Bradford Learning Disability and Autism Senior Keyworker - Project Worker 3

Barnardo's; Ilford; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A charitable organization in the UK is seeking a Senior Keyworker to support children and young adults with learning disabilities and autism. The role involves holding caseloads, coordinating support, and engaging with families to navigate health and social care systems. Candidates should have experience in advocacy and collaboration with multi-agency professionals. The position offers a hybrid working environment with competitive benefits.

Benefits

26 days annual leave, increasing with service

Flexible working arrangements

Access to Group Personal Pension

Employee assistance program

Discounts at various retailers

Qualifications

• Experience in improving outcomes for children with learning disabilities and autism.
• Ability to coordinate support and navigate complex care systems.
• Skills in building trust with families and advocating for their needs.

Responsibilities

• Hold a caseload of children and young adults as their keyworker.
• Coordinate support for children within their homes or community settings.
• Engage in meaningful collaboration with families and co-produce services.
• Support quality assurance and service development initiatives.

Skills

Experience with learning disabilities

Advocacy and case management

Collaboration with multi-agency teams

Knowledge of local services

Job description

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

Are you an experienced practitioner looking for a dynamic role in Bradford that makes a positive impact on the lives of children and young people with learning disabilities, autism or both?

Do you believe in transforming health, social care and educational systems for children and young people with learning disabilities, autism or both?

West Yorkshire Keyworker Service is recruiting, and this could be the next role for you.

Barnardo's is recruiting a Senior Keyworker who is:

• passionate and have experience of improving the lives of children, young people, young adults up to the age of 25 who are autistic and/or have a learning disability and their families
• collaboratively work with Bradford Place and system partners (including Dynamic Support Register Leads and colleagues) to meet the needs of children, young people, young adults up to the age of 25 who are autistic and/or have a learning disability and their families
• take a lead on Bradford practice lead keyworking service development and strategy.

You will work alongside a newly developing integrated health and social care team and hold cross-sector stakeholder relationships through multidisciplinary team meetings, the weekly Dynamic Support Registers' meetings and work directly with local families.

Working within the parameters of legislation, you will champion the perspective of the child, young person and family, being an advocate and challenging systems to support them within a positive risk‑taking approach.

As Senior Keyworker you will have the following main functions:

• Holding a caseload: being aspirational for every child, young person, young adult and their families, holding a caseload of children and young people as designated keyworker. Being passionate to enable people to reach their potential and have the best life they want.
• Co‑ordinating/enabling/organising / navigating support for children and young people with learning disabilities and young autistic people within their home or the setting where the child or young person is living or staying, including Tier 4 CAMHS settings. Providing 1:1 support for the child or young person, and family, co‑ordinating links with system partners, community networks and other services, to secure the most appropriate provision to meet need now and in the future avoiding where possible the need for a Tier 4 placement.
• Lived experience and engagement: Ensuring co‑production and meaningful collaboration with parents, carers and children. This information and learning will feed into ongoing service development and will be shared in keyworker in reports, on a local level with service and area leads and at regional and national strategic levels. Valuing lived experience, being an active listener when parents need support, offering unconditional regard and empathy.
• Understand Bradford Place: Holding knowledge of local services and developing an offer for parents and carers to access local support available to them, this will include introducing them to services and being able to access their services.
• Quality Assurance: Supporting the management team in developing the practice and service and sharing the learning. Supporting quality assurance – working at pace, dealing with complexity and safeguarding.

The West Yorkshire Keyworker Service works across the West Yorkshire region and its systems with and for children, young people and young adults and families, capitalising on cross‑system knowledge and experience to help them effectively navigate services. The service is mandated to work across sectors to facilitate timely and integrated care and support. We work in partnership with the 4 West Yorkshire Health Trusts, 5 local authorities, the voluntary sector and a range of, social care, educational organisations.

The overall aims and objectives for the service is families get the support they need to navigate complex systems, supported by someone they have built a trusting relationship with.

We want the support needs to be focused on the prevention of hospital admission or family/placement breakdown, supporting mental health and re‑engagement in community activities.

We work closely with multi‑agency professionals in supporting the navigation of the system and securing wrap‑around support and care for children, young people and young adults with a learning disability and or are autistic. There are times where challenge is needed but working together and collaboratively is important.

As Senior Keyworker you will:

• Have knowledge and experience of learning disabilities and autism (this can also be lived experience).
• Have responsibility for a caseload working with children, young people, their parents/carers and families to navigate what can be a complex health and social care system so that their needs are met.
• Build a trusting relationship with families so they get the support that they need at the right time, and where possible local to them, in their community.
• Secure wrap‑around support and care for children and young people with complex learning disabilities, autism or both.
• Work alongside cross‑sector multi‑agency professionals including health, education, youth justice, voluntary sector and social care.
• Work with our Lived Experience and Engagement Team to ensure the Service is developed and co‑produced with parents, carers, young people and those with lived experience.
• Receive quality and reflective supervision and learning opportunities to develop you in the role.

Please note the interview date is Monday 15th December 2025 - please ensure you are available on this date.

You must be able to drive and have access to your own car as this is essential for regional wide service delivery.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

To understand the work of Keyworker Services, the remit and the Keyworker role please ensure you visit the websites below and read the relevant information before applying for the role:

NHS England » Children and young people keyworkers

These Are Our Children (ncb.org.uk)

cdc.keyworking.guidance.v4.pdf (councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk)

If you have the drive, passion and experience for this exciting new role then we are interested in receiving your application.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid‑point of the pay band - this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti‑racist organisation with Anti‑Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

This post is subject to funding currently to 31st March 2027.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.