Victim services initial response officer jobs

About Brake
Brake is the UK’s leading road safety charity, dedicated to supporting people affected by road crashes and advocating for safer streets. Since 1995, we have been helping victims and their families to navigate the devastating impact of road collisions through the National Road Victim Service—providing immediate, compassionate, and tailored support for those who have been bereaved or seriously injured. Our mission goes beyond recovery; we campaign tirelessly for legislative and societal changes to prevent future tragedies and make roads safer for everyone.

Join us as a Caseworker – Kent, Essex & East Region - To apply for this role, you MUST be a resident in the Kent or Essex area.

This year, Brake celebrates 30 years of life-changing work, and we’re looking for a committed and compassionate Caseworker to help us continue making an impact. If you are based in the Kent or Essex area and want to help people at their most vulnerable moments, this could be the role for you.

Every 20 minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured on UK roads. For families affected, the emotional and practical challenges are immense. As a Caseworker, you will provide direct, trauma-informed care to individuals and families suffering from the sudden bereavement or life-altering injury of a loved one. Working mostly remotely, with home visits to service users, you’ll offer vital emotional and practical support—including helping them access therapeutic resources, financial assistance, and guidance through the complexities of medical and legal processes.

This role is flexible, allowing you to structure your own working pattern within weekdays from 8am to 6pm. While travel is required, you’ll have control over your diary. The work is challenging but immensely rewarding, requiring resilience, empathy, and a dedication to making a real difference in people’s lives.

Key Responsibilities

· Providing direct support to road victims and their families in the Kent, Essex & East region, following Brake’s trauma-informed model of care.

· Managing a caseload of service users, ensuring their emotional, practical, and advocacy needs are met.

· Undertaking comprehensive needs assessments and creating individualised support plans

· Offering emotional and practical support—this can include helping families access therapeutic resources, financial aid, or even facilitating keepsakes to honour the memory of their loved ones

· Liaising with professionals, including police officers, Family Liaison Officers, mental health services, coroners, GPs, and other support organisations.

· Advocating for victims within medical, legal, and social services to ensure their voices are heard.

· Providing support through multiple channels, including in-person, remote calls, video chats, and messaging, depending on service user preferences.

· Completing safeguarding assessments and escalating concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead when needed.

· Maintaining accurate case records in compliance with data protection policies.

· Engaging in external clinical supervision to manage personal resilience and well-being.

· Participating in team meetings, training, and professional development to ensure the highest standard of service delivery.

What We Offer

· £15,600 per year (12 months fixed term with the possibility of extension depending on funding)

· Flexible working hours—working pattern can be shaped around your needs.

· Mostly remote work, with travel to service users’ homes or safe meeting places (mileage expenses reimbursed).

· Death in service benefit, to the value of 2 x salary.

· 36 days annual leave, including bank holidays and compulsory end of year shutdown (pro rata for part time working patterns).

· Employee assistance program, including counselling, legal and financial advice.

· External trauma consultant support to aid in caseworker resilience.

· Structured induction, training, and ongoing development including in trauma-informed support and risk management.

Who We’re Looking For

Essential Requirements:

· A full, clean UK driving licence and access to your own vehicle.

· Resident in the Kent or Essex area.

· Experience in frontline support services, preferably involving sudden bereavement or heightened vulnerabilities.

· Strong advocacy and research skills to liaise with multiple organisations on behalf of service users.

· Competency in I.T skills to work remotely.

Desirable Experience:

· Comprehensive understanding of the processes involved in the criminal justice system and coronial process

Personal Qualities:

· Self-motivated and resilient—able to navigate emotionally challenging situations.

· Empathetic and compassionate, with a commitment to helping others.

· Adaptable and creative, able to tailor support methods to individual needs.

· Strong communication and interpersonal skills, able to collaborate with professionals and service users alike.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Brake is passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We welcome your application whatever your background or situation. We particularly welcome applications from those who are part of the global majority, the LGBTQIA+ community or disabled. We are proud to be a disability confident employer. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it. So, if you have a passion for making a difference and share in our vision for a world where no one is killed on our roads, we would love to hear from you.

The successful candidate will be required to go through an enhanced DBS vetting process due to the sensitive nature of the service delivered.

Please note we do not accept applications from serious traffic offenders due to the nature of our work. Employees are subject to driver licence checks.

To apply

Submit your CV and a covering letter which clearly demonstrate you have what it takes to perform this challenging and rewarding role.

The role: This is a rewarding role where every day brings the opportunity to make a positive difference to people's lives. We regularly receive testimonials from service users describing the life-changing impact of receiving support from our caseworkers in the National Road Victim Service.

Working location: mostly remote work with some travel required. Based in the central area of the South West region you will deliver a face-to-face service to clients in their own home or safe meeting place across the Dorset, Avon, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire area  as well as providing support by Teams, phone, email or other means to suit the service user. We take a person-centred approach so the amount of travel will vary depending on your caseload at the time. You’re in control of your own diary. 

Why this role is important: Every 20 minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured on UK roads. For families affected, the emotional and practical challenges are immense. As a Caseworker, you will provide trauma-informed care to individuals and families suffering from the sudden bereavement or life-altering injury of a loved one. Working mostly remotely, with some home visits to service users, you’ll offer vital emotional and practical support—including helping them access therapeutic resources, financial assistance, and guidance through the complexities of medical and legal processes. 

About Brake: Brake is a renowned and respected road safety charity with a 30-year history dedicated to supporting people affected by road crashes and advocating for safer streets. 

You'll join a closely knit team of fellow caseworkers, each using their individual experience and skills to provide person-centred support to victims. This provides a ready-made peer group who share best practice and knowledge and support each other so, in turn, they can best support road victims. There's no sugar coating it, this isn't an easy role, it requires a special type of person with strong resilience, but the reward is a strong sense of purpose, every day. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so we have strong support systems in place to support our caseworker's wellbeing, including clinical supervision. 

What we offer:

• A generous 35 days of annual leave (including bank holidays and 3-day end of year shutdown) 
• Birthday day off 
• Flexible working (choose a working pattern to suit you between the hours of 8am-6pm Mon-Fri) 
• Enhanced sick pay and compassionate leave 
• Death in service benefit 
• Pension 
• Employee Assistance Programme 
• Clinical supervision and excellent support 
• A rewarding role with purpose 
• Be part of a skilled, friendly team with an engaged Board of Trustees 
• Opportunity to attend prestigious events such as the Brake annual reception and awards (if you want to) 

Who we're looking for 

Full training will be provided under the guidance of our dedicated Training Officer. Our induction program has been developed to equip caseworkers with the skills they need to provide high quality support to road victims and covers topics such as being trauma-informed, safeguarding and risk management. We're open to candidates from all sorts of backgrounds, as long as you're a compassionate, self-starter with a background in providing high-quality emotional support and advocacy. Your experience in roles within the NHS, any health and social care, road safety, counselling, the police and family liaison officers, lived experience or any type of casework could make you an ideal candidate. 

Essential Requirements: 

• A full, clean UK driving licence and access to your own vehicle (travel expenses are reimbursed) 

• Resident in the central area of the South West Region. 

• Experience delivering frontline support, preferably involving sudden bereavement or heightened vulnerabilities. 
• Strong advocacy and research skills to liaise with multiple organisations on behalf of service users. 
• Competency in I.T skills to work remotely. 

Desirable Experience: 

• Comprehensive understanding of the processes involved in the criminal justice system and coronial process 

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion: Brake is passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We’re committed to supporting employees to achieve a good work/life balance and flexible around caring commitments. We welcome your application whatever your background or situation. We particularly welcome applications from those who are part of the global majority, the LGBTQIA+ community or disabled. We are proud to be a disability confident employer. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it. So, if you have a passion for making a difference and share in our vision for a world where no one is killed on our roads, we would love to hear from you. 

Apply now: If you're up for a new challenge and have the skills, apply now by sending your CV and cover letter. We'd like to get to know the real you through your application, not an AI version. If you do use AI to write your cover letter, please check it and make sure it reflects who you are. We encourage cover letters in alternative formats such as videos or presentations. 

Not for traffic offenders: Due to the nature of our work we can't accept applications from traffic offenders. Candidates will be asked to disclose whether they have any unspent points on their licence at screening/interview. 

An enhanced DBS check is required due to the sensitive nature of our service. 

Questions? If you would like to discuss the role further, please get in touch, we'd love to chat.