Leaving Care Housing Support Worker

Do you have extensive experience of supporting care leavers/young people who are at risk of becoming homeless?

Do you have experience and knowledge of housing legislation and the housing sector?

Do you have excellent communication skills and are you great with IT?

Then it might be you we are looking for…

Location: Based at County Hall Horsham

As a Leaving Care Housing Support Worker, you will be engaging with our care leavers who are homeless or at risk, to support them to explore the options available to them. You will provide intensive support to help them to prioritise their housing needs and ensure they understand their housing options and the best matches that will offer them a good housing pathway.

The support you will provide to our care leavers will be practical and may involve attending meetings, helping with budgeting, as well as understanding how they are better equipped to maintain a tenancy and address their homelessness difficulties.

In this role you will work collaboratively alongside our Personal Advisors, as well as external agencies such as housing providers, substance misuse, adult social care, mental health workers and probation services to address the issues that are increasing care leavers risks of homelessness.

Whilst this work can be very rewarding, it can also be emotionally demanding, for example, involving significant work dealing with vulnerable young people who can have complex needs. The role could also involve exposure to challenging behaviour from our young people who access our services.

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

About You

To be successful in this role you need to:

• Have experience of direct work with young people and the ability to work effectively with care leavers in crisis to provide a solution focussed approach.
• Have extensive experience of working with young people/families at risk of homelessness.
• Have the ability to manage casework for the children/young people ensuring that needs are reviewed, objectives are set and measuring progress of these.
• Engage, communicate and work creatively in partnership with the children/young people we support, their support networks and partner organisation.
• Analyse and interpret complex data and information and make informed decisions, recommendations and prioritise on this basis to gain positive outcomes.
• Have experience of using a range of direct work interventions in crisis situations, working with young people and their families and or support networks.
• Have an NVQ level 3 in Health and Social Care, or equivalent qualification/experience, demonstrating a level of ability in working with young people and families and or support networks.
• Be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

About Us

The work we have started includes establishing a new and experienced leadership team driving forward our 'Children First' improvement plan. The Care Leavers service is part of the overarching Children We Care For and Care Leavers Service, as we work together to improve how young people transition out of care.

We don't underestimate the work that still needs to be done and the challenge ahead. That's why we need professionals, like you, who really want to be part of the positive change that is happening. Be part of an ambitious improvement plan and make a significant difference to children and families in West Sussex.

There has never been a more rewarding time to join.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE04966.

Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

EC