Our advisers are responsible for deliver information and advice to older people, their families and carers, in the London Borough of Southwark. Subject matters for information and advice will include welfare benefits, housing options and community care. This role is part of the Information and Advice team within our Ageing Well Southwark partnership.

Age UK Lewisham and Southwark aims to empower and enable older people to lead fulfilled lives by:

• Providing services and support that address poverty and isolation
• Protecting the human rights of local older people
• Promoting health and wellbeing
• Connecting older people with their communities
• Working positively with partners across all sectors

Our work is shaped by our values:

• We recognise older people as individuals with diverse talents and needs.
• We are fair and equal as a service provider, employer and partner.
• We are opposed to ageism in all forms.
• We are collaborative in our approach to work.
• We are a dynamic, credible, trusted and sustainable organisation

XLP is a youth work charity working to create positive futures for young people and at the cutting edge of tackling poverty and educational failure in inner London.​

We deliver holistic, long-term work with young people aged 11 – 25 in schools and estate communities, working across nine inner-city boroughs, with some of the hardest to reach young people in London. ​

We're looking for a Senior Youth Worker to join our South London team, working in Southwark. ​You will coordinate and develop XLP’s work across the borough, with a particular focus on delivering face to face youth work in schools and community projects.

Person Specification

We're looking for an enthusiastic and experienced youth worker who:

• Understands the value of long-term relationships within youth work;​
• Has strong youth engagement skills and is able to build rapport with young people quickly;​
• Has strong organisational and project management skills;​
• Is able to demonstrate success in building and managing external stakeholder relationships;​
• Is able to mobilise volunteers and/or students and know how to get the best out of those on a team.

Other desirable skills:

• A suitable youth work related qualification and driving licence
• Experience of creating course content and preparing individual and group mentoring sessions;​
• Experience of delivering youth work in a detached setting;​
• Strong local knowledge of Southwark.

​​All XLP staff and volunteers have enhanced DBS disclosures and work within strict child protection guidelines.​

What we offer

In return, the successful candidate will receive a supportive and flexible working environment, regular staff training and access to a range of employee benefits including; employer pension scheme contribution, clinical supervisions and regular team socials.

How to Apply

Please click the link to apply online with a CV and cover letter.

We will be interviewing as applications come in, with the right to close the advert if the appropriate candidate is found before the deadline close.​ 

At Thames Reach we are driven and committed to helping homeless and vulnerable people to live in decent homes, build supportive relationships and lead fulfilling lives. Our vision is to end street homelessness and our aim is to achieve the highest standards and effectiveness in service delivery to vulnerable people.

We are recruiting a Lead Worker to join our Hillingdon outreach team. This is an exciting opportunity to join a service working in Hillingdon and Heathrow airport. Working in this team will give you an opportunity to make a real difference to rough sleeping. This role will enable you to use you existing knowledge and experience to move into a role where you will have more influence and responsibility within a team, to work towards quick outcomes, to support rough sleepers away from rough sleeping. This team will work alongside other agencies to support people to access suitable crisis and longer-term accommodation and reduce the number of people sleeping in Hillingdon and airport.

You will be responsible for:

• Overseeing the caseload of support workers in the team; working closely with them to identify the quickest and most appropriate route off the street for their clients, and devising a plan to achieve this, while holding a caseload of your own.
• Conducting regular outreach shifts in the airport, including night time and early morning shifts.
• Focusing on improving the local response to rough sleeping by coordinating joint working and collaboration between agencies.
• Representing the team at multi-agency meetings such as Task & Targeting meetings.
• Identifying gaps in local provision and researching new pathways off the streets for a variety of rough sleepers, including those with no recourse to public funds.
• Accurately recording all work done.

With the help of our experienced senior staff and management, you will be supported and trained to use your strong communication and creative problem-solving skills, to enable you to create and deliver options for people where these may be hard to find. You will receive regular supervision from experienced staff who will both guide your work and encourage and facilitate your personal development. 

To be successful you’ll need to have:

• Experience in working with rough sleepers or vulnerable adults and supporting them to access services.
• Excellent organisation and time management skills in order to remain strongly outcome focused, with the ability to coordinate a high number of cases and complete tasks promptly and efficiently.
• Commitment to working in a challenging environment with the ability to be highly flexible throughout the working day.
• Good communication skills and confidence in public speaking when representing Thames Reach to external organisations and forming strong working relationships with partners; being able to challenge them when required.
• Strong IT skills with the ability use Outlook, online recording systems, Excel, and Word, using a tablet and a smart phone.  

The role will involve office and street-based work in Newham. While a large proportion of your time will be spent working daytime shifts, Monday-Friday, the role includes some early morning and late night outreach shifts.

As well as a great working environment, we also offer:

• Support to develop your case working skills and specialist knowledge.
• 6.5% employer & 1.5% employee contributory pension scheme, tuition aid and role-specific training.
• 29 days holiday and 8 paid bank holidays.

Thames Reach is committed to achieving a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We value, respect, and celebrate diversity. We welcome and encourage applicants from all sections of the community regardless of their history of homelessness, sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, or religious belief.

For further information on the post and to apply please visit our website.

Closing date: Sunday 14th November

Mix of home/London office based with UK travel

Save the Children has an exciting opportunity for an experienced and strategic communicator to join us as UK News Lead, a diverse and varied role where you will develop and deliver two strategies fundamental to creating change for children.

• Are you a dynamic and influential individual with extensive experience operating within UK media?
• Do you have a wealth of contacts to strategically place Save the Children's UK priorities at the heart of news
  and public debate?
• Do you have a proven record of building influential partnerships between teams and organisations and achieving high profile media coverage for social causes?
• Are you motivated by our vision of creating a world where every child doesn't just survive, but thrives, and can go on to change the world?

If the answers to these questions are yes, we would love to hear from you!

About Us

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

Job Purpose
We are looking for a UK News Lead to develop and deliver two key strategies fundamental to achieving the objectives of Save the Children UK. The first will be to use media and partnerships to secure political influence and new sources of funding by helping Save the Children become better known for work in the UK aimed at alleviating child poverty, improving early-years education and promoting social mobility. 

The second will strengthen the standing of Save the Children in the UK through innovative corporate communications and media partnerships, generating stories and angles suitable for webinars, briefings, conference speeches and op eds by the CEO and executives. 

This role will give you the opportunity to shape the organisation's UK media and corporate communications strategies, working closely with the CEO and other senior directors. You will have the chance to expand and innovate the organisation's reach and networks among new and high level circles and have a high level of autonomy in shaping the role and its outputs.

Main Accountabilities

• Lead on developing and implementing a strategy to promote our policies, campaigns, advocacy and programmes in the UK to address child poverty and strengthen education in the early years
• Lead on developing and implementing a corporate communications and media partnerships strategy that supports our influencing and corporate objectives, clearly identifying target audiences and the appropriate communication channels to reach them
• Identify opportunities to deliver corporate communications which promote Save the Children, the organisation, and its thought leadership
• Lead on building relationships across the UK to bolster our evidence-gathering and generate case studies that humanise child poverty issues
• Lead on building media partnerships across the UK to i) increase the impact of our media coverage at all levels, nationwide and locally and ii) to support and promote our appeals, fund-raising or otherwise, to wider audiences
• Strengthen our organisation through building our thought-leadership brand and through building the capability of our leaders to be ambassadors for our brand
• Strengthen our relationships with target audiences through specialist media
• Provide effective editorial leadership ensuring best media outcomes across the organisation
• Act as spokesperson for Save the Children on relevant policy areas
• Protect Save the Children’s reputation, developing and implementing issues and crisis management media strategies and rebuttal as required

Person Profile
Essential Skills and Experience

• The ability to provide leadership to colleagues in different teams on complex projects, and to contribute to the organisation’s strategy and providing technical guidance to resolve challenging issues
• Experience as a senior news journalist or in media handling, and a strong track record of success in securing media coverage in a variety of outlets, with the emphasis on national and international news coverage. Experience should include strong examples of developing strategies and obtaining significant coverage on own initiative
• The ability to monitor trends within own discipline and an excellent knowledge of the media landscape
• The resilience to work fast, effectively and under high pressure, as well as motivating others to do the same
• Excellent media and strategic skills, and the ability to identify goals and tactics to promote Save the Children’s UK work and deliver media partnerships and corporate communications outcomes
• Strong communications skills (both written and verbal), the ability to manage sensitive issues and to write Op Eds, or features, for publication in a national or specialist publication, and to tailor communications to different audiences
• Experience of devising social and digital media plans to increase news reach
• Excellent knowledge of child poverty, social mobility, early learning and humanitarian issues
• A firm commitment to Save the Children’s mission, values and approach (includes child focus, equal opportunities)

Save the Children UK is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work both external and internal. We strive to be an inclusive employer and particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, LGBT+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as these are underrepresented at Save the Children UK.

Croydon Drop In is an established, award-winning provider of advice, information, guidance and counselling to the community of Croydon and we are committed to improving the welfare of local children, young people and families.

This is an exciting time to join the Mental Health Support Team with excellent opportunities to shape the delivery of the service and make a real difference to better emotional wellbeing in communities.

The post holder will provide Clinical Supervision to a Mental Health Support Team of 4 x Education Well-Being Practitioners, 2 x Counsellors, 2 x Senior Practitioners/Team Leaders and provide Line Management to the Team Leaders. A requirement of this post is that the postholder attends Kings College University from January 2022 to complete the recognised clinical supervisor course for this initiative for which course fees will be paid.

The Mental Health Support Team Project (formerly known as Trailblazer) is a national transformation programme funded by NHSE, commissioned locally by South West London Partnership and delivered in Croydon by local partnerships (CDI & Off The Record and CAMHS) that aim to improve existing children and young people’s mental health services by working in Primary, Secondary and Further Education settings with children, young people, parents/carers and professionals. In Croydon the delivery focus in Wave 2 is the early intervention and prevention of issues relating to serious youth violence and in Wave 6 the focus will be on post-Covid recovery in the community. The practitioners work within the CDI & OTR partnership as part of a team delivering high-quality, outcome focused evidence-based interventions for children, young people and their families experiencing mild to moderate emotional health challenges. From January 2022 CDI and Off The Record will be supporting 16,000 children and young people in 28 schools and academies.

XLP delivers holistic, long-term work with young people aged 11 – 25 in schools and estate communities. XLP works across nine inner-city boroughs, working with some of the hardest to reach young people in London.

We're looking for an experienced youth worker to join our XLP East London team (incorporating Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney boroughs), to deliver high quality youth work in school and community settings in and around the Olympic Park.

The role is part of a partnership with London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) and the successful candidate will work with the XLP East London team to ensure the networks and links with LLDC and other youth providers in the area remain strong, and securing the resources and volunteers to deliver the projects and outcomes agreed with LLDC.

The ideal candidate will:

• Be passionate about creating positive futures for young people in Stratford
• Understand the value of long-term relationships within youth work
• Have strong experience delivering youth work
• Have strong youth engagement skills and be able to build rapport with young people quickly
• Have strong organisational and project management skills
• Be able to demonstrate success in building and managing external stakeholder relationships
• Be able to mobilise volunteers and/or students and know how to get the best out of those on a team
• Be able to demonstrate an ability to take initiative and lead others
• Have good oral and written communication skills and be familiar with relevant safeguarding processes and protocols
• Be competent in a range of IT including Microsoft Office and video conferencing software.

What we offer

In return, the successful candidate will receive a supportive and flexible working environment, regular staff training and access to a range of employee benefits including; employer pension scheme contribution, clinical supervisions and regular team socials.

How to apply

Applications should be completed by Midday (12pm) on Friday 26th November 2021. We will be interviewing as applications come in, with the right to close the advert if the appropriate candidate is found before the deadline close, so please apply soon!

Could you support a young person to set up their own business?

Our Service Delivery team are looking for someone engaging and proactive to become the new home-based Youth Development Lead in Thames Valley. You will work across multiple areas of our service delivery with a particular focus on our Self-Employment programme and work with Business Mentors within Thames Valley. You will promote the programmes, deliver business workshops, provide 1:1 support and guidance to our young people, and work collaboratively with our volunteers to support young people to achieve their goals. Whilst the role is advertised as home-based, you will be expected to regularly travel around Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire to engage with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.

Suitable candidates may have one or more of the following:

• Qualifications in Business Management
• Experience in having set up their own business

We are looking for someone who:

• Is a natural and effective communicator, passionate about delivering excellent customer service and making the right decision for young people
• Will thrive in a busy and dynamic role and is able to engage in challenges with optimism and resilience
• Is able to work efficiently and effectively to manage multiple priorities and deadlines
• Has experience of working on their own initiative to achieve individual and team objectives  
• Can write, develop, and deliver session plans both face-to-face and virtually, utilising digital technology (including MS Teams)
• Has a fine attention to detail and can process paperwork and computerised administration tasks in a timely and accurate manner
• Has a strong understanding of the challenges young people from within The Trust’s target groups might face

This role is perfect for you if you have skills and experience in Self-Employment and are passionate about supporting young entrepreneurs to develop their businesses. The work you do both independently and as part of the South East team will raise the aspirations of young people and help to transform young lives.

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic youth and health & social care focused person to join our dynamic team and is well suited to an individual that is looking to gain hands-on experience in a thriving and supportive workplace. The successful candidate must be as passionate as us about transforming the lives of young people.

Countless talented young people across the country are unemployed, under-employed or looking for a better career. Meanwhile, across social care and the NHS (one of the largest employers in Europe) there is currently in a staffing crisis with thousands of vacancies across hundreds of roles. See some potential to do some brilliant work? Us too! Could you lead our programmes to get 10,000 young people into health and care careers over the next 3 years?

As a Youth Development Lead, you will work with young people, volunteers and partners to deliver programmes and activities to support and encourage 16-30-year olds into sustained health and social care roles. Working as part of a regional team in the  South of England you will work with clear objectives to ‘connect’, ‘progress’ and help ‘transform’ the lives of young people who need us most.

 Responsibilities:

• Supporting young people to develop their confidence and skills
• Delivery of Prince's Trust's Health & Social Care Project
• Accurately record and track young person’s journey and progression using The Prince’s Trust CRM system
• Supporting young people into positive sustained outcomes including education, training, and employment.
• Ensuring young people who need us the most are recruited and engaged through outreach
• This role could be based in any Prince’s Trust South centre or as a homeworker this role can involve travel throughout the  South of England, but we are particularly interested in people with local knowledge of the following areas: London, Sussex, Solent, Hampshire, Bristol or Kent
• Co-ordinating with partners to deliver employment programmes, including leading skills sessions
• Ensuring every young person ‘progressed’ has an action plan with an appropriate pathway of support and keeping detailed records of our engagement with them
• Recruitment and management of trusted partners who refer to and/or deliver our services
• The recruitment and management of volunteers to support and deliver our services

Requirements:

To support our delivery requirements across the  South of England we are particularly interested in receiving applications from individuals who have some of the following qualities:

• Experience of the NHS or Health & Social Care sector in any capacity
• Experience of recruiting people in to roles within Health & Social Care
• Experienced in caseload management to a varied audience
• Have experience in using customer relationship management systems and reporting data
• Are able to engage in challenges with optimism and resilience
• Can be adaptive and flexible, ready to embrace change and innovation
• Are experienced in providing one-to-one support and delivering high quality learning and development sessions through a variety of mediums.
• Is a natural and effective communicator, passionate about delivering excellent customer service and making the right decision for young people
• Have experience in at least one of the following areas:
  • Youth Work or Teaching
  • Health & Social Care sector
  • Recruitment
  • Careers & Employability Sector
  • Managing Partner Organisations and Volunteers
• Has a strong understanding of the challenges young people from within The Trust’s target groups might face. 

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic youth and health & social care focused person to join our dynamic team and is well suited to an individual that is looking to gain hands-on experience in a thriving and supportive workplace. The successful candidate must be as passionate as us about transforming the lives of young people.

Countless talented young people across the country are unemployed, under-employed or looking for a better career. Meanwhile, across social care and the NHS (one of the largest employers in Europe) there is currently in a staffing crisis with thousands of vacancies across hundreds of roles. See some potential to do some brilliant work? Us too! Could you lead our programmes to get 10,000 young people into health and care careers over the next 3 years?

As a Youth Development Lead, you will work with young people, volunteers and partners to deliver programmes and activities to support and encourage 16-30-year olds into sustained health and social care roles. Working as part of a regional team in the  South of England you will work with clear objectives to ‘connect’, ‘progress’ and help ‘transform’ the lives of young people who need us most.

 Responsibilities:

• Supporting young people to develop their confidence and skills
• Delivery of Prince's Trust's Health & Social Care Project
• Accurately record and track young person’s journey and progression using The Prince’s Trust CRM system
• Supporting young people into positive sustained outcomes including education, training, and employment.
• Ensuring young people who need us the most are recruited and engaged through outreach
• This role could be based in any Prince’s Trust South centre or as a homeworker this role can involve travel throughout the  South of England, but we are particularly interested in people with local knowledge of the following areas: London, Sussex, Solent, Hampshire, Bristol or Kent
• Co-ordinating with partners to deliver employment programmes, including leading skills sessions
• Ensuring every young person ‘progressed’ has an action plan with an appropriate pathway of support and keeping detailed records of our engagement with them
• Recruitment and management of trusted partners who refer to and/or deliver our services
• The recruitment and management of volunteers to support and deliver our services

Requirements:

To support our delivery requirements across the  South of England we are particularly interested in receiving applications from individuals who have some of the following qualities:

• Experience of the NHS or Health & Social Care sector in any capacity
• Experience of recruiting people in to roles within Health & Social Care
• Experienced in caseload management to a varied audience
• Have experience in using customer relationship management systems and reporting data
• Are able to engage in challenges with optimism and resilience
• Can be adaptive and flexible, ready to embrace change and innovation
• Are experienced in providing one-to-one support and delivering high quality learning and development sessions through a variety of mediums.
• Is a natural and effective communicator, passionate about delivering excellent customer service and making the right decision for young people
• Have experience in at least one of the following areas:
  • Youth Work or Teaching
  • Health & Social Care sector
  • Recruitment
  • Careers & Employability Sector
  • Managing Partner Organisations and Volunteers
• Has a strong understanding of the challenges young people from within The Trust’s target groups might face. 

Based in Exeter - covering city and surrounding areas

Ref: BIG/EXSO

Part Time (16.5 hours per week, working Monday, Wednesday & Friday)

As frontline staff, you are the first person our vendors will encounter and engage with, which makes you one of our most important assets. 

You will support our vendors on their entire Big Issue journey, from completing their initial induction, selling the magazine, assisting them with financial and digital inclusion, and much more.

The Role

Main duties of the Frontline Outreach Worker will include:

•    Being responsible for the induction of new vendors, following the induction process carefully to understand the needs and goals of each vendor

•    Being responsible for regular check-ins with assigned vendors to discuss sales, welfare and to gauge if a referral to either Service Broker colleagues or external agencies may be required

•    Work with vendors both in the office and on outreach to foster a professional relationship and encourage them to meet the sales objectives in line with their own aspirations and expectations established for their pitch

Other Sales Responsibilities

•    Responsible for selling magazines

•    Responsible for administering the pitch management system and ensuring best utilisation

•    Accurately administer banking duties and sales reporting

•    Closely monitor stocks levels of the magazine and arrange for transfer of magazines where necessary

Skills & Experience

We are looking for Frontline Outreach Staff with the following:

•    Ability and enthusiasm for working as part of a team, creating a collaborative, and focused working environment

•    Experience of working in a frontline position including desk-based and outreach work

•    Knowledge of the homelessness sector

•    Experience working with vulnerable adults whether in a frontline or social care setting 

•    Excellent ability to communicate at all levels and with authenticity both verbally & and in writing, be people focused and know how to adjust your approach depending on the situation

•    Confidence in dealing with difficult situations or conversations but also able to escalate where necessary

•    Experience in cash handling and banking and confidence in dealing with cash transactions in a busy and noisy environment

•    Experience of and be confident in lone working when needed

•    Respect for the importance of confidentiality and discretion and have knowledge of GDPR

•    A full, clean UK driving licence

For a full job description with details of skills and experience, please download from the link below.

Salary and Benefits include:

•    Salary commensurate with the third sector, which can be confirmed on request. 

•    Incremental holiday entitlement starting at 25 days per year plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part time staff) plus paid leave to care for a sick child or grandchild and a sick or elderly relation

•    Incremental sick pay starting at 5 days per rolling year

•    Enhanced contribution to our workplace pension 

•    Enhanced maternity/paternity pay

•    Comprehensive flexible working policy open to all staff

•    Training and development opportunities including an open learning library and management training schemes

•    Health benefits include life cover, a health Cashplan scheme which provides access to counselling and a range of therapies

Please note that we reserve the right to review and amend our staff benefits and they do not form part of any  contract of employment.

Workplace details: 

This role will be based at our Exeter office. 

If you have any queries, please contact us stating the job title.

Closing date: 2nd November 2021

The Big Issue Group is striving towards Equal Opportunities

We particularly welcome applications from those who are underrepresented in our sector, such as women in senior roles, and people with disabilities and from Black and Minority Ethnic communities.

Our Group Mission 

Building a world that works for everyone. Challenging, innovating, and creating self-help and sustainable business solutions, that dismantle poverty now and for future generations

About The Advocacy Project

We help marginalised and vulnerable people make effective choices about what happens in their lives. We also support them to speak up and help improve important services we all need. We want to make sure people across all age and care groups – including learning disability and mental health – can:

• voice their concerns
• understand their rights
• make effective choices about what happens in their lives

We do this through advocacy services which support people individually, and user involvement projects that help organisations improve the services they offer.  

About Personal Health Budgets

Personal health budgets (PHBs) are a way of personalising care, based around what matters to people and their individual strengths and needs. They give people more choice, control and flexibility over their healthcare, allowing them to develop a package of care tailored to what will help them to be well and stay well.

About the role

This role will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the PHB service. The post-holder will act as the point of contact for complex queries, allocate referrals,  provide line management support to the PHB advisors and carry a small case load of PHB referrals. You will work closely with the PHB manager and team to identify areas for development and explore further PHB opportunities, specifically developing the third-party service offer for personal health budgets. This role will require an enhanced DBS check.

Key responsibilities

• Make sure the PHB service is delivered to contract requirements.
• Provide regular support and supervision to PHB advisors, supporting them to process PHB referrals efficiently and accurately.
• Liaise with referring teams and PHB leads to make sure they have access to PHB training resources and support.
• Act as main point of contact for enquiries and provide awareness and training sessions to stakeholders.
• Monitor the case management system (CMS) and financial transaction reports and follow process for corrective action.
• Work with the PHB Manager and team to identify and implement areas to develop including the third party service and to mobilise new PHB services.
• Continually evaluate the service using data, case studies and feedback to demonstrate the impact of the service.
• Proactively involve people with lived experience in developing the service.
• Process PHB referrals efficiently, providing support to referrers as required.
• Support potential budget holders to understand and access a PHB that will support them to achieve their recovery goals.
• Support the implementation and development of Patient Knows Best (PKB) digital platform into PHB services.
• Keep accurate and up to date records of PHBs on the case management system.
• Work with the finance team to make sure PHB funds are released quickly and accurately, and risks are identified and managed appropriately.
• Deputise for the PHB manager.

General responsibilities

• Participate in team meetings and training.
• Participate in personal, team and organisational development.
• Contribute to monitoring reports.
• Keep to our policies, including health & safety, and risk regulations.
• Work to our mission, vision, and values.
• Carry out other projects and tasks as needed.

Person specification

We welcome applications from people with transferrable skills and qualities, and people with diverse employment histories and personal backgrounds.

Essential qualities, attributes and experience:

• Experience of managing staff, preferably within services that support people with health and social care needs.
• Experience of running and evaluating projects.
• Ability to review and improve the service.
• Passionate about supporting people to have their voices heard, to feel in control of decisions about their lives and to have their rights upheld.
• Experience and understanding of direct payments or personal health budgets.
• Commitment to ongoing professional development.
• Good organisational and IT skills including database experience.
• Ability to listen and build trust, to encourage people to express their own views and to represent clients’ self-defined interests.
• Willingness to promote The Advocacy Project and its services in line with our mission, vision and values.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; experience of working with a wide variety of people including commissioners, service users and colleagues.
• Ability to work as part of a team and on your own initiative, to plan and prioritise your own workload.
• Commitment to working within The Advocacy Project code of conduct, equality and safeguarding policies.

Desirable knowledge and experience:

• Experience of using and managing a case management system.

• Knowledge of mental health sections and services, including current issues in policy and practice.
• Experience of working with people with mental health issues and an understanding of the difficulties they face.
• Experience of working with children and young people.

Benefits of working for us

We’re committed to providing an empowering, flexible and supportive working environment for all our staff.

Our employee benefits include 30 days annual leave (including up to 3 days between Christmas and New Year), participation in a pension scheme with 6% employer contribution, access to a free confidential counselling service, and an interest-free travel/bike loan.

All our staff are supported to learn and develop in a variety of ways, including a monthly lecture series where we invite sector experts to talk to our staff on topical issues.

We are a Disability Confident and Mindful Employer.

Abianda is an award-winning social enterprise that works with young women and girls affected by gangs and county lines, and the professionals who work with them. We have been delivering the Rescue & Response service funded by MOPAC for 3 years, working with 10-25 year olds affected by county lines across London, partnering with LB Brent, St Giles Trust and Safer London.

We are a small not for profit organisation with 15-20 members of staff, offering one-to-one, group work and employment opportunities to gang-affected young women. We also offer training and support to professionals so they can work more confidently and effectively with young women. Our unique model of practice aims to address the barriers that stop young women seeking help.

We’re looking for a manager with excellent safeguarding experience to carry out the senior practitioner responsibilities and support the case-holding R&R team as maternity cover.

This is a non-case holding role line-managing a small team of three practitioners. You will be the operational lead for Abianda's R&R service, having oversight of the monitoring and evaluation requirements and dealing with funder requests. We will need to triage safeguarding reports and concerns from staff and notify the Designated Safeguarding Lead of cases that require immediate action. 

You will have experience of;

• responding to risk, safeguarding and child protection issues
• advocating on behalf of young people
• managing a small case holding team
• delivering monitoring and evaluation reports

as well as a commitment to participatory practice.

Salary is £33,000 PA, plus contribution to a pension and 28 days holiday a year

This is a full-time role, covering maternity leave. At the moment our funding for this project is until 31 March 2022, but we hope it will be extended for another 12 months. We are looking for someone to start as soon as possible to allow for a handover period with the member of staff going on maternity leave. You will be expected to work from the Abianda office on certain days, but some working from home and flexible working provisions can be arranged. 

For more details please download the job description and role outline below.

To apply please send your CV and a cover letter. Your cover letter should be no more than 1,500 words and include why you want to work for Abianda and how you meet the requirements of the person spec. If you prefer you could send us a recording or video (max. 5 mins) instead of a cover letter. Please also download and complete our equal opportunities form (although this is optional).

Deadline for completed applications is 11.59pm Sunday 17th October. 

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 27th October.

We look forward to hearing from you

YMCA DownsLink Group are currently recruiting for a Senior Housing Advice Worker to join the team based in Brighton and Hove. You will be working on a part time, permanent basis, working 30 hours per week and in return, you will receive a competitive salary of £26,500 per annum (pro rata).

About the Senior Housing Advice Worker role:

As our Senior Housing Advice Worker, you will be working closely with the YAC Housing Advice Team Leader and YAC Project Manager to ensure the effective day to day operation of YMCA DLG’s Youth Advice Centre’s single point of access Housing Advice Service, supporting young people aged 16 to 25 years old who are homeless, threatened with homelessness or insecurely housed.

The Senior Worker will provide support and advice to young people to support them to maintain their housing and where appropriate to help them find more secure accommodation.  The Senior Worker will support the Housing Advice Team Leader and YAC Project Manager to ensure that procedures are followed to continue the safe running of the service.

Responsibilities of our Senior Housing Advice Worker:

• Working with the YAC Housing Team Leader to ensure the smooth day to day operation of the Housing advice Service within YMCA DLG policies and procedures and particularly to deputise in the Team Leader’s absence.
• Assessing, advising and supporting young people aged 16-25 years old in housing needs as part of the Housing Advice Team, providing information and guidance on homelessness legislation and housing related issues.
• Providing services which will be accessible and responsive to varying needs and adapt support in a holistic personalised way. Provide trauma informed care environment for staff and service users. 
• Carrying a caseload of clients with multiple and complex needs, assessing their current situation and providing a series of intensive, structured interventions, either as lead professional or as part of an agreed joint agency package.

Person Specification:

Experience of:

• Working within a housing environment
• Working with vulnerable young people
• Working with young people in crisis
• Issues relating to youth homelessness
• Substance misuse and mental health issues

Ability to:

• Work as part of a team and on own initiative
• Make clear and reasoned assessment of situations
• Provide day to day support and leadership to staff
• Negotiate and advocate for young people with other agencies
• Use Microsoft IT packages and database systems effectively
• Communicate effectively at a number of levels
• Prioritise a busy and varied workload
• Remain calm and solution-focused in order to deal with challenging behaviour, resolve conflict, and help other staff do the same.

Qualifications & Training:

• Formal basic education
• Relevant vocational qualification e.g. housing, social work, or youth work
• Training courses relating to housing, support work and working with young people or vulnerable people generally
• Safeguarding children or vulnerable adults training

Knowledge/Understanding of:

Relevant housing legislation
Safeguarding for children and young people and vulnerable adults
Issues relating to care leavers
Housing benefit and income benefits
Challenging behaviour
A range of health issues, learning difficulties and behavioural problems affecting the lives of young people.

General:

• Ability to work flexibly
• A commitment to the Aims and Purposes of YMCA DLG.

YMCA DownsLink Group welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We value diversity and promote inclusion, which we demonstrate through our activities, as well as in our policies and working practices. Reinforced by our culture and values, we seek to create an inspiring and inclusive place to work.

Please note, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted as they are received so early application will be beneficial.

Closing date: 21st October 2021

If you feel like you have what it takes to become our Senior Housing Advice Worker click apply today. Please include your full CV and a detailed cover letter outlining how your skills and experience meet the requirements for the role and including your experience of fundraising and why this role in particular excites you.