Personal Advisor

We are committed to the development of our workforce. This position is only available to applicants who already work for Surrey County Council. We thank you for your interest in our roles and would encourage you to review our vacancies which are open to all. 

This full-time, permanent role has a starting salary of £38,090 per annum, based on a 36 hour working week.

We have a great opportunity to join our South East Care Leavers Team as a Personal Advisor based in Reigate. We support hybrid working with the right balance. We come together in person for 2 days per week on average (60% of the working week) and support working from home alongside visits in the community the rest of the time.

Following LGR, this role will be based in the West of Surrey.

Our Offer to You

• 26 days' holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years' service (prorated for part time staff)
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• A generous local government salary related pension 
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave and 2 paid volunteering days per year 
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing 
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents

About the Role

This role sits within the Care Leavers Service, part of the wider Corporate Parenting Directorate at Surrey, who tirelessly support our care experienced young people to reach their full potential towards adulthood. The Service has a permanent and longstanding workforce of dedicated staff and managers. We foster a strong learning culture — celebrating achievements, sharing knowledge, and investing in staff development to help you thrive.

As a Personal Advisor you will have a caseload of care experienced young people. You will work directly with care experienced young people to transition successfully to adulthood and ensure they have a clear Pathway Plan to support them to do so. You will also work with partners to ensure our care experienced young people exceed in their lives. Your day to day work will vary and include visits to young people, multi-agency meetings alongside ensuring records are kept up to date according to service practice standards. 

You will have no line management responsibilities, however all team members select an expert area to become more knowledgeable and skilled in, and your responsibility would be to feed back learning to the wider team and service.

We work compassionately with our care experienced young people to ensure they meet their potential with the aim of leaving no one behind.

Your Application

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills and align with our behaviours :

• Experience as a Personal Advisor
• Experience of working with young people who are care leavers
• A broad working knowledge of social work practice and legislation, especially leaving care
• An ability to demonstrate excellent assessment and analysis skills
• An ability to understand and evidence a high standard of performance

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and candidates will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK and access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

To apply, we request that you submit a CV and you will be asked the following 4 questions:

1. Why are you applying for the role of Personal Advisor?
2. What skills and knowledge do you have to be appointed to the role of Personal Advisor?
3. What do you consider being some of the challenges our Personal Advisors face when working with Care Experienced young people?
4. What do you consider to be the barriers to care experienced young people reaching their potential and how would you support them to overcome this?

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 30/10/2026 with interviews planned to follow

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description and our Life at Surrey Handbook to get an insight into working at Surrey.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Contact Us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment. For an informal discussion please contact Vrushali Pendharkar by email at View email address on surreycc.gov.uk

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

Surrey County Council is undergoing Local Government Reorganisation and will move to new authorities in April 2027. This role is currently employed by Surrey County Council and will remain so until then. If you are employed by Surrey County Council on 1 April 2027, your employment will transfer under TUPE arrangements to one of the new councils, with your current terms and conditions protected.

The provisional allocation for this post is West Surrey Council, subject to final confirmation through the wider transition process later this year. Please see more information here: Information for applicants on Local Government Reorganisation - Surrey County Council.

Our Commitment

We are a disability confident employer which means if you have shared a disability on your application form and have evidenced you meet the minimum shortlisting criteria as displayed on the advert, we guarantee you an interview.

Your skills and experience truly matter to us. From application to your first day, we're committed to supporting you with any adjustments you need, we value inclusion and warmly welcome you to join and help build a workplace where everyone belongs.