City Centre Liaison Officer

Role overview

Leeds City Council is hiring a permanent City Centre Liaison Officer based at Merrion House, 110 Merrion St, Leeds. The position is a full-time 37-hour role with a two-week rota, including alternating weekends. Bank Holiday work is optional, and enhanced pay applies for Saturday, Sunday, and Bank Holiday shifts.

This role does not offer hybrid working. It involves daily foot patrols across the city centre as part of a small team, with significant time spent on your feet and working outdoors in all weather conditions.

As part of the Street Support Partnership, you will represent the council in a visible uniformed presence across Leeds city centre, working with multiple agencies and council services to support people who are rough sleeping or begging, and to help keep the area safe, welcoming, and well managed.

What the role involves

You will engage with businesses, residents, visitors, and partner organisations through face-to-face contact, radios, phone calls, email, and Microsoft Teams. The role can involve difficult or emotional conversations, so confidence, diplomacy, and teamwork are essential.

The post sits within the Safer Stronger Communities Directorate and contributes to making Leeds a safer place to work, live, and visit.

Core purpose

The main aim of the role is to maintain a highly visible uniformed presence, reassure the public, act as a capable guardian, and respond to community safety concerns on the street.

You will work in partnership with Safer Leeds Street Support Team, city centre businesses, residents, council departments, West Yorkshire Police, and other agencies to support community safety programmes and city centre improvement work.

Key responsibilities

• Carry out proactive and reactive patrols of the city centre, using intelligence to identify and address risks, threats, and harms linked to people and place.
• Log and report all relevant issues or potentially unsafe situations found during routine patrols to the appropriate service or authority, and ensure follow-up action is taken.
• Work to the agreed rota and service plan, delivering the role in line with the Safer Leeds Strategy and the Best Council Plan.
• Welcome, direct, and support members of the public, shop owners, residents, and visitors with city centre enquiries, offering practical help and information.
• Support community safety initiatives, projects, and promotional activity at city centre event spaces and on the public highway.
• Work closely with Safer Leeds Street Support Team, council departments, West Yorkshire Police, and other bodies, sharing relevant intelligence on issues such as illegal street trading, pedlars, traffic regulation breaches, cleansing and waste concerns, and rough sleeping or begging.
• Use and oversee Leedswatch CCTV cameras to help reduce crime, following the Leedswatch code of practice.
• Use body-worn cameras appropriately, including correct recording and storage.
• Exercise delegated powers under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme where authorised, and carry out enforcement activity related to street scene risks, threats, and harms when permitted.
• Communicate community safety and city centre updates clearly and in a timely way to the right partners and sectors.
• Support situational crime prevention measures, including the removal and replacement of street fixtures and fittings where needed.
• Protect confidential information and comply with data protection requirements.
• Build and sustain effective cross-sector relationships to support Safer Leeds and the City Centre Community Safety Partnership Board, and attend meetings when required.
• Take responsibility for council-owned clothing and maintain a consistently professional personal appearance.
• Work flexibly across a 37-hour, five-day rota based on operational need, including unsociable hours, regular weekend working, and Bank Holidays as required.
• Complete other comparable duties as assigned by line management.
• Follow the council’s equal opportunities policy in all duties and as an employee.
• Comply with health and safety regulations and requirements at all times.

Typical duties include

• Patrolling Leeds city centre on foot and, where suitable, on an e-bike to reassure the public and respond to street-level safety issues.
• Taking direction from Safer Leeds Street Support Team and the Leedswatch Hub.
• Working with City Centre Management, Emergency Planning and Events, Licensing, Highways, Cleansing, and Parks teams.
• Communicating actively through the Business Crime Reduction Partnership radio system to share intelligence and respond to incidents.
• Recording, reporting, and referring incidents and issues to the relevant internal and external partners.
• Using delegated powers and authorised enforcement powers where applicable.
• Collecting and disposing of discarded needles, limited to single finds of no more than five needles at one location.
• Monitoring, reporting, and supporting joint cleansing operations linked to tents and rough sleeping locations.
• Working on joint operations such as Night Safe Leeds.
• Liaising with Leeds BID operational staff.
• Providing first aid response when appropriate.
• Attending relevant meetings.

Working pattern and conditions

The post is a permanent 37-hour role with a two-week rota and alternating weekends. Weekend and Bank Holiday enhancements are payable in line with the schedule. The work is physically active, outdoors-based, and requires extensive walking in all weather conditions.

Who can apply

Applications are welcomed from all backgrounds. Leeds City Council particularly encourages interest from women, carers, veterans, LGBT+ people, ethnically diverse communities, disabled people, and care-experienced individuals.

This role is based in the UK. Applicants must be able to prove their right to work in the UK before starting. If sponsorship is needed, applicants should first check whether they meet Skilled Worker visa eligibility, including the usual salary threshold of at least £41,700 per year or another qualifying route.

Qualifications and person specification

You should have 5 GCSEs or equivalent, including English and Maths, or relevant experience. A minimum of 2 years’ relevant experience in a related field is also referenced in the person specification.

The council is looking for someone who can listen carefully, communicate clearly, work collaboratively, handle challenging situations calmly, spot problems and help solve them, and maintain strong relationships based on trust and respect.

You should also be able to use common IT tools and systems such as Microsoft Word, Excel, OneDrive, email, radio communication, and Microsoft Teams.

Additional desirable capability includes confidence using a range of computer applications.

Experience and knowledge

Relevant experience includes dealing with on-street queries and challenges, and handling sensitive or confidential matters appropriately. An understanding of public sector issues is also required.

Behavioural expectations

The role calls for a strong commitment to equal opportunities, health and safety, accuracy, deadlines, service quality, ongoing learning, organisational values, and presenting a professional image of both yourself and the council.