Business Support Officer - Adult Social Care

Are you an organised and customer-focused administrator looking to make a real difference in your community? We are looking for a Business Support Officer to join our Adult Social Care Business Support team, providing essential administrative support that helps ensure some of Reading's most vulnerable residents receive the services they need.

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.

We support hybrid working, it’s important to us that working arrangements are designed to enable our employees to excel and within this role you’ll have the opportunity to work in a way that suits your lifestyle.

About The Role:
This is a varied and rewarding role where no two days are the same. You'll be the first point of contact for a range of enquiries, supporting service users, professionals and colleagues while helping to maintain efficient and effective business processes.

You'll play a key role in ensuring information is processed accurately, supporting financial administration, coordinating meetings, maintaining records and providing administrative support across a range of Adult Social Care teams.

As a Business Support Officer, you’ll provide a varied range of administrative and business support services, including:

• Responding to telephone, face-to-face and email enquiries, providing clear and accurate information and directing enquiries to the appropriate teams.
• Processing referrals and entering information accurately into electronic systems, including Mosaic.
• Managing team inboxes, prioritising requests and escalating urgent matters where necessary.
• Preparing, scanning, indexing and maintaining documents and records.
• Supporting financial administration, including purchase orders, invoices, supplier information and purchasing card reconciliations.
• Providing administrative support for staff joining, moving within or leaving the service, including maintaining records of IT accounts and equipment.
• Organising meetings and providing minute-taking support for professional meetings.
• Supporting the management, archiving and secure destruction of service user records.
• Purchasing goods and services, maintaining equipment inventories and monitoring stock levels.

You’ll also contribute to the continuous improvement of administrative processes and help ensure our services operate effectively and consistently.

About You:
We’re looking for someone who is professional, reliable and able to manage a varied workload in a fast-paced environment.

You will have:

• Previous experience in administration and customer service.
• GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade C or equivalent.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel, with Outlook essential. Experience of Teams and SharePoint would be an advantage.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a professional and customer-focused approach.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to prioritise tasks, meet deadlines and adapt to changing demands.
• Good typing, grammar and punctuation skills, with a commitment to producing accurate, well-presented work.
• The ability to input, retrieve, check and maintain information accurately across different IT systems.
• A clear understanding of confidentiality, data protection and professional boundaries.
• The ability to work independently and as part of a team, using your initiative and maintaining high standards of accuracy.
• A willingness to learn new systems, undertake training and develop your skills.

You’ll also need to be confident handling challenging enquiries sensitively and professionally, recognising urgent or emergency situations and escalating concerns appropriately.

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.

Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do
Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential.
Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way.
Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.

Our offer:
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 30 days after 5 years 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

For more information on this position please contact Leanne Parlour, Business Support Team Leader on 0118 937 6046 or email leanne.parlour@reading.gov.uk

Closing Date: Sunday 1st November 2026
Interview Date: w/c 9th November 2026
Interview Setup: Face to face in Civic Office, Bridge Street, Reading, RG1 2LU with short test