Independent Visitor Coordinator
Match and support volunteer independent visitors with children in care, providing coordinator oversight of the relationship — a children's charity and local authority role supporting the Voice IV programme.
Low
High
Entry possible with Level 3 qualification and relevant experience; prior work with looked-after children, youth work, or volunteer management beneficial; most employers provide role-specific training on the IV scheme
No single mandatory qualification; Level 3 or above in social care, youth work, community development, or children and young people sector typically required. Safeguarding training (minimum Level 2) and enhanced DBS required. Experience working with children in care or looked-after children sector valued.
What you do
Independent Visitor Coordinators recruit, train, match, and support volunteer Independent Visitors (IVs) — adults who provide a regular, consistent, one-to-one befriending and activity relationship with children and young people in care who have limited or no contact with their birth families. The IV scheme is a statutory entitlement under the Children Act 1989 for looked-after children for whom it would be in their interests. Voice (the children's rights charity, formerly the Independent Visitor programme) coordinates and supports IV services nationally, often delivered in partnership with local authorities.
Your role as coordinator involves recruiting volunteers from the community, completing DBS and reference checks, delivering training to new IVs (safeguarding, boundaries, understanding children in care, communication), matching IVs with young people based on interests and geography, and maintaining the ongoing relationship — supporting IVs through challenges, facilitating relationship reviews with social workers and carers, monitoring contact, and handling any safeguarding concerns. You work directly with children and young people in the matching and review process, advocating for their wishes and interests. You manage a caseload of active matches and a pipeline of prospective volunteers, maintain records, and contribute to service monitoring and reporting. The role requires skills in volunteer management, safeguarding, working with looked-after children, and relationship-based practice.
Why this career is resilient
The Independent Visitor scheme is a statutory provision under children's legislation, creating a legal basis for local authority commissioning of IV services. The persistent disadvantage experienced by care-experienced young people — in educational attainment, mental health, and social outcomes — sustains the policy and voluntary sector investment in relationships-based support. Children's charities and local authorities consistently identify relational poverty as a key factor in poor outcomes for looked-after children.
The statutory basis of IV provision and the Children Act legal entitlement create structural demand that persists regardless of commissioning cycles. Growing political attention to care-experienced people's rights and outcomes — including the Independent Review of Children's Social Care's recommendations — supports sustained investment in the sector.
A typical day
Morning: interview a prospective Independent Visitor volunteer — discuss motivation, suitability, and the programme's requirements; complete records and progress DBS application. Match meeting with a 14-year-old young person in foster care — explore their interests and what they'd like from an IV relationship; share profiles of two potential IV matches. Afternoon: quarterly review conversation with an existing IV/young person pair — the relationship has been challenging; provide support and guidance to the IV, and separately check in with the young person and their social worker. Respond to a safeguarding concern raised by an IV about something a young person disclosed. Update case records.
Routes in
Employer-funded training
Some employers — particularly the NHS, emergency services, and larger care providers — run their own funded training programmes. You apply for a job and train as you work.
Pay and costs
Earning potential: IV Coordinator salary: approximately £24,000–£32,000 depending on organisation and location. Children's charity roles often on voluntary sector pay scales. Local authority IV service coordinator roles may align with children's social care support staff scales.
Training costs: Level 3 qualification in children and young people sector: typically £500–£1,500. Safeguarding training: provider-funded or low cost. DBS check: approximately £38. Most IV coordinator roles provide employer-funded safeguarding and IV-specific training.