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Support Worker - Action Letting
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a dynamic Support Worker to join our growing team that
provides supported accommodation to new refugees. This project was established in 2011. We
currently manage five properties, providing 21 bed spaces to homeless refugees in Newcastle
and Gateshead. This is planned to increase across both areas as well as to develop into
Sunderland.
The successful candidate will assist in ensuring that we maintain our high standard of work
supporting clients as well as assisting in the way in which support is rolled out in the new
arrangements. The role will involve work with landlords, investors, funders, referral / partner
agencies and statutory services as well as maintenance workers and contractors.
You will be an excellent team player with experience of providing support to vulnerable
homeless people and have an appetite for making a big difference to the lives of our clients. You
will have excellent organisational and communication skills and experience also of working with
a wide variety of stakeholders. The successful candidate will be actively supportive of the
Christian ethos of Action Foundation: www.actionfoundation.org.uk/about_ethos.html
A full Job Description and application form can be found below.
For further information about the project and charity go to: www.actionfoundation.org.uk
Application deadline is 9am Tuesday 14th April 2015.
Interviews will be held on 24th April 2015.
Action Letting is a project run by the Christian charity Action Foundation – Charity no. 1132051
Job Description
Job Title:
Support Worker
Responsible to:
Project Manager
Responsible for:
Properties and clients
Organisational Context: Action Foundation is a Christian charity that provides opportunities
for marginalised people to overcome their exclusion. This is
expressed by providing free accommodation for refused asylum
seekers (Action Housing), supported accommodation for those with
refugee status (Action Letting), ESOL classes (Action Language) and
befriending for socially isolated older people (Action Befriending).
Job Purpose:
To assist the Project manager and Senior Support Officer and other
Support Workers, provide the day-to-day running of Action
Foundation’s housing projects, particularly the one-to-one support
to our clients as directed. We currently have 7 houses with up to
29 clients.
Time Commitment:
35 Hours
Salary Scale:
pension
£15,152 - £18,399 per annum depending on experience + 6%
Contract:
Initially for 12 Months
Duties & Responsibilities:
The following points are a guide to help with role definition. The Support Worker is expected
to provide:
•
•
•
Client Support Work (accompanying to appointments and advocating on behalf of
clients to enable access to all appropriate support) – including food, hardship/crisis
support, welfare benefits, including JSA/ESA and housing benefit, health services, work
and volunteering search, ESOL classes and other college courses, future
accommodation and other support agencies. This includes systematically recording all
notes and actions related to client support and completing risk assessments and
support plans for clients.
Client Relations – including regular support meetings, reviews, attending staff and
support meetings, reporting, taking minutes, generating statistics and records.
Tenancy Support – working with clients to help them to fulfil the requirements of their
occupancy agreements with Action Foundation and to manage the properties well.
Occasional liaison with maintenance workers.
General
▪ Treat all information about the houses and clients as confidential.
▪ Treat clients of each house equally and be sensitive to cultural, religious and other
differences.
▪ Attend training sessions organised by Action Foundation as and when appropriate.
▪ To report to the Project Manager all relevant issues relating to houses/clients.
▪ To build and maintain positive working relationships with voluntary, statutory and
health organisations and networks in the area in order to signpost and refer service
users.
▪ To ensure client files are maintained in accordance with Action Foundation’s policies
and procedures – making use of the Inform system (for our Supporting People contract)
and our own separate recording systems as appropriate.
▪ To work as part of a team and take responsibility for your own workload.
▪ To actively participate in supervision sessions (Appraisal, 1-2-1s, team meetings and
reviews).
▪ To fulfil any other duties deemed reasonable by the Project Manager or Senior Support
Officer.
It is important to understand there are certain roles that a Support Worker must not
undertake - these include:
▪ Counselling and advice work.
▪ Any work that is usually done by a skilled professional, e.g. taking responsibility for
someone’s financial or legal affairs.
▪ The work of a healthcare professional.
Personal Specification/Key Competencies
Knowledge/Experience;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Working in a casework environment (essential).
A strong working knowledge of navigating the welfare benefits system (essential).
Experience of working with interpreters and those speaking English as a second
language (desirable).
Experience of assisting JSA claimants with their job search and evidencing this
(essential).
Strong awareness of the issues facing asylum seekers and refugees especially regarding
access to services including Welfare (desirable).
Experience of managing client confidentiality (essential).
An understanding of the need to maintain safe working boundaries (essential).
Abilities in assisting clients to secure settled move-on accommodation (desirable)
Skills/Abilities;
In addition to the above we would be looking for examples to satisfy the following criteria
▪ Able to use own initiative to solve problems.
▪ Can evidence high standards in the use of the main computer software e.g. Microsoft
Office.
▪ Good written and verbal communication skills.
▪ Work well in a team.
▪ Co-operative approach to working with other organisations and government
departments to maintain strong, positive partnership working.
▪ Excellent administration skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Good organisational and planning skills particularly in time management.
Other
• Supportive of the Christian ethos of the organisation.
• A genuine desire to support people seeking asylum, refugees and other migrants.
• A full driving licence (desirable).
This post would require a DBS check and the taking up of two references.
For Office Use Only:
Support Worker
Post Applied for:
Job Application Form
9am 14th April 2015
Closing Date:
Interview Date:
24th April 2015
THE INFORMATION YOU SUPPLY ON THIS FORM WILL BE TREATED IN CONFIDENCE.
Section 1
Personal details
Last Name:
Address:
First Name: Postcode: Contact Telephone Number:
Mobile Telephone Number:
E-mail address:
Are you free to remain and take up employment in the UK
with no current immigration restrictions?
Yes
No
If you are successful you will be required to provide relevant evidence of the above
details prior to your appointment.
Section 2
Current or Most Recent Employment
Name of Employer:
Address:
Postcode:
Post Title:
Start date:
Brief description of duties:
Period of Notice (if applicable):
Leaving Date (if applicable):
Reason for leaving (if applicable):
£ per annum pro rata (if applicable)
Current salary:
Section 3
Previous Employment (Most recent first)
Please give details of paid and any relevant unpaid volunteer roles.
Name of Employer:
Address:
Position Held:
Dates worked:
Postcode
Postcode
Brief description of duties:
Reason for leaving:
Name of Employer:
Address:
Position Held:
Dates worked:
Brief description of duties:
Reason for leaving:
Name of Employer:
Address:
Position Held:
Dates worked:
Postcode
Postcode
Brief description of duties:
Reason for leaving:
Name of Employer:
Address:
Position Held:
Dates worked:
Brief description of duties:
Reason for leaving:
Name of Employer:
Address:
Position Held:
Dates worked:
Postcode
Postcode
Brief description of duties:
Reason for leaving:
Name of Employer:
Address:
Position Held:
Dates worked:
Brief description of duties:
Reason for leaving:
Continue on a separate sheet if necessary
Section 4
Education and Training
Please give details of any qualifications obtained from Universities, Colleges and Schools and
training courses which are relevant to your application, in chronological order starting with the
most recent.
University/College/School/
Other
Course
Title of Training Programme or Course and qualification if any
Qualifications and Grades
Obtained and Dates
Duration and Dates
Continue on a separate sheet if necessary
Section 5
Personal Statement
Abilities, skills, knowledge and experience.
Using the Person Specification as a guide, please outline how your own experience, skills and
achievements are relevant to this post and how they meet the requirements of the Job Description.
Include voluntary activities where relevant. Please limit your response to 3 sides of A4.
Continue on a separate sheet if necessary
Section 6
Protecting Vulnerable Adults
Action Foundation works with vulnerable adults. In seeking to safeguard them, staff are required to
have Disclosure and Barring Service checks to ensure their suitability for this post.
Do you have any convictions
Yes
No
Are you aware of any police enquires undertaken following
allegations made against you, which may have a bearing on
your suitability for this post?
Yes
No
Section 7
Disability Discrimination Act
This Act protects people with disabilities from unlawful discrimination. The Disability Discrimination Act
defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment which has a
substantial and adverse long term effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
Do you have a disability which is relevant to your application?
Yes
No
If yes, please give details:
We will try to provide access, equipment or other practical support to ensure that people with
disabilities can compete on equal terms with non-disabled people.
Do we need to make any specific arrangements in order for you
to attend the interview?
If yes, please give details:
Yes
No
Section 8
References
Please give the names and addresses of two referees; one should be your most recent employer if
applicable. Please do not give members of your family.
Reference 2
Reference 1
Name:
Name:
Position:
Position:
Relationship: Relationship:
Organisation: Organisation:
Address:
Address:
Postcode
Postcode
Telephone:
Telephone:
Email:
Email:
Are you willing for this
referee to be
approached prior to the
interview?
Section 9
Yes
No
Are you willing for this
referee to be
approached prior to the
interview?
Yes
Declaration
Statement to be Signed by the Applicant
All the information given by me on this form is correct to the best of my knowledge.
Signed:
Date:
RETURNING THIS FORM
No
Please return the completed application and the Recruitment Monitoring Form to:
Kimberly Davis, Action Foundation, The CastleGate, Melbourne Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE1 2JQ
Or e-mail to [email protected]
Recruitment Monitoring Form
Action Foundation is committed to ensuring that access to its services and opportunities for
employment and volunteering is available to all sectors of the community and opposes all
forms of discrimination. To do this, and to monitor the effectiveness of its equal
opportunities policy and practice, the organisation needs relevant information about its
current and prospective users.
We would therefore be very grateful if you would complete this form. Please note:
- the information you give is strictly confidential and will not influence your application
- the completion of the form or any part of it is entirely voluntary
- the questions are entirely about how you classify yourself
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A. Where did you first hear about this post?
B. What sex are you?
! Male
! Female
C. How would you describe your racial group?
!
White/ British
!
White/ Irish
!
White/ European
!
White/ Other
!
White/ Mixed Parentage
!
Black/ West Indian
!
Black/ African
!
Black/ British
!
Black/ Other
!
Black/ Mixed Parentage
!
Asian/ Pakistani
!
Asian/ Indian
!
Asian/ West Indian
!
Asian/ British
!
Asian/ Sri Lankan
!
Asian/ Chinese
!
Asian/ Bangladeshi
!
Asian/ Vietnamese
!
Asian/ Other
!
Asian/ Mixed Parentage
!
Turkish Cypriot
!
Greek Cypriot
!
Cypriot / Other
!
Other
!
Do not wish to answer
If you think of yourself as being of other origin, please specify: ....................................................
D. Do you consider yourself to have a disability?
! Yes
! No
! 46-55
! 56-65
E. What is your age bracket?
! Under 16
! 16-25
! 26-35
! 36-45
F. Are you:
! Employed (Full-time)
! Retired
! Employed (Part-time)
! Student
THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS FORM
! Unemployed
! Over 65