Personal Advisor

About the role

**Personal Advisor - Leaving & After Care**

Fixed Term, Full Time

£27,816 to £32,076 per annum - pay award pending

Location: Harlow

Working Style: Anywhere worker

**Please note that this role is being offered as a Fixed term contract for 18 months**

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It’s an exciting time to join us. Not only have we been named Outstanding by Ofsted, we are delighted and at the same time humbled to have been crowned **Social Work Employer of the Year** for the second time in the last three years

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video here

**Leaving and Aftercare**:
Leaving and Aftercare Teams concentrate on good outcomes for young people aged 16 - 25 who are in care or have left care. The teams are made up of social workers and personal advisors, mental health co-ordinators and targeted youth advisors, and they all have the chance to do focused work with young people. They look to maximise the potential of young people who remain in care by working with providers, other agencies, and partners. For those who have left care, our teams continue to offer advice, information and help to enable young people to live independently - and get them into education, training, and employment.

**The role**:
The main focus of work will be, alongside Social Workers, to support young people who are “Looked After” (in care) and due to leave care, and those who have recently left. To consider all the important component parts that make up their individual lives in order to maximize their life opportunities and reach their full potential.

**N.B. Personal Advisors/Project Workers will not**:

- Be named as key worker in a Child Protection case.
- Have sole responsibility for assessment and review - they should contribute to assessment, undertake specific assessment tasks and monitor identified issues in conjunction with social work staff.
- Work in an unsupported or unprotected way.

**The Experience You Will Bring**:

- Have achieved NVQ level 3
- Experience of working in a supportive relationship, with young people
- Experience in working creatively with in various ways young people including young parents
- Previous work experience in either a paid or voluntary capacity working with children, young people and families
- Experience in collaborating with other professionals and agencies for the benefit of the client
- Experience of housing, employment and training issues for young people
- Knowledge of Adolescents and adolescent issues
- A commitment to working relationships which promote and support the clients’ developing independence
- A commitment to one’s own personal and professional development
- Be able to work as part of a team and be flexible
- Ability to work some evenings and weekends
- Full driving licence and the use of a car or access to a driver and vehicle for work purposes
- To be contactable by telephone

**The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.**

**Why Essex?** Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest - Basildon and Harlow - are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us here.

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. More information can be found here pay and reward

To view our Organisational Behaviours information please follow this link.

**Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.**

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