Job Description

Role: Call Handler and Dispatch Operator (Dual Role)

Department: Force Control Room

Location: Atlas Court, Sheffield

Salary: £28,914 - £31,749 (plus 20% shift and weekend working allowance)

Hours: 37

Contract Type: Permanent

Are you looking for a role that’s rewarding, and meaningful? If you’re looking for a role where every day brings new challenges and the chance to make a real difference, this is it.

As a Call Handler and Dispatch Operator for South Yorkshire Police, you’ll be the first point of contact for members of the public who call 999 or 101 or use our online reporting or webchat service. You’ll play a vital role in supporting people during what could be the most challenging moment of their lives. Could you be the calm voice people rely on in an emergency?

You’ll be responsible for identifying and assessing risk and make resolution and deployment decisions using a range of systems. You will also allocate resources to incidents and support them in radio transmissions.

The Force Control Room is at the very heart of South Yorkshire Police. A police staff role here is an excellent way to gain experience and develop into other roles within our organisation. You’ll be part of a great team of people and a member of the wider policing family helping to keep South Yorkshire safe.

We’re looking for motivated people who are excellent team players with the ability, after training, to work unsupervised and use their own initiative.

To succeed in this role, you will need excellent verbal communications skills, but you will also need the ability to:

• Apply active/deep listening skills which involves listening intently and going beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks but also seeking to understand the meaning and intent behind them. At all times being empathetic to the needs of others.
• Multi- task to be able to type at the same time as listening, speaking, and entering data onto systems quickly and accurately. You should also be able to think ahead, and risk assess a situation by asking the right questions.
• Demonstrate resilience to stay calm and focused under pressure, make confident decisions quickly and effectively and can respond to and recover from difficult situations.

You’ll be based at Atlas Court, Sheffield which is located 5 minutes from Sheffield City Centre and Meadowhall.

You must be prepared to work shifts and bank holidays with the service operating 24/7, 365 days of the year. We will reward you with a competitive salary with enhancements to reflect the shift and weekend working.

Working a 24/7 shift pattern, full time or job share, attracts a salary of £28,914 - £31,749 (pro-rata for job share hours) and 20% shift allowance and weekend working taking the starting pay to approximately £38,745 (pro rata job share).

As a Call Handler and Dispatch Operator you will be responsible for:

• Receiving and critically assessing all types of contacts including 999, 101 and other types of contacts, by telephone or online, from the general public, police, and other agencies.
• Identifying the purpose and nature of each contact by eliciting relevant and sufficient information to enable an accurate and timely assessment of appropriate means of resolution.
• Assessing risk and identifying the appropriate action to resolve or determine the appropriate agency, deployment grading, and priority of contacts.
• Maintaining accurate records of relevant information using appropriate systems to ensure an audit trail and to measure and improve performance.
• Using a variety of applications and systems to maintain and update incident records, audit trails, and resource availability to measure and improve performance.
• Operating the Airwave network, linked to operational patrols within the guidelines and procedures of the Force.
• Deploying resources to incidents within the guidelines and procedures of the Force.
• Operating message systems and others including maintaining a watch on internal messages.

Skills and experience:

• Excellent Communication skills with the ability to listen, empathise and provide support.
• Excellent Communication skills with the ability to adapt language to meet the needs of different people/audiences.
• Experience of information gathering and problem solving.
• Able to utilise IT packages, systems, and/or databases.
• Able to appropriately prioritise and plan own work.
• Ability to work under pressure, making logical and appropriate decisions.

Skills and experience as documented in the role profile need to be evidenced in your application to be considered for interview.

For more detailed information relating to the role, skills, and experience for this role, please click here to view the role profile.

What we offer:

We offer generous entitlements and supportive policies to enable a better work-life balance, some of which are listed below:

• A highly competitive salary and access to a generous pension scheme
• Generous annual leave allowance
• A wide range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Flexible working arrangements including flexitime and hybrid working.
• A transparent and collaborative team culture underpinned by our core values of Fairness, Integrity & Trust
• Comprehensive range of development and leadership courses to develop your career with South Yorkshire Police
• Employee Assistant Programme (accessible 24/7) offering confidential support and advice.
• Flexible lifestyle benefits such as: Blue Light Card, Company Shop, Cycle to work scheme.
• Committed to embedding sustainability: South Yorkshire Police Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 (yhrn.police)
• Membership to the Sports and Social Club
• Access to a wide range of staff support groups and networks

Eligibility:

Applicants must meet the minimum requirement checkable history criteria, which must be taken into account for individuals applying to work with South Yorkshire Police in any capacity. A minimum checkable history of 3 years is required for this role and successfully undergoing recruitment vetting procedure is a pre-requisite of employment with South Yorkshire Police.

Appearance & Standards:

South Yorkshire Police is committed to striking a proportionate balance between self-expression and the need to maintain role sensitive professional standards in dress and appearance. Officers, staff, and volunteers of South Yorkshire Police are permitted to have tattoos visible whilst on duty provided the tattoo is not considered to be unacceptable or otherwise inappropriate. Tattoos will be reviewed as part of the recruitment and selection process.

South Yorkshire Police’s overarching aim is to deliver an excellent police service to support safer communities. The public’s assessment of our excellence is influenced by the level of trust and confidence in us, as an organisation and as individuals. In comparison to the general public, police officers and police staff are held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability. In applying to join the police, applicants are accepting of these higher standards and understand the implications on their right to privacy.

Smarter ways of Working:

South Yorkshire Police is committed to developing working practices which assist staff to balance their personal and professional lives, whilst meeting the needs of the organisation. This in turn enables South Yorkshire Police to provide an outstanding service to the community.

There are 3 different categories as part of this which are: Fixed, Field and Hybrid.

This role has been evaluated as a fixed role.

Fixed: This is a traditional arrangement, applicable when the work is mostly required to be undertaken at a fixed single place of work (on police premises) for the most of the time. The work can only or is more effectively delivered from a police premise or agreed organisational/partner premise.

South Yorkshire Police’s Key Values:

At South Yorkshire Police we have 3 key values which run through everything we do Fairness, Integrity & Trust, the attached document details the key behaviours we expect all employees to adhere to.

Contact details:

For further information about the role, please email FCR_Recruitment@southyorkshire.police.uk or call 0114 2196724.

Information Event:

We are holding an information event via MS Teams on Thursday 8th October 2026 starting at 4.30 pm. If you are interested in attending the event and discussing the role, please click here on the date and time of the event, to join.

Closing Date: 12th October 2026.

Closing dates are not normally extended, other than in exceptional circumstances and agreement is made between the Talent Acquisition Manager and the Line Manager for the role.

Recruitment Timeline:

Shortlisting: before 23rd October 2026

Assessment: 26th - 30th October 2026

Interviews: 16th - 27th November 2026

Candidate Information:

If you are successful at the interview stage and before appointment, the relevant pre-employment checks are required. These include references, medical clearance, vetting clearance, and sickness absence criteria check.

As part of your employment contract, you would be required to engage with routine audiometry (hearing) testing as part of the force health surveillance programme. This test would be provided through the force Occupational Health Unit (OHU).

The training course is scheduled to commence in March 2027. You will be expected to work full time, Monday to Friday for the first 13 weeks during training. Training will take place at both Robert Dyson House, Wath upon Dearne, Rotherham and Atlas Court, Atlas Way, Sheffield.

Please note: No annual leave can be taken during the first 13 weeks of training.

Internal Candidates:

You must ensure that you apply through the internal jobs board (Opportunity Marketplace via Oracle).

Diversity & Inclusion:

We are proud of being a truly inclusive organisation which provides fair and equal consideration to all of our applicants. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, disabilities, sexual orientation, religions, or beliefs and of neurodivergence.

We’re proud to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. Different backgrounds and experiences make us stronger.

If you are from an underrepresented group and want to find out more about the support we can offer, please contact our dedicated team on positiveaction@southyorks.pnn.police.uk

In addition, we will look to support anyone who requires Part Time/Job share working hours.

Case Studies – Vicky and Megan

Please find attached case studies for two team members in the Force Control room who are talking about the role and what it is like to work within South Yorkshire Police.

Vicky – Please click here

Megan - Please click here

Documents to Review:

For the Police Staff Recruitment Vetting Handbook - Please Click here

For Application Guidance and Tips - Please Click Here

For the FIT Values of South Yorkshire Police - Please Click Here

View our recruitment video:

https://youtu.be/2dGn5qti7_c