Job profile

Job reference

REQ004642

Date posted

04/04/2023

Application closing date

04/05/2023

Location

Westminster

Salary

£24,856.00 per annum

Package

25 days Annual Leave, pension schemes, staff discounts, healthcare and career progression.

Contractual hours

40

Basis

Full time

Job category/type

Full Time, Permanent

Job description

We’re looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Support Worker to join our Homelessness service in Westminster. No personal care or experience is required, just the right values.

£24,856.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week. Benefits include 25 days Annual Leave, pension schemes, staff discounts, healthcare and career progression.

Want to feel like you’re part of one team? You’ll feel at home here.

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren’t token gestures - we’ve thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

Edward Alsop Court provides accommodation for men over 50 with complex needs around health, mobility, alcohol use, or personality disorder. There are 15 self-catering beds for men over 35 with low needs, to prepare them for independent living. Specialist support is provided around re-offending behaviour, mental health issues, and substance misuse. EAC implements and promotes supporting people out of homelessness, particularly those with complex trauma or a diagnosis of personality disorder.

This role requires a valid Right to Work for the UK as Look Ahead are not a sponsoring organisation.

What you’ll do:

The post holder will work at Edward Alsop Court Hostel a support accommodation service for men with complex needs supporting men with complex substance use, mental and physical health and offending behaviours, and those who are nearing their end of life. The project offers 24 hour high support providing 79 bed spaces. Support is delivered by a team of support workers, specialist support workers and night workers.

The service sits in the heart of Westminster. Westminster is a high profile borough, with extensive network partners in ending homelessness and understanding of the needs of entrenched rough sleepers. Westminster offers extensive training opportunities,the service provides good work experience for psychology or social worker graduates. Edward Alsop Court Hostel works in partnerships with Westminster Council, The Passage, The Connection at St.Martin’s, St.Mungo’s, Turning Point, CGL, SLAM and other specialised services. The team works closely with each resident to secure appropriate longer term accommodation from the beginning of their stay.

The ideal candidate will have good knowledge and understanding of homelessness and demonstrate the ability to manage a complex group with dynamic needs. They will be someone who is energetic, enthusiastic, non-judgemental, a team player, thrives on working under pressure, providing effective crisis intervention, able to assess the needs and risks of clients, demonstrate good problem solving skills, and can demonstrate excellent networking and partnerships. They will have excellent communication skills (both verbal and written) and will be good at using their own initiative. The post holder will receive regular supervision and casework management sessions and monthly reflective practice sessions.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead

About you:

• Undertake key-working responsibilities for a service-user caseload assigned by the Team Leader/ Manager.
• Empowering and providing holistic support to service-users with high complex needs, specifically; single homeless people with mental health and substance misuse problems, dual diagnosis and forensic histories.
• Building working relationships with local authorities, health trusts the local community and local police to support our service-users.
• To induct new clients in line with the service policy.
• To complete onward referrals to identified move-on and support clients to prepare effectively for move on.
• To support and encourage clients to undertake housekeeping and client duties as necessary in order to maintain a clean and safe physical environment.
• Reporting safeguarding issues efficiently using Look Ahead protocol policies and procedures.
• Providing support with daily living activities, including practical assistance where skills are not yet developed, to ensure that service-users enjoy a high quality of accommodation.
• Advising service-users on benefits and financial difficulties.
• Conducting face to face interviews and assessments to assess service-users suitability for the service.
• Supporting service-users to set personalised goals in the form of a support plan.
• Ensuring ongoing assessment and management of risk assessments with service-users.
• Involving service-users in the development, design and delivery of the service.
• Maintaining service-users rent accounts, and ensuring their rent accounts are managed and kept up to date.
• Conducting Health & Safety checks.
• Assisting the team in meeting occupancy targets by proactively preparing properties to be re-let.
• To ensure that rental income is maximised by filling voids promptly and in line with the service’s policy.
• To liaise with Housing Benefit and the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that clients and the Hostel receive all monies due to them.
• To maintain a high standard of record keeping and keep all financial and administrative systems up-to-date and in line with policy.
• Undertake any other duties consistent with the grade and nature of the post as may be reasonably assigned.
• Adhere to Look Ahead’s Policies and Procedures.

What you’ll bring:

• Grounded
• Maintains clear boundaries.
• Energetic and enthusiastic.
• Open to feedback and Self-development.
• Customer-focused.
• Fundamentally calm and resilient and does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement.
• To take responsibility for personal development and learning.
• Has a practical and logical mind and is naturally well organised.
• Ability to manage a diverse workload on an independent basis.
• Possesses cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Is respectful, articulate and sensitive in style of communication.
• Is essentially customer–focused.
• Is motivated towards excellence and improvement of personal performance with a can do attitude.
• Ability to cope positively with challenging and diverse behaviours

Essential:

• Managing complex and difficult situations in relation to people.
• Personal experience of homelessness or a sound understanding of the issues faced by homeless or vulnerably housed people and the difficulties they experience in accessing appropriate services for their needs.

Desirable:

An understanding of:

• Offending behaviours
• Substance misuse and addiction
• Mental health issues.
• Other relevant professional memberships and/or specialist qualifications.

About us:

Look Ahead is a dynamic, leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. As an organisation we deliver over 110 services, providing support to around 7000 customers each year. We work across mental health, homelessness, young people and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.

Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.