Housing support worker jobs in Staffordshire

Ready for Your Next Leadership Challenge?

Do you have experience working with children and young people in residential care? Are you passionate about helping young people overcome adversity and achieve positive outcomes? Do you enjoy supporting colleagues, leading by example, and making a lasting difference?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Emotional Well-being Home in Leicestershire as a Senior Residential Children & Young People's Worker on a full-time, permanent basis.

About the Service

Barnardo's, the UK's largest children's charity, works in partnership with Leicestershire County Council to provide high-quality residential care for some of the county's most vulnerable children and young people.

Our homes provide safe, stable and nurturing environments for children and young people aged 8–18 who may have experienced trauma, disrupted attachments, loss, neglect, or other complex life experiences. We support a small number of young people at any one time, enabling us to provide highly individualised care and build meaningful relationships that promote emotional wellbeing, resilience, confidence and independence.

Our practice is rooted in trauma-informed, attachment-aware and relationship-based approaches. We believe every child deserves to feel safe, valued, listened to and supported to achieve their full potential.

Whilst this home will be your primary base, flexibility is required as there may occasionally be opportunities to support other residential services across Leicestershire.

About the Role

As a Senior Residential Children & Young People's Worker, you will play a key role in supporting the day-to-day operation of the home and providing leadership during shifts.

Working alongside the management team, you will help create a safe, nurturing and structured environment where children and young people can thrive. You will act as a positive role model, supporting colleagues to deliver high-quality care and ensuring that safeguarding remains at the centre of practice.

Do you have a passion for supporting children and young people to overcome challenges, build resilience, and achieve positive outcomes? Are you committed to providing safe, nurturing, and relationship-based care? If so, we would love to hear from you.

We are looking for a Residential Children & Young People's Worker to join our dedicated team within an Emotional Well-being Home in Leicestershire. This is a full-time, permanent position offering the opportunity to make a genuine difference in the lives of children and young people.

Our home provides a safe, stable, and nurturing environment for children and young people aged 8–18 who may have experienced trauma, loss, disrupted attachments, or other complex life experiences. We support a small number of young people at any one time, enabling us to provide highly individualised care and meaningful relationships that promote emotional well-being, confidence, independence, and long-term positive outcomes.

Our practice is rooted in trauma-informed and relationship-based approaches. We believe that every child deserves to feel safe, valued, listened to, and supported to achieve their full potential.

Key Responsibilities

As a Residential Children & Young People's Worker, you will:

• Build positive, trusting, and nurturing relationships with children and young people.
• Support children and young people with their emotional well-being, daily routines, education, independence skills, and personal development.
• Actively contribute to the creation of a safe, structured, and homely environment.
• Work alongside families, social workers, education providers, health professionals, and other partners to support positive outcomes.
• Participate in key-working sessions, care planning, and review processes.
• Promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people at all times.
• Complete accurate, professional, and timely recordings and reports.
• Support the day-to-day running of the home, including meal preparation, household tasks, and community activities.
• Be a positive role model, helping children and young people develop confidence, resilience, and life skills.

What We're Looking For

To be successful in this role, you will be able to demonstrate:

• A genuine commitment to improving the lives of children and young people.
• The ability to build positive and meaningful relationships with children, young people, and colleagues.
• An understanding of safeguarding, child protection, and professional boundaries.
• Resilience, emotional intelligence, and the ability to remain calm under pressure.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills.
• A willingness to learn, reflect, and continually develop your practice.
• A Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare, or a commitment to achieving this within the required timeframe.
• Flexibility to work shifts, including sleep-ins, weekends, and bank holidays.

Previous experience working with children and young people is desirable but not essential. We recognise that people bring valuable transferable skills from a wide range of backgrounds and are committed to supporting the right candidates to develop within the role.

Why Join Barnardo's?

Barnardo's is the UK's largest children's charity and has been supporting children, young people, and families for over 150 years. We are committed to ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background or circumstances.

Working within our residential services offers the opportunity to:

• Make a lasting difference to children's lives.
• Receive ongoing training, development, and professional support.
• Develop your career within one of the UK's leading children's organisations.
• Be part of a supportive and values-driven team.
• Work within a service that places relationships, safeguarding, and positive outcomes at the centre of everything we do.

Our residential services are delivered in partnership with Leicestershire County Council, providing innovative and high-quality care for some of the county's most vulnerable children and young people.

While your primary base will be in Leicestershire, there may occasionally be opportunities to support other services within the county.

When completing your application, please refer to your skills, knowledge, and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description, and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Please note that due to the high volume of applications received for some posts, this advert may close before the advertised closing date. We therefore encourage interested applicants to apply as soon as possible.

The Lead Support Worker is a vital member of the frontline team, leading our trauma informed, person centred specialist support work for people in Boaz accommodation who have had their asylum claims refused.

Our accommodation is for single adults, and is provided through shared housing. We know that housing is key for people who are facing homelessness after a negative asylum decision, and that a combination of accommodation, specialist support, and access to legal advice is an essential foundation for people who have often experienced significant trauma.

The Lead Support Worker will be the main contact for this area of our support work and will have their own case load of people living in Boaz accommodation (currently, this case load will be men who have had their asylum claims refused). The Lead Support Worker will provide line management to a Support Worker within the same project, while also integrating within our wider support team. We currently have 22 bed spaces for people who have been refused asylum, but we hope to increase this number in the months ahead. The post may line manage more than one Support Worker if the service expands in the future. 

This role ensures that people who have been refused asylum are supported throughout their time in Boaz accommodation: from being referred, to moving into Boaz  accommodation, to moving on from Boaz (our accommodation is temporary, and is usually provided for up to 12 months). Our holistic support model means that the support will vary per individual, however it will include offering legal support (in partnership with a local legal provider), access to healthcare, wellbeing, housing support, as well as other objectives set by the people we work with. This role will also help lead on our programme of wellbeing activities (Boaz Life), offering opportunities for people supported by Boaz.

As well as overseeing and providing support to individuals, the Lead Support Worker will also proactively build and maintain excellent external partner relationships, seeking out opportunities to benefit people living in Boaz accommodation. 

We are looking for someone who can deliver a high quality, trauma informed and person centred service for the people we support. This will include proactively improving processes and paperwork to support the team and service delivery. The Lead Support Worker will need to be well organised and make effective use of time, striking the balance between line management and Lead responsibilities, face to face support, completing case notes, reports and other required documentation, whilst being flexible enough to accommodate changes in plans and priorities. 

This role involves working with people who are often in very precarious situations and we are therefore looking for a Lead Support Worker who has high emotional intelligence, great communication skills, can build trusting relationships with people, and understands the journeys that people seeking asylum may have undertaken and the impact of destitution.