Contact and Information Officer

Contact and
Information Officer

1

Prevention

We promote the need
for good eye health to
prevent avoidable
sight loss.

Support

Our support services
help people to live
independent lives.

Independence

We provide access to
information,
equipment, training
and social groups.

Dear Applicant

Thank you for your interest in working with KAB.

The role of Contact and Information Officer at our
Bromley Office is pivotal to ensuring our Service
Users have access to high quality support,
information and advice. You’ll be the first point of
contact for many clients, ensuring a warm
welcome to KAB.

This recruitment pack contains some useful
information about what we do at KAB, together
with a Job Description and Person Specification.
To apply for this role, you will need to fill out our
Application form and Equality Monitoring form.

Once you’ve completed the forms, please send to
April Smith, HR Officer, by email at
recruitment@kab.org.uk, or by post to Kent
Association for the Blind, 72 College Road,
Maidstone, ME15 6SJ.

Completed forms should reach us by 1
February 2026. Interviews will be held at our
Bromley office, date to be confirmed.

Although we would like to be able to write to each
applicant individually to let them know the
outcome of their application, sadly the cost of
doing this is prohibitive. Therefore, if you have not
heard from us within two weeks of the closing
date please assume that on this occasion your
application has been unsuccessful.

Thank you very much for your interest and we
look forward to receiving your completed
application.

Yours sincerely

Vanessa Stanley
Director of Human Resources

Our vision
To improve the lives of people with sight loss in Kent and surrounding areas.

Our mission
To achieve our vision, our key aims focus on prevention, support and
independence.

Our values
Our values will help us to make a difference in our roles; driving the things we do
and say.

Our values will shape:
  The way we behave with people we support, families, our peers, volunteers and

organisations.

  How we plan, make decisions and come up with solutions.
  How we recruit, induct and develop staff.

Caring – We are kind and care about people and our work.

Collaborative – We work better together and are always inclusive.

Creative – We are continuously looking for new and effective
solutions.

Personal – We treat you as individuals, encouraging each and
everyone to reach their potential.

Professional – We are trusted to be the best we can be, working
with honesty and integrity.

Skilled – We are highly experienced, with excellent local knowledge.

Who we are

Our support

KAB is a charity and service provider that has been
working throughout Kent and the surrounding areas
since 1920. Our aim is to improve the quality of life
for sight impaired people of all ages and enable
them to maximise their independence.

We have around 110 staff working from four local
bases, and around 500 volunteers across the
region. The charity has a turnover of c. £2.5 million
p.a., and is overseen by a Board of Trustees.

Our locations
Our Rehabilitation teams are split into four main
contract areas: West Kent, East Kent, Medway and
Bromley. Most of our work with clients is within the
clients’ homes, and some clients visit our Sight
Centres.

There are three Sight Centres, with the addition of
our Iris vehicle, which is a mobile Sight Centre.
Maidstone Sight Centre is also our head office, with
departments such as Finance, HR, Fundraising and
our Guide Communicator service. This centre
services the West Kent and Medway areas. Our
other Sight Centres are in Bromley and Canterbury
(East Kent). Each Centre has a resource room full of
equipment and technology that a client can try.

Additional services we provide
  Transcription services – transcribing documents
into different formats including Braille, large
print and audio.

  Training courses in Visual Impairment

Awareness, Hearing Impairment Awareness,
Deafblind Awareness and Assistive Technology.

  CPD accredited training for professionals in

supporting patients with low vision.

  DBS checking service for companies.

To find out more,
visit www.kab.org.uk
or scan the QR code

Rehabilitation:
assessment of
needs, registering
as sight impaired or
severely sight
impaired, and
providing advice,
training and
guidance

Eye Clinic Liaison
Officers in hospitals

Mobility training

Assistive
technology
guidance and
advice

Social groups.

1-2 Guide
Communicator
support

Children and young
people services

Family activities

Counselling

Befriending

Advice and
guidance at Iris,
our mobile Sight
Centre

Employment Details

Job title:

Contact and Information Officer

Responsible to:

Senior Rehabilitation Worker - Bromley

Hours of work:

18 hours per week.

Based at:

Salary:

Bromley Sight Centre, Community House, South
Street, Bromley, BR1 1RH

£11,840 - £12,339 per annum plus a London
Weighting Allowance of £1,112.50

Pension scheme:

Membership of the pension scheme is available. KAB
will match contributions up to a maximum of 6% of
salary.

Wellbeing programme:

Access to a 24 hour confidential support service.

Holiday details:

21 days per annum, rising to 25 days maximum
based on length of service in addition to bank
holidays. Plus 4 extra days at Christmas.

Use of private car:

£0.45 per mile for business mileage.

Expenses:

All approved out of pocket expenses incurred in
undertaking official business will be met.

Contact and Information Officer

Job Purpose

To be the first point of contact and provide high quality support, information and
advice to service users from Bromley, ensuring that they receive an appropriate
and professional response to their enquiry as quickly as possible.

Job Description

Main Tasks:
  Respond to enquiries or referrals:

  Carry out a priority telephone assessment to establish client’s individual

needs and the level of risk.  Electronically record the information.

  Undertake initial screening to determine the client’s VI needs
  Resolve all enquiries at initial contact where possible or pass to the relevant

team member for action.

  Provide verbal information, advice and guidance regarding eye conditions, eye
health, KAB services, London Borough of Bromley services, registration and
referral processes and equipment.  Follow up with written or audio information if
needed or signpost to other sources of information.  Provide emotional support
and reassurance as appropriate.

  Issue replacement equipment after checking eligibility and suitability of the

equipment to the user’s needs. Maintain accurate monthly records of equipment
issued and collate as required.

  Prepare purchase orders for approval (Operations Manager/Director of Services)
and place orders as required.  Monitor delivery and verify details against original
order.  Keep records of all orders and reconcile paperwork.

  Provide face-to-face information, advice, guidance and replacement equipment

for clients, their family members, carers and professionals at the Centre;

  Monitor the rehabilitation email boxes x 2 on a daily basis and take action for all

referrals.

  Identify possible safeguarding concerns, appropriately document these concerns
and raise them with an appropriate manager within the required timescales.
Follow internal protocols in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults and
children, supporting referrals as required.

  Maintain thorough up to date knowledge of the services available to support
sight impaired people (e.g. other KAB services, London Borough of Bromley
Services, Low Vision Clinics, other voluntary agencies), and refer or signpost
callers as appropriate.  Carry out research where needed in response to non-
routine enquiries.

  Maintain and manage detailed electronic records of all work undertaken.

  Undertake training and maintain knowledge in the following areas;

-  KAB and Local Authority recording systems
-  Safeguarding/Adult Protection
-  Mental Capacity Act
-  Equality and Diversity
-  Safeguarding/Child Protection
-  Eligibility criteria
-  Sight Impairment, Hearing Impairment and Deafblind awareness
-  Data protection and information governance
-  Any additional training required by KAB or the commissioning authority

  Carry out telephone service user reviews; update service user information and
check that equipment issued is being used effectively and meets service users’
needs.

  Maintain knowledge in key areas including equipment and technology, local

policy and relevant legislation.

  Provide support to other colleagues at the Bromley Sight Centre, including

supporting the rehabilitation function, preparing training materials and preparing
information for dissemination.

  Provide administrative support to groups running at the Sight Centre. To include
booking rooms, sending course invitations, managing attendee lists, organising
refreshments, producing materials in preferred formats and collating evaluation
data.

  Work within health and safety protocols; this includes sharing responsibility for

checking the team area and occasional locking/opening up as required.

  Attend team meetings, one-to-ones, and training as required.

  Perform other relevant duties as required by the Chief Executive of KAB.

This job description is not exhaustive, but is provided to assist the post-holder to
know what their main duties are.  It may be amended from time to time without
change to the levels of responsibility appropriate to the grade of the post and in
discussion with the post-holder.

KAB is an equal opportunities employer.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

Be able to demonstrate:
  Ability to assess and prioritise within a framework of prescribed priority criteria.
  The ability to analyse and use professional judgement to assess risk and

understand safeguarding indicators.

  Experience of project work and evaluation.
  A willingness and ability to complete relevant modules of KAB training.
  Ability to adapt quickly to a new working environment, swiftly gain detailed

knowledge of eye conditions, sight impairment and its impact.

  Excellent interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate effectively, and to listen

and empathise while remaining objective.

  Ability to deal with, and show empathy to, a variety of audiences, some of whom

may be distressed or exhibiting challenging behaviour.
  Ability to conduct research in order to respond to queries.
  Sound IT skills, the ability to use MS Word, Outlook, Excel, and Explorer

effectively, learn new data management systems quickly and to be
administratively self-sufficient.

  Ability to complete data inputting within necessary time periods and to required

data quality standards.

  Experience of maintaining efficient administrative systems, ensuring all

necessary information is recorded and communicated to relevant colleagues.

  Ability to organise time effectively, establish efficient systems, prioritise

workload and meet deadlines.

  Good written communication. Good passes at GCSE English and Maths or

equivalent.

  Ability to understand and demonstrate commitment to KAB’s Equal Opportunities
Policy and to ensure all activities are consistent with the Equal Opportunities
Policy.  This includes all staff activities and their interface with the general
public.

Desirable criteria
  Knowledge of services available to people with sight loss, particularly in relation

to the standards embodied in the documents ‘Progress in Sight’ and ‘Good
Practice in Sight’.

  Knowledge of databases and/or health or social care IT and recording systems.

This job description is not exhaustive, but is provided to assist the post holder to
know what the main duties are. It may be amended from time to time without
change to the levels of responsibility appropriate to the grade of the post and in
discussion with the post holder.

If you have any queries about this role, please get in touch:

 Email:
 Call:

recruitment@kab.org.uk
01622 691357 (option 5)