About this role
Contract: Permanent, part time, 30 hours per week Salary: £19,981 per annum (£24,976 FTE) Location: Hitchin SG4 8EU Closing date: Sunday 27th September 2026 Interview date: 5th – 7th October 2026 We’re recruiting a Pet Welfare Assistant for onsite animal care, for our Rehoming & Fostering team in Hertfordshire! At Blue Cross, we're dedicated to providing the best care possible to pets in need. As a Pet Welfare Assistant for our onsite services, you'll play an important role in our mission, ensuring that every pet receives the love, attention, and support they deserve during their stay at our Hertfordshire rehoming centre. Our Hertfordshire rehoming centre, based in Kimpton, originally opened in the 1940s and have facilities for dogs, cats and small pets. Our newly refurbished facilities include 20 kennels, five puppy pens and 29 cat pens, which includes a mother and kitten unit. We also have indoor rabbit space and rooms for small pets. Our dedicated Rehoming & Fostering team, supported by an incredible network of volunteers, helps pets and people across Hertfordshire and beyond. The team plays a vital role in finding loving new homes for pets through both centre-based adoptions and our Home Direct scheme, which allows pets to remain in a home environment while they wait to be adopted. By working closely with adopters, owners and foster carers, the team helps ensure every pet has the best possible chance of finding the right home. As a skilled animal handler and assessor, you will be responsible for the ‘preparation stage’ with the pets in our care which involves caring, carrying out assessments and rehabilitation plans, preparing them for the ‘adoption stage’ or the best possible outcome for their circumstances with minimal delay. As a Pet Welfare Assistant, you will ensure that the welfare standards are met and that rehabilitation plans are followed and supported for pets in our care. Working independently and with the team you will carry out meetings with owners giving up their pet, ensuring all information is recorded, paperwork completed and that the pet is immediately assessed for behavioural or veterinary problems. Working closely with the Adoptions Coordinator you will provide additional in person or virtual advice and practical demonstrations to ensure adoptees are fully aware of the work that has been done with the pet and how to continue with any other additional behaviour training or medical provision. This is a part-time role working 30 hours per week, worked across a two-week rota that includes every other weekend and occasional public holiday shifts. At our Hertfordshire rehoming centre, we provide onsite accommodation for pets in our care 24/7. Overnight shifts are usually undertaken by team members who live on site. Occasionally, you will be expected to carry out night checks or stay in onsite accommodation overnight when the resident team members are either not working or away for a period of time. If you excel in an environment where you can see the difference you make every day, then this is the role for you. Interested? Then apply and let’s work together to see if this is the role for you.