Care Worker

PURPOSE OF POSITION

To provide advice, assistance and support to children and young people. To attend to their practical, physical, and emotional needs. To act as an appropriate role model and to work closely with them to enable them to address their difficulties and achieve their optimum potential.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To maintain a high quality of care and support which meets the physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and cultural needs of children and young people within the care of Inspirations. Working from the guidelines from the 1989 Children's Act, National Minimum Standards, Every Child Matters, and any other relevant legislation.
• To provide a caring, supportive, and nurturing environment in which children/young people can feel secure and free from harm.
• Establishing positive relationships with children/young people and always offering them unconditional and positive regard.
• Helping children/young people gain self-control by challenging unacceptable behaviour and rewarding acceptable, pro-social conduct.
• Ensuring that each child/young person's care plan is followed and amended as appropriate to reflect their changing needs.
• Attending to practical matters in relation to childcare (cooking, cleaning, general maintenance around the home etc.)
• To act as a key worker or coworker for a child/young person to ensure that the child/young person's care plans are up to date and that all their care needs are being met. To provide a positive role model to be able to offer advice, guidance, and assistance where appropriate.
• Establishing relationships which children/young people perceive to be positive, warm, and rewarding.
• Providing advice, assistance, and support on a 1:1 basis to enable children/young people to address past and present difficulties.
• Providing emotional support at times of difficulty or stress.
• Being ambitious for children/young people, helping them achieve their goals and optimise their potential.
• Providing support for children/young people in their education and extracurricular activities.
• Keeping accurate records and providing written reports on children/young people for planning meetings, reviews or any other meetings as directed by the line manager.
• Empowering children/young people and facilitating their active involvement in the decision making about their lives and future.
• Acting as an advocate at meetings where the children/young people is the subject of discussion.
• Encouraging the children/young people to develop links with the community, attend off-site activities and expand their personal social network.

TO WORK AS PART OF A TEAM

• Being aware of the aims and objectives of the home and working collaboratively with colleagues to achieve them.
• Attending team/ staff meetings and making a positive contribution to them.
• Actively contributing to the development of the team.
• Receiving and storing information to improve communication.
• Being willing to give and receive feedback on performance with colleagues and managers.
• Being aware of childcare plans for all children/young people and providing support for colleagues by maintaining consistency in the execution of those plans.
• Providing informal practical and emotional support to colleagues experiencing difficulties.
• Attending and contributing to regular supervision sessions in line with the National Minimum Standards.
• Monitoring the conduct of colleagues and referring on any causes for concern (Whistleblowing).
• Being familiar with all policies and procedures and adhering to them.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Attending children/young people meetings and contributing to them.
• Driving company vehicles (current driving licence holders subject to procedures).
• Receiving training appropriate to the role and maintaining an up-to-date training profile.
• Responsibility for the accurate maintenance of financial records appropriate to the duties of the post.
• Responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of self and colleagues in accordance with the requirements of the organisational Health and Safety Policies.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• This post requires the holder to do varying shifts, which include early morning and late evening work, sleep-in and an on-call rota system.
• The post holder also is required to work weekends as part of a rota and Bank Holidays when required. Sleeping-in duties are also required for which an additional payment is made.
• On occasions you may be requested to change your rota at a given notice as per your contract, to ensure the contingencies of the service are covered. This may also include covering an additional sleep-in duty as an emergency measure.
• In accordance with the guidelines on Health and Safety, to accept responsibility for working within these guidelines and reporting any concerns to the Registered Manager.
• To undertake such other duties appropriate to the grade of the post and the needs of the Home such as decorating, gardening to develop and maintain service delivery.
• This post requires the holder to always have a clear DBS check Changes to personal circumstances which may affect this must be notified to your line manager immediately.

PERSON SPECIFICATION – ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

The following personal attributes are considered essential to the post of support worker:

• Self- motivated
• A good communicator
• Organised
• Flexible
• Caring
• Sensitive to the needs of others and to the sick or infirm
• An active team player but also able to work on own initiative.

All staff are required to respect the confidentiality of all matters that they might learn in the course of their employment. All staff are expected to respect the requirements under the Data Protection Act 1998.

All staff must ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities under the Health and Safety Act Work, etc. Act 1974. Hours of Work; Full Time / Part Time

PLEASE NOTE

The post holder will be expected to continuously develop in their role. It is in the nature of the work of D&J Care Services-Residential that tasks and responsibilities are in many circumstances unpredictable and varied. All staff are, therefore, expected to work in a flexible way when the occasion arises that tasks which are not specifically covered in their job description must be undertaken but which will be within their level of responsibility.

These additional duties will normally be to cover unforeseen circumstances or changes in work, and they will normally be compatible with the regular type of work. If the additional responsibility or task becomes a regular or frequent part of the staff member's job, it will be included in the job description in consultation with the member of staff. The post holder will be expected to continually develop in their role.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From £12.21 per hour

Expected hours: 36 per week

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Sick pay

Work Location: In person