Communications Officer (999 & 101)
Job Title: Communications Officer (999 & 101)
Salary: Circa £42,497. Your salary package will comprise of a starting base salary of £30,507, 20% shift allowance, 10% flexibility allowance, a location allowance of £1,841 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000. (Please note: During training, shift allowance will be 15%)
“He just went crazy. He slammed the door and started screaming in my face, he went to the kitchen. He’s got a knife. He threw everything on the floor. I’ve run upstairs – I’m hiding in the bedroom – I dragged a cabinet in front of the door. But it won’t take him long to get through. Can you hear him?! Can you hear him?!”
This job is all in the detail. Did she say he slammed the door in her face or just slammed the door? He has a knife or had a knife? As you are listening, you are typing. As you are typing you are beginning to categorise the call-in order of priority. As you are analysing the information given to you, you are thinking of the next questions to ask. You are doing all of this whilst attempting to calm the caller down and reassure them that you will get help to them as soon as possible. You pass everything on to a colleague who will despatch the appropriate resources to assist. The situation is still happening, but your involvement is over.
And you move onto the next call.
This can be a challenging and sometimes intense job. Our teams are the first point of contact for some 13,000 emergency and non-emergency phone calls and 12,000 interactions via our digital platforms every day. Naturally this means we have a fast-paced and dynamic environment where no two days are the same. We ask our teams to assess priority and severity of incidents, whilst always doing their best to reassure the caller that we'll get them the appropriate support or assistance as quickly as possible. With the volume of incoming requests handled through our teams each day, the importance of this role can never be underestimated.
Key Responsibilities
What does the average day look like? Your duties will include:
- Handling emergency and non-emergency calls. We work with a framework, and you will triage calls in accordance with this, assessing each one’s priority and risks.
- Prioritising a response to incidents
- Working with colleagues across the boroughs of London to manage our response to requests for assistance.
- Facilitating telephone interpreting for callers who speak little or no English, building confidence across our multi-cultural communities and for those visiting the capital.
- Contacting the next of kin / family of victims to gain vital intelligence to support officers at a scene.
- Carry out Police National Computer enquiries on behalf of officers eg. vehicle and name checks.
You will provide the customer-focused, professional, first point of contact our callers expect. You do not need previous experience; instead, we're looking for common sense, attention to detail, good communication skills and a calm head under pressure. Above all, you'll have the drive and determination to make a difference to the communities of London.
Shift Patterns
All new staff will be expected to work full time for the first 26 weeks aligned to one of our core teams before submitting a flexible working application.
You will be required to work a 24/7, 365 day a year variable shift pattern, including nights and public holidays. We actively support flexible working, questions regarding this can be addressed during the recruitment process.
The normal working hours are 36hrs per week, full time excluding breaks. Working a shift pattern does attract payment of a Shift Disturbance Allowance and Flexibility Allowance. We’ll talk to you about this more throughout the recruitment process.
If you think you've got what it takes to join MetCC, start your application now.