Accommodation Caseworker

The purpose of this role is to provide essential, tailored casework support for residents living in Ella’s’ safe house accommodation. The main responsibilities of this role are:
1) To provide one-to-one support to safe house residents This includes ensuring that survivors understand their rights and that these are met, coaching survivors to identify and work towards their personal goals, supporting survivors to access appropriate services/treatment providers and ultimately be supported into independence.

2) Managing social work students, placements and interns.
3) Maintain and develop borough related relationships.

Contract: full time, permanent

**Salary**: £28,572 - £31,040
Reporting to: Service Manager
Overseeing: students and/or interns
Location: London (involves travel across South and East London)

**Benefits**:

- Working with a passionate team
- Access to a professional supervisor
- 28 days holiday, plus bank holidays
- Enhanced pay for family leave
- Sick pay
- Flexible working

Special conditions:

- An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check will be undertaken
- Due to the nature of the work, this post is for women only
- The postholder is expected to take part in the out of hours on-call service
- Ability and willingness to work flexibly, and at other Ella’s locations

**About Ella’s**

Ella’s is a London-based organisation working with women who have survived trafficking and sexual exploitation. Our mission is to do everything we can to ensure survivors have all they need to recover and build lives that are safe and free.

Here is a summary of our main activities:

- We run safe and supported accommodation, which is crucial for survivors of trafficking and exploitation, until they are ready and able to live independently.
- We provide regular support for women and families in neighbourhoods across
London, and many more further afield when they need us.
- We speak out on issues affecting the women we work with. We care deeply about survivors of trafficking and exploitation and want to see a world where these crimes are not tolerated.

**Job description**

Casework provision
- Provide high quality casework support to residents (housing, financial, legal, mental health, and physical wellbeing support)
- Support survivor empowerment to speak out and self-advocate
- Carry out regular risk assessment with survivors and respond to any safeguarding concerns as per Ella’s’ safeguarding procedures
- Provide day-to-day support and build trusting relationships with the service users
- Be sensitive to the rapidly changing emotional and physical needs of the service users and respond accordingly
- Manage all paperwork, processing any personal data in accordance with Ella’s’ policies and procedures
- Ensure casenote records are recorded within 24 hours of each service user contact using Ella’s’ case management system
- Assist service users with administrative tasks as required: reaching out to supporting agencies, booking appointments, form-filling, and attending appointments
- Assume an advocacy role during external appointments, if required
- Liaise effectively with other agencies involved in the care or support of service users to ensure their needs are sufficiently met
- Manage referrals and new intakes
- Help create survivor led support plans
- Work collaboratively with other accommodation caseworkers
- Encourage and supporting survivors to attend sessions and activities inside and outside of Ella's

Volunteer coordination
- Oversee social work students and/or interns placed within the safe house, with support from the service manager
- Ensure relevant policies and procedures are upheld by self, all volunteers and visitors who come into contact with survivors
- Adhere to and ensure all students and interns have a good knowledge of Ella’s’ casework management forms and recording systems and oversee the consistent use of these
- Provide regular supervision to students and interns

Safeguarding, and health and safety
- Work in collaboration with the Safehousee and Facilities Manager
- Ensure all major incidents, accidents, safeguarding concerns or potential hazards are managed, reported and recorded according to Ella’s’ policies and procedures
- Participate in the identification and assessment of risks and implement agreed working procedures to minimise their impact; writing risk assessments as required
- Promote awareness of health and safety amongst service users, including those who use emergency/on call systems, fire prevention and control systems as necessary
- Ensure the location confidentiality of Ella’s’ premises to protect survivors and safeguard staff and volunteers
- Participate in any relevant Safeguarding training and keep up to date with any changes to Ella’s’ safeguarding policies and procedures

Accommodation and risk management
- Run regular house meetings and house outings for residents
- Support residents with housing benefit and service cha