Children's Support Worker

**Making A Difference** is a short breaks respite service that provides short breaks in the community for children and young people with disabilities in Medway.

Primarily, your role will be to support disabled children and young people on a 1.1 / 2.1 basis in the community. You will fully engage with young people in their chosen activity while their parents take a break from their caring role. We pride ourselves on ensuring that every young person accessing our service, experience positive social experiences, whatever their circumstances.

We are currently looking for caring support workers with a good sense of humour to join our friendly team. So if you are passionate about helping others, and looking for a rewarding opportunity where you can really Make A Difference, we would love to hear from you if you are:

- Confident in your ability to support children and young people with disabilities and behaviours that may challenge.
- Supportive in helping young people to be as independent as they can be, and participate in community activities / social events.
- Able to communicate effectively with children, young people, parents and colleagues.
- Experienced and able to work effectively alone and as part of a team.
- Experienced in supporting children and young people with disabilities.
- Compassionate, patient, and welcome diversity and inclusion.
- Flexible and able to adapt your support to meet the changing needs of young people and their family.
- Able to ensure the safety and well-being needs of our children and young people are met at all times.

**Benefits of working at Making A Difference.**
- Rewarding work where you can really Make A Difference.
- Flexible working hours to suit your life and changing needs.
- Small friendly team that fully supports one another.
- Bupa Healthy Minds - Employee Assistance Programme - Help’s to deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health and general wellbeing. The confidential employee benefit provides expert advice and compassionate guidance 24/7
- Fuel allowance.
- Free Uniform, PPE (when required), and other items where needed to make your support work safe.
- Free training and on-going support to help develop your skills further.

Flexible hours are available for weekdays (after 4pm), weekends and school holidays, between 8am to 8pm.

You will need to drive for this role and have personal business class on your insurance as young people will need picking up and taken back to their homes.

**Making A Difference is committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of all those who come into contact with our service. We are trained to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. We work closely with families and other agencies to take all reasonable steps to minimise the risk of harm to children, young people and adults.**

**To fulfil our commitment to those we work with we observe safer recruitment and selection procedures and nurture a safeguarding culture which is open and transparent, where all concerns in relation to our people can be identified and spoken about openly and are dealt with promptly and appropriately. By identifying concerning, problematic or inappropriate behaviour early we aim to minimise the risk of abuse.**

**Job Types**: Part-time, Permanent, Temp to perm, Zero hours contract

**Salary**: £11.00-£13.80 per hour

Expected hours: 4 - 20 per week

**Benefits**:

- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Flexitime
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking

Schedule:

- Holidays
- Monday to Friday
- Overtime
- Weekend availability

**Education**:

- GCSE or equivalent (required)

**Experience**:

- Childcare: 1 year (required)
- Special education needs: 1 year (required)
- Community support: 1 year (preferred)

Licence/Certification:

- Driving Licence (required)
- NVQ Level 2 Health & Social Care (preferred)
- Enhanced DBS (preferred)
- Paediatric First Aid Certification (preferred)

Work authorisation:

- United Kingdom (required)

Ability to Commute:

- Medway (required)

Work Location: In person

Reference ID: MAD/CSW