advising clients on benefits eligibility, consumer rights, debt, health, employment, immigration, legal issues, and housing.
- Managing and organising a schedule of appointments.
- Interviewing clients to gather information and determine the best way to support them.
- Researching the issues you are advising on to gather comprehensive and helpful information.
- Helping clients to fill out forms, make phone calls and write letters.
- Assessing benefit eligibility and entitlement.
- Signposting other services and modes of support, such as social workers and solicitors.
- Representing clients by contacting housing providers, legal bodies, and financial institutions.
- Contributing to web pages, leaflets, and other publications with helpful information.
- Keeping client case records and writing reports, including statistics on services provided and cases covered.
- Working with interpreters, where necessary.
- Raising awareness of support services and distributing leaflets and other publicity materials.
- Training internal staff and hosting workshops for external organisations.
- Brushing up on emerging and evolving policies and legislation.
- Hosting support groups.
- Updating administrative systems with confidential case records.
- Working in partnership with external organisations and internal departments.
- Mediating in counselling sessions for families and couples.
Salary
- The starting salary of a trainee advice worker is typically around £18,000 – £19,500.
- An experienced advice worker can earn up to £26,500.
- Management positions pay up to £31,000, whereas senior strategic roles, which require entrepreneurial and leadership skills, pay up to £45,000.
Many advice workers start on their career paths as volunteer advisors before securing a role as a paid advisor. There is often ample disparity between salaries due to external funding.
Working Hours
- Temporary contracts, especially within the voluntary sector, are common due to the short-term nature of funding.
- Most job vacancies are open within towns and cities, which may make it hard for candidates in rural areas to find work.
- Dealing with upset, anxious, and angry clients in crisis can be challenging and lead to emotional burnout; however, the emotionally demanding nature of the job can be rewarding if you are able to resolve issues.
- Local travel between advice centres and community centres may be required, but most of your work will be office-based.
What to Expect
- Temporary contracts, especially within the voluntary sector, are common due to the short-term nature of funding.
- Most job vacancies are open within towns and cities, which may make it hard for candidates in rural areas to find work.
- Dealing with upset, anxious, and angry clients in crisis can be challenging and lead to emotional burnout; however, the emotionally demanding nature of the job can be rewarding if you are able to resolve issues.
- Local travel between advice centres and community centres may be required, but most of your work will be office-based.
Qualifications
Employers typically favour relevant experience and skills over degrees and HNDs. However, in some instances, candidates can benefit from holding a professional qualification in:
- Counselling
- Education
- Law
- Business or finance
- Community studies
- Youth studies
- Cultural studies
- Psychology
- Social policy
- Social administration
- Social work
Skills
To be a desirable candidate for advice worker positions, you will need:
- The ability to empathise and relate to people from different backgrounds.
- Exceptional interpersonal communication skills.
- IT skills to update administration systems.
- A compassionate and sensitive manner which allows you to provide advice without judgement.
- The ability to work flexibly with a large caseload of clients.
- An awareness of diversity and equality issues.
- A strong work ethos which enables you to take initiative and work cohesively in a team.
- Strong problem-solving skills and resourcefulness.
- The ability to deal with anxious and angry clients.
- Excellent written communication skills which allow you to advocate for your clients while writing letters on their behalf.
- Numerical proficiency if you are helping clients with financial matters, such as debt or benefit entitlement.
- The ability to liaise with agencies and organisations.
- The ability to work in line with data protection laws.
In some positions, bilingual candidates could have an advantage over others, especially for those fluent in ethnic minority languages.
Work Experience
Voluntary experience is one of the best ways to show enthusiasm and commitment to the role. While volunteering, you will have the opportunities to make contacts in addition to gaining an advantage in the highly competitive job market where there are relatively few paid positions available.
Organisations, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, are one of the best places to accrue advice worker experience, which can also be gained through internships and work experience placements. Some employers may also lean towards candidates with legal, customer service or administrative experience.
Career Prospects
After gaining experience as an advice worker, promotions typically involve different responsibilities away from advising clients, such as recruiting volunteers, training staff members, advice centre management, developing marketing and promotional strategies, and financial management of the centre.
Some advice workers choose to further their careers by specialising in an area of advice work or training as a counsellor or social worker.
Employers
One of the main employers is Citizens Advice; they operate a network of more than 270 independent charities, which employs 8,700 staff members and 21,000+ volunteers.
Advice UK is another large-scale employer which runs advice centres for members of the public looking for guidance on issues such as mental health and homelessness.
Advice workers can also look for job vacancies at charities, such as Age UK, Mind, and Shelter, in union welfare offices, within local authorities and the NHS, and with professional bodies.
The job vacancy pages on Local Government Jobs, Jobs in Advice, and Inside Housing are frequently updated with suitable roles.
Related Courses
Master of Public Administration
After enrolling on the Master of Public Administration course at UWS London, you will learn public policy and political science from a highly experienced team of experts in politics and crisis management. During the course, you will learn a practical and theoretical understanding of social sciences and crisis communications. After graduation, you will possess a highly versatile qualification which will allow you to secure top-level positions and make a real impact in the public and third sector.
