Helpline Team Leader

The Silver Line Helpline is recruiting for a Helpline Team Leader to join their fantastic team providing a vital service to older people across the UK.

You'll oversee the day-to-day running of our national Silver Line Helpline service, which operates 24 hours a day, providing older people with friendly conversation and support. You'll ensure our staff and volunteers deliver an excellent service to older people and be the first point of contact when the team needs help or advice on live calls, managing any issues that arise during shifts, including safeguarding concerns.

Working flexibly, you'll train and manage a team of Loneliness & Support Officers, supporting their development and addressing performance or absence issues.

Although The Silver Line is a friendship service, many calls are highly challenging, involving older people experiencing severe loneliness, isolation, and complex mental health issues, including suicidal ideation. You'll need strong emotional intelligence, resilience, and empathy, and be skilled in supporting staff and volunteers to manage difficult calls safely, remain within the service remit, and prioritise their own wellbeing.

This role offers hybrid working between home and our Blackpool office, with a minimum office attendance of once per quarter. Occasional additional office visits may be required for training or business needs. As a hybrid employee, you will be responsible for your own travel costs. Office attendance requirements will be reviewed in 2026.

This is a part-time vacancy working overnight, 108.5 hours over 4 weeks with varying days each week. All shifts start at 22:45 and finish at 07:15.

Salary advertised is FTE for 140 hours over 4 weeks. Salary for this role would be pro-rata and would carry an additional overnight supplement of £2.85 per hour.

IMPORTANT : Please note - this post requires weekend and bank holiday working on a shift pattern basis.

Last day for applications - Thursday 1st October 2026. Interviews for shortlisted applicants will take place via Teams on 13th 14th and 15th October.

If successful, there will be a 3-day induction onsite at our Blackpool office on 16th, 17th & 18th November from 10am to 3pm.

Please note : Before joining the National Services team at Age UK, we want to be open that the organisation is in a period of change. Age UK works as a network of over 100 independent partners, with national services delivered by the charity and local services delivered by partners across the UK. Our new strategy means more services will be delivered locally in future, although we think our National Services will continue to play an important role. You would be joining a team that is evolving and changing to develop new ways of supporting older people, and we want you to have this context as you consider your application.

Must haves:

The letters after each competency should indicate what stage in the selection process this area will be assessed. The letters are: Application = A, Interview = I, Test = T, Presentation = P

Experience

• Experience of managing or supporting a front-line customer facing service with the ability to work flexibly as part of a team and build and maintain positive and professional working relationships. A, I
• Experience in delivering training and coaching, including training and supporting staff on digital databases and systems. A, I
• Experience of managing and supporting a team, including supporting delivery of KPIs. A, I

Skills and knowledge

• Expert knowledge of safeguarding issues with the ability to assess and manage risk independently. A, T
• Excellent IT skills including data entry, Microsoft Office and CRM systems . A, T
• Excellent interpersonal, written, customer service and communication skills, with the ability to actively listen and adapt communication style, responding in a non-judgemental, empathetic and respectful manner in all situations. A, I, T
• Ability to lead and maintain high levels of morale during challenging shifts whilst effectively managing a busy and varied workload. I
• Ability to adhere to policies and procedures at all times, with a commitment to promoting equality and diversity. A, I

Personal attributes

• Having a passion for supporting older people, staff and volunteers, with an understanding of the issues facing older people, particularly in relation to loneliness, isolation and mental health. A, I, T
• High levels of personal resilience and the ability to stay calm and empathetic during challenging situations, with the ability to effectively manage complaints and challenging calls. I, T

What we offer in return:

• Competitive salary, 26 days annual leave plus 2 wellbeing days (pro rata for our part time colleagues) + bank holidays + annual leave purchase scheme
• Excellent pension scheme, life assurance, Health cashback plan and EAP
• Many additional benefits

Additional information

Use of AI We recognise that candidates may use AI tools when preparing their application. This is acceptable, but submissions must be personalised, accurate, relevant and reflect your own experience, skills and interest in joining Age UK. Failure to do so may result in your application being rejected.

Equal opportunities & Disability Confident Scheme Age UK is an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates. We reserve the right to limit the overall number of interviews offered and therefore it may not always be practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for the job.

All equalities monitoring information is anonymised and not shared with the hiring panel. Disabled job seekers can access reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process by contacting the Recruitment Team. Disability disclosures will be kept confidential, shared only where necessary, and will not be considered as part of the hiring decision.

For a full list of benefits please click here