Casual Outreach Worker

Job Information

Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us

We are responsible for the entire range of children’s education, health and social care services in all three boroughs. We use a Signs of Safety practice model and approach which ensures the voice of the child is at the heart of everything we do. There’s never been a better time to join AfC, we are growing our workforce, implementing new flexible working arrangements and have increased our virtual wellbeing offer.

As a casual Outreach Worker you will be providing 1-to-1 support to children, young people and families in their own homes and in the community. These clients could be experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, need support around lifeskills or at risk of going into care proceedings.

About the role

This is an exciting time to join our Targeted Support Service as we are expanding, particularly our out of hours need, and therefore need to increase our pool of casual Outreach Workers. Our Casual Workers work closely with Social Workers and Personal Advisors to help clients achieve specific goals. Most clients receive around 5 hours support per week but some children and families require much more or less than this depending on the needs of each case.

The key responsibilities include:

- Liaise with service managers, the Social Worker/Personal Advisor and the Commissioning team to agree a tailored outreach support package for each matched referral
- Provide agreed outreach support services and record contact for each outreach session, attending professionals meeting when required
- Completing risk and needs assessments and raise all safeguarding concerns
- Deliver independent life skills sessions with young people e.g. cooking, budgeting, cleaning and managing finances
- Support children and young people to access social activities, educational opportunities and health services

About you

Do you have availability early mornings, evenings, nights (either waking and sleeping) or weekends and would you like to work in a challenging but rewarding role? We are looking for individuals who can relate well to children, young people and families and are passionate about seeing lives improved by working towards positive outcomes for their clients. You may already have some experience of working with children’s social care and you will have a good working knowledge of other services that you can signpost to.
- Experience of working with children and young people who display challenging behaviour and experience managing & reporting safeguarding incidents
- Experience of working alone in the community and holding strong personal boundaries
- Experience of keeping and maintaining accurate records (in accordance with local policy)
- Knowledge and understanding of the life skills needed to live independently and experience in delivering these to young people
- Able to work some unsociable hours including evenings and weekends, flexibly and independently with limited management oversight.

About our benefits

We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:

- 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years.
- Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
- Stable and supportive leadership
- Hybrid and mobile working (between home and work) with latest technology to facilitate this
- Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
- Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
- A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
- A range of staff benefits and discounts
- An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway

To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children

Important Information

**Right to work**: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

**Safeguarding**: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).