Family worker jobs in East of england

Are you passionate about improving support for families affected by substance misuse? This could be the perfect role for you!

The Family Support Worker is an exciting position within a growing, dynamic team where you can make a real difference to the lives of unpaid carers in Lambeth.

Following a highly successful launch to address a gap in support for young and adult carers looking after someone with substance misuse issues, this vital project has now been running for more than two years. As we enter the next established phase of the service, we are looking for a new Family Support Worker to bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas to help us continue expanding our impact.

The Role

Working across both our Young Carers and Adult Carers Services, you will provide holistic support to families affected by substance misuse through whole-family assessments and reviews. You will ensure that adult and young carers, as well as their wider families, have access to a range of emotional and practical support tailored to their specific needs.

What we are looking for:

• Sector Knowledge: An understanding of working within the substance misuse field and the associated health and social issues.

• Experience: Preferably, experience working with both adults and children/young people.

• Qualifications: A professional qualification in health & social care, youth or community work, and/or direct experience delivering family-focused interventions.

If you are looking for a fast-paced, rewarding role that makes a lasting difference to carers' lives, we would love to hear from you.

About Us

Carers’ Hub plays a vital role in Lambeth, supporting the borough's many unpaid carers. Carers often dedicate themselves to their roles at a heavy toll to their own wellbeing, frequently making sacrifices that impact their finances, education, and daily lives. We seek to limit these challenges through four core workstreams:

• Raising awareness of carers and their invaluable contributions.

• Influencing local policy through active community engagement.

• Improving carer wellbeing through direct interventions.

• Connecting carers to one another, as well as to external support and training opportunities.

Key Information

• Closing Date: 9am, Friday 10 July 2026

• Interviews: Wednesday 15 July

Our Purpose

Unlocking Potential is the charity that supports schools and communities to ensure no child or family struggles alone with their social, emotional and mental health needs. We provide flexible, over-time, multi-disciplinary therapeutic support that meets children and families where they are, and enables them to feel safe, understood and the best version of themselves.

Our Vision

Everyone feels supported, equipped and able to achieve their potential.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide tailored therapeutic support to more children, while training the practitioners of the future to build holistic, resilient social systems that equip children and their families with the confidence, tools, and skills to thrive at school and within their communities.

Values

• Individual: Everything we do is about the individual and what is right for them – no two children, families or schools are the same.
• Innovative: We look for new solutions, evolving our thinking and approach – ensuring the use of bold, co-designed practice.
• Collaborative: We choose to work with others to find the best solutions – we are stronger together.

Our Family Support Programme

We launched our Family Support Programme in September 2025, initially as a three year pilot working with families across Wandsworth, with aims to be able to expand and continue the service beyond this. This service offers flexible, relationship-based support to families facing a range of challenges, helping them navigate systems, strengthen protective factors, and improve outcomes for children. Operating across extended hours, the service is accessible and responsive, with a strong focus on early intervention, collaboration, and building trust with families.

About the role

We are looking for a skilled and compassionate Family Support Worker to join our new Family Support Service, supporting families initially across our partner schools in Wandsworth (with the aim of expanding the service beyond this over time).

This is a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative early help service from the outset, working within a small, dynamic team to make a tangible difference to the lives of children and their families. As a Family Support Worker, you will deliver flexible, hands-on, and therapeutically minded support to families facing multiple and complex challenges.

You will build trusted relationships through home visits, school meetings, and practical support - empowering parents and carers to strengthen routines, manage behaviour, improve attendance, and access services. Your role will be guided by detailed needs assessments and focused on achieving meaningful outcomes with each family.

Working closely with schools, health and social care professionals, and other local partners, you will contribute to effective, joined-up support for families. Using a restorative approach, you will help build resilience and give families the tools they need to make informed decisions and sustain positive change.

This role is ideally suited to someone with experience working in early help, family support, or community-based roles. You will be confident working independently in family homes, committed to safeguarding, and motivated by making a real difference in children’s lives. You'll also benefit from high-quality supervision, therapeutic reflective practice, and a supportive team culture that values learning, collaboration and compassion.

Other Information:

• How to apply: In line with safer recruitment practices, to apply for this role please complete an application form by following the link on our online recruitment portal. As part of the application, you will be asked to upload your CV and a personal statement which should clearly demonstrate (giving relevant examples) how you meet the requirements of the person specification.
• Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all those who work with us to share this commitment. It's a criminal offence for a person to apply to work with a group from which they have been barred from working. We follow safer recruitment practices in line with KCSIE including (but not limited to): online checks at interview stage, an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, satisfactory references, a medical check, proof of qualifications and right to work in the UK.
• Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging: Our children and families and staff come from a wide range of backgrounds, and we value the unique contribution that each individual can bring to UP. We have a diverse and inclusive team, and we strongly believe that this is vital to our work. We welcome applications from all sectors of the community, and we do not discriminate against any applicants on the basis of any protected characteristics. We ensure that candidates and employees are treated solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential.
• We want you to have everything you need to make an informed application, if something is unclear, you would like more information, or if you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage of the application process, then please get in touch.

Example Benefits:

• Enhanced sick leave
• Enhanced family leave 
• Income Protection Policy 
• Life Assurance Policy 
• Medical Cash Plan
• EAP service 

Family Support Worker – Thames Valley

£24,000 pa + Company Car (with an approx. retail value of £23,000-26,000, taxable benefit in kind of £6-£8K) and other excellent benefits

Thames Valley and surrounding areas.

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity is going through an exciting time where we are growing, with the aim of reaching more families in need.

About the role:

We are looking to appoint a Family Support Worker on a full-time basis (35 hours, 5 days per week) to deliver a high-quality family support service as part of our Thames Valley Care Team to families in the local area, at a time where they need it most.

Reporting to the Family Support Manager of the Thames Valley Care Team and working in partnership with health, education and social care professionals, you will take responsibility for providing needs-led emotional, social and practical support to families where a child/young person has a life threatening or terminal illness. You will enjoy responsibility for managing your own schedule, remaining flexible to the needs of the families on your caseload.

Having worked in a stressful and emotional environment you have a genuine interest in building supportive relationships and helping people; and having provided bereavement support to families, you understand processes of grief, loss and change - and how best to help others deal with its impact.

This role covers Thames Valley and surrounding areas. The role does require travel, however you have the freedom to plan your own diary around the demands of both the families you are working with, your team, and also any personal appointments you may need to attend.

What we’re looking for:

· An experienced child health, education or social care professional - applications will be particularly welcome from those who have worked in a community environment and those with a recognised qualification in education, health or social care

· A warm, inclusive approach to achieving goals quickly and correctly

· Practiced in child protection, information sharing and the rules around data protection - you lead by example, drawing on your own professional experience and working within established guidelines

· Practical and people-oriented - you will thrive working at a fast pace whilst maintaining accuracy and be a confident user of IT (including MSOffice)

· A persuasive and open communicator - you will work collaboratively with your team and volunteers to ensure delivery of a high-quality service and support fundraising colleagues by writing case studies and family updates

· A practical knowledge of diversity issues affecting children, young people and their families – aware that being responsive to others needs and concerns, is essential.

What we offer:

We are proud to be a Best Companies Two-Star rated organisation, an outstanding place to work! As a Top 10 Charity, we have a range of fantastic benefits that we offer our employees, including:

• Control over your own schedule, based on the needs of families on your caseload, to balance home and working life

• Company car for front line care posts (car P11D value of £23,000-26,000, taxable benefit in kind of £6-£8k)

• Pension scheme where we contribute 5% of your salary and you contribute at least 3%

• 25 days of annual leave plus public holidays – rising to 26 days after 1 year, 27 days after 5 years and 30 days after 11 years, with an additional 5 years to use in your 10th or 20th year of service (pro rata for part time)

• The option to buy/sell annual leave, as well as additional leave for your birthday, wedding/civil ceremony and an extra half day off for Christmas shopping

• Time off in Lieu

• Family friendly policies, focused on employee wellbeing, and an active cross-organisational wellbeing group running a number of initiatives throughout the year

• Employee Assistance Programme with access to remote GP, counselling, physiotherapy, resources to support your mental health and financial wellbeing, as well as a 24/7 helpline via Help@Hand

• Access to the Blue Light Card Scheme, and other rewards and discounts

• Bike to work, season ticket loan and payroll giving schemes

• A recommend a friend recruitment bonus scheme

• Robust training and development programmes to support your learning and growth.

If you’d like to find out more about these benefits and working with us, please visit our why work with us page on our website.

More information about us and our recruitment process can be found in our Candidate Pack on our website.

Development opportunities:

As part of our learning and development Anne Harris Skills Development Programme, we aim to provide a high level of training and development opportunities for all staff, so you are able to perform to the best of your ability, achieve individual and team objectives aligned to Rainbow Trusts strategic plan, supporting staff to be their best and feel a valued member of a high performing organisation.

As part of our learning and development Anne Harris Skills Development Programme, we aim to provide a high level of training and development opportunities for all staff, so you are able to perform to the best of your ability, achieve individual and team objectives aligned to Rainbow Trusts strategic plan, supporting staff to be their best and feel a valued member of a high performing organisation.

Our Family Support Teams are given the opportunity to complete a number of diverse training courses in their first 12 months, including but not limited to: Mental Health First Aid, Makaton, introduction to play, drawing and talking training.

The programme aims to provide a building block for you to individually tailor your own learning and development needs.

About us:

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity enables families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness to make the most of time together, providing expert, practical and emotional support, where they need it for as long as it is needed. For families living with childhood illness, time is everything. Right now, there are too many families coping alone with no support, no time to think, no time to make memories and no time for each other. We believe that no family should go through this alone, so we are here to change that.

How to apply:

Please visit our website and apply online.

Please disclose on your application form if you have used AI for any part of your job application.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

Additional information:

Interviews will take place at our Thames Valley Care Team office with the dates to be confirmed. We will only contact those applicants who have been successful.

There will be a requirement for flexible working and a full current driver’s licence to accommodate team and family need. An enhanced DBS disclosure will be required for this post.

Rainbow Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all employees to share this commitment.

Rainbow Trust is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applications from all backgrounds.