Senior Young People Support Worker (Wallsend)
This role is ideal for someone compassionate, proactive and motivated to drive positive change.
Location: Maritime Court, Wallsend
Salary: £29,403 per annum
Closing date: 17 May, 2026
Employment Type: Permanent
Hours per week: 37.5
About the Role
Senior Young People Support Worker – Wallsend
We’re looking for a proactive Senior Young People Support Worker to lead high‑quality, psychologically informed support at our nine‑bed supported accommodation service in Maritime Court. You’ll combine hands‑on client work with day‑to‑day leadership, ensuring a safe, well‑run environment where people build confidence, resilience and the skills to move on positively.
You’ll manage a small team, hold a focused caseload and lead on strengths‑based support planning, safeguarding and risk management. Working collaboratively with internal teams and partners, you’ll help clients access education, training, employment and volunteering opportunities—making sure the service delivers impact, consistency and opportunity every day.
Please note that this job opportunity is offered as a full-time (37.5 hours a week), permanent role.
Key Deliverables
• You will ensure the safety and wellbeing of clients in the service at all times including ensuring that Safeguarding and emergency alert procedures are followed as laid out in Depaul’s Policy and Procedures.
• You will support all clients to participate in Education, Training, Employment and Volunteering opportunities as appropriate to the development of their skills, assets and aspirations, through facilitating the work of Depaul’s Community Programs Team.
• You will hold line management responsibility for Progression Coach, Concierge and any other staff as deemed appropriate by your line manager, including undertaking supervision and appraisals including all other aspects of staff management and participate in an on-call Rota.
• You will carry a caseload of clients for whom you will be the named key worker, and you will ensure that there is a whole team approach to the support of all clients in the service ensuring the high quality of risk and needs assessments SMART outcome based support plans and case files for your key clients and those of your line reports.
• You will hold specific responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of the environment for clients, staff, visitors and volunteers through regular risk assessment, health and safety checks and reporting in accordance with the Health and Safety Policy, and retain oversight of repairs and maintenance reporting to ensure the building is kept in good order and safe for clients to reside in.
• You will liaise with Depaul’s internal departments including Finance, HR, Fundraising and Business Development as necessary to ensure the smooth running of the service, and ensure the accurate collection and recording of rent and the countersigning of invoices to support good financial management in the service.
• You will undertake further duties as commensurate to the role, in line with Depaul Policies and Procedures and as identified by your line manager.
What we are looking for from you – Person Specification
When completing your application form please address all the points set out below.
• Experiencing of supervising the work of others.
• An understanding and commitment to working in an assets based way.
• Experience of working with people who have experienced homelessness, poor mental health, substance use or have a history of living in care.
• Experience of using Risk Assessments and Support Planning.
• Good literacy, numeracy and IT skills.
• Experience of operating safeguarding requirements and procedures.
• Commitment to working in a manner, which promotes diversity and equality ensuring that everyone is treated with respect and dignity and no one, suffers from discrimination.
• Commitment to promoting an environment, which has the highest regard for the Health and Safety of others.
• Personal and professional integrity.
• High level understanding of professional boundaries and ability to maintain boundaries.
• Effective collaborative working.
• Ability to effectively reflect on own practices for ongoing learning and development.
• Respect for the values and ethos of Depaul and its founding partners.
What You’ll Receive
· Tailored training and development
· Flexible working options where suitable
· 26 days annual leave, rising with service
· Family friendly leave policies
· Pension scheme with employer contributions up to 7%
· Employee Assistance Programme with 24/7 GP access
· Discounts across retail, travel, food, fitness and more
· Cash health plan for you and your family
· Death in service benefit
· Access to legal and practical support
Safer Recruitment
Depaul UK is committed to fair and inclusive recruitment, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. If a role requires it under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, we will carry out the appropriate Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check. We only look at information that is relevant to the role, and a criminal record will never be treated as an automatic barrier to employment. All DBS information is handled sensitively, confidentially and in line with the DBS Code of Practice, and we encourage applicants to discuss any concerns with us openly.
About Depaul UK
In the 1980s, high unemployment and steep inflation was contributing to a shocking rise in youth homelessness across London. Thousands of young people were sleeping rough every night, with many areas notoriously dubbed “cardboard cities” due to the visible rise in street homelessness. Appalled by the scenes playing out across the capital, a group of people came together to tackle the challenge head on. Led by Cardinal Basil Hume and Mark McGreevy OBE, in 1989 Depaul UK was born.
What began as a single housing project in North London soon expanded across London, Greater Manchester and the North East of England. Today, Depaul UK provides accommodation, prevention and support services to thousands of marginalised young people across the UK each year.
As our name suggests, the work of Depaul UK has been inspired by St. Vincent de Paul – a man who devoted his life to helping vast numbers of people throughout the 17th century. St. Vincent de Paul’s belief in the intrinsic worth of all people and his commitment to taking bold action remain central to our values today. Depaul UK now forms part of a family of Depaul charities around the world. We each focus on the specific challenges in our own countries, but we’re united by our shared values and mission to end homelessness.
The Organisation
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is the UK’s leading children’s charity, driven by a single, unwavering belief: every child deserves to be safe, loved, and free from abuse. Established in 1884 and operating under Royal Charter, the organisation has spent more than 140 years working to prevent cruelty to children and create lasting change in their lives.
Today, that mission has never been more urgent. As the challenges facing children continue to evolve, from the risks of online harm to complex family circumstances, the NSPCC provides vital frontline support while also working to influence the systems that protect children. Each year, it helps make over a million children safer from abuse, with thousands of adults turning to its Helpline and children and young people relying on Childline’s 24/7 counselling when they have nowhere else to turn.
Working across all four nations of the UK and the Channel Islands, the NSPCC combines direct services, education programmes, and national advocacy to drive impact far beyond its immediate reach. Central to its work is a commitment to evidence-led practice, ensuring every action is informed by what works, and that the voices and experiences of children and young people remain at the heart of a safer, more protective society.
The Role
At the heart of NSPCC is its Services Directorate, delivering practical, child-centred support that helps keep children and young people safe. These services translate the organisation’s mission into action through prevention, therapeutic support, and strengthening safeguarding practice.
The Services Director will play a critical role in shaping the NSPCC’s future as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, leading the development and delivery of a national services strategy and overseeing a complex portfolio of services.
Key aspects of the role include:
- Leading high-quality national and local services that improve outcomes for children and young people
- Shaping and delivering the services strategy to support the organisation’s wider ambitions
- Driving integration and impact across NSPCC and Childline services
- Building strong relationships with senior stakeholders, including the Chief Executive, Board, and external partners
The Person
This is an opportunity for a collaborative, values-driven leader to navigate complexity, drive meaningful change, and make a lasting difference to children’s lives at scale. The successful candidate will demonstrate the following:
- Extensive experience and proven track record at Director level of successfully developing and delivering services, including co-production and collaboration with partners, in a complex stakeholder environment that have a measurably positive impact for beneficiaries.
- Highly experienced in child protection with demonstrable knowledge and experience of child safeguarding. A social work qualification will be highly advantageous.
- Proven experience leading and managing teams of functional experts, overseeing significant income and expenditure budgets, and driving operational performance through the setting and monitoring of clear, aligned objectives.
- Experience of designing and delivering transformational change and driving performance management using appropriate quality and management methods and models, to deliver efficient and effective services.
- Demonstrable understanding of the operational context for services including the commissioning and market environment.
- Experience of managing senior stakeholders, both internally and externally, and confidence in dealing with, and influencing, senior employees and volunteer colleagues, and producing and imparting clear and non-technical advice and information.
- Values the different skills and attributes of others, utilising the insight, experience and expertise of colleagues.
- Experience of representing an organisation at the highest level. Clearly articulates a compelling vision, focussing on both what the future might hold and the more immediate stepping stones to realise those outcomes.
- Challenges constructively and evidences a willingness to receive constructive challenge in order to drive our individual and collective efforts forward.
Further Information
For further information about NSPCC, the role responsibilities, and the person we are looking for, please download the Candidate Briefing Pack.
How to Apply
If you are interested in this key role within the NSPCC and feel you have the skills and experience required, please include the following with your application:
- An up to date CV with the details of two referees (we will not contact them without your prior permission).
- A supporting statement which addresses how you meet the criteria for the role as detailed in the Person Specification. Please also discuss your motivations for applying.
Closing date for applications: Monday 1st June 2026
Preliminary interviews with Russam: 12th-16th June 2026
First stage interviews with NSPCC: Week commencing 29th June 2026
Second stage interviews with NSPCC: Week commencing 6th July 2026