Senior Coroner’s Officer – Supervisor Full Time NEW

Are you experienced in working within a fast‑paced, customer‑focused environment and confident in making sound, strategic decisions to resolve complex issues? Are you interested in leading a team to support HM Senior Coroner in delivering the Coroners Service for West Sussex, Brighton and Hove?

We are seeking a passionate and committed Senior Coroners Officer – Supervisor to become an integral part of the Coroners Service.

This dedicated team plays a vital role in supporting the Senior Coroner by ensuring that legislative and case management processes, as well as the planning and coordination of all aspects of the service, are delivered with efficiency, professionalism, empathy, and compassion.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate strong leadership skills, personal resilience, and a consistently professional approach when working with colleagues, partners, and members of the public.

Salary: £48,226 to £51,356 per annum

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Full-time (37 hours per week)

Location: County Hall North, Madeira Ave, Horsham RH12 1AB (Hybrid and Flexible Working) with countywide travel including Brighton and Hove.

Interview Date: Tuesday 09 June 2026

This role offers hybrid working arrangements and will require you to work from county council office buildings and make regular visits across Horsham and Brighton, as well as the flexibility of home working as appropriate. Final arrangements to be confirmed with successful candidate.

You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes available.

About the Job

In this role, you will be responsible for the efficient management of a team of Coroners officers and Administrators managing all referrals, as well as the subsequent investigations and inquiries that lead to inquest hearings.

Any given day can often feel quite different from the next! There will be some key responsibilities likely to feature in this role, including:

• Supervising the accurate recording of all death referrals received by the Coroner’s Office in line with national and local guidance. Ensure that all referrals and associated activities are processed in full compliance with current legislation, regulations, and statutory guidance.
• Overseeing the preparation and submission of inquest files for Court, in consultation with HM Senior Coroner, West Sussex. Actively manage and allocate work to the Coroner’s Officers ensuring that procedural timelines and legislation is adhered to.
• Managing a team of Coroner’s Officers, delivering high quality investigations whilst maintaining a healthy and supportive environment, ensuring good performance management and development of people.
• Acting as a single point of contact to partner agencies to provide expertise and maintain effective multi agency working.
• Promoting the development of the Coroner’s Service.
• Managing the Coroner’s Office ensuring resilience is maintained and staff are fully equipped with all equipment and knowledge required to conduct their role safely, efficiently and effectively.
• Ensuring that the team is supported and empowered to provide a high-quality service to bereaved families.

Required Qualifications and Skills

• A level qualification or equivalent experience within the coronial environment.
• Experience of managing and developing a team, including work allocation, goal setting, advising, coaching and performance management.
• Experience of working as a Coroner’s Officer, being a single point of contact, analysing problems, making sound operational decisions and having the persistence and self-motivation to see an investigation through to conclusion.
• Substantial experience in some form of investigations, including conducting interviews, case building and case management.
• Personal resilience and professionalism when addressing potentially sensitive, confidential, or distressing inquiries.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Rewards and Benefits

We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 30 days annual leave plus the opportunity to buy additional leave and an excellent local government pension scheme.

A range of discounts give our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform.

For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CPP01333.

A virtual pre-recruitment Q&A webinar will be scheduled for Thursday 14 May at 2pm. If you wish to attend, please join the Microsoft Teams Meeting here: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/335198463104200?p=rFVOJorSLUOfrOYgnu

Click apply below, upload your CV, and complete the application form, explaining how you meet the key skills in the attached job description and experience you can bring to the role. Please ensure all that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.

Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to right to work within the UK, Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, satisfactory references, and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.