Weekend Refuge Practitioner

**POST TITLE: Weekend Refuge Practitioner**

**1 BASE** Leicester City

**2 SALARY** Unqualified £22,571 - £23,953 per annum (pro rata) / Qualified £24,432 - £25,419 per annum (pro rata)

**3 HOURS OF WORK** 13 hours per week, Saturday and Sunday (9am - 4pm)

**4 MAIN TASK** To provide practical, emotional and personal development support so that women and children are able to deal with the effects of domestic violence in their lives. To provide a safe and supported environment for women and children living in the refuge.
5 Key Responsibilities
- Service Co-ordination

This includes coordination to enable the Refuge to function efficiently and effectively.
- Service Development

This includes understanding the needs of service users and developing/improving services to meet those needs.
- Service Delivery

This includes directly delivering support services to women and their children across 2 locations and accessing community support where appropriate.
- General

This includes all duties that ensure the safety, and effectiveness of the Refuge, and broader responsibilities that contribute to the development of Women’s Aid Leicestershire Ltd.

6 Duties

6.1 Service Co-ordination
- To plan the programme for women and their children living in the refuges.
- To keep clear, accurate records and maintain confidential files on women and their children in the refuge.
- To ensure monitoring is up to date, including the submission of case studies, supporting the management team with Service requirements.
- To liaise with colleagues in community-based services to ensure needs are met and help identify service gaps.
- In consultation with the DVSM, to liaise with outside agencies, organisations and individuals.
- To support service users across dual locations, and dispersed accommodation as required.
- Provide support to sessional staff and volunteers working with the women and children in the refuge and in the wider accommodation services.
- To attend staff meetings, team meetings, and meetings of the management committee and its subcommittees as appropriate.

6.2 Service Development
- To assess the needs of service users and make recommendations for improving and developing services for women and their children in the refuge.
- To assist the DVSM in the collection of statistical information for monitoring, auditing and quality assurance purposes.
- To contribute, where appropriate, to Women’s Aid Leicestershire Ltd volunteer training and domestic violence awareness training offered to outside organisations, individuals and groups.
- To work with partner agencies in developing and improving services for women and their children in the refuge.
- To support the administrative systems and use effectively in providing high quality services in the refuge.
- To keep up to date with policy and practice in your area of work and undertake staff development and training relevant to the post.

6.3 Service Delivery
- To take referrals and deal with admissions to the refuge.
- To work as part of a team of staff and volunteers providing support services for women and children in the refuge.
- To facilitate weekly house meetings, advise mothers on matters relevant to their children’s overall development and help to motivate and provide mothers with support for their children.
- To support individual women, be responsive to their needs and represent them at meetings with outside agencies as necessary.
- In conjunction with the DVSM, keep accurate records and maintain confidential files on all residents.
- To liaise with other advice agencies and welfare services and provide advice and guidance on such matters such as safeguarding, housing, education and training opportunities, health and safety, benefits and welfare rights
- When necessary, to be part of the rota of staff on refuge duty in the evenings and weekends. This includes duty during bank holidays and national holidays.
- To represent women and their children at meetings with external agencies where appropriate.

6.4 General
- To protect the confidentiality of the address of the refuge and all matters relating to the residents and their children, and act in accordance with the policies of the organisation
- To act in accordance with the policies and practices of Women’s Aid Leicestershire Ltd. In particular to maintain the strict confidentiality of the Refuges and dispersed properties.
- To act in a fair and supportive way and positively promote equal opportunities and eradicate discrimination
- To work in a safe and responsible way ensuring that safety procedures are followed and that you do endanger yourself, your colleagues or service users.
- To be punctual and minimise absence from work.

6.5 Other duties commensurate with responsibilities
- To attend all supervision, staff meetings, training days and fundraising events.
- To undertake such other duties, training and/or hours of work as may be reasonably required, and which are consistent with the general leve