Community Support Worker

Essex County Council; Chelmsford; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in England is seeking a Community Support Worker to assist vulnerable adults in living healthily and independently. This role involves assessing social needs, developing care plans, and collaborating with social workers to ensure compliance with statutory obligations. The ideal candidate will have experience in social care, strong relationship-building skills, and a commitment to safeguarding. A driving license is necessary as the role requires mobility throughout Essex and beyond.

Qualifications

• Experience within a social care setting is desirable.
• Evidence of working with people with mental health difficulties and/or neurodivergence.
• Knowledge of legislative and policy guidance applicable within Social Care settings.

Responsibilities

• Assess social care needs and provide support to vulnerable adults.
• Contribute to the development of care and support plans.
• Work collaboratively across the service with internal and external partners.

Skills

Experience within a social care setting

Evidence of working with mental health difficulties

Ability to build effective relationships

Direct activity-based work with adults

Knowledge of legislative and policy guidance

Education

NVQ/BTEC Level 3 or equivalent

Job description

Community Support Worker

Permanent, Full Time

£25,395 to £32,131 per annum

Location: Basildon

Closing Date: Sunday 21st December 2025 at 11.59pm

About the Team

Mental health social care is transforming into a new operational delivery model improving our early intervention and prevention offer to Essex residents with a focus on people currently not receiving services or falling through existing gaps. The offer is to ensure care act compliance across the system offering information advice and guidance and providing support to improve wellbeing outcomes. Within this service there will be a mixture of the team carrying out direct work alongside people and completing care act assessments relevant to wellbeing outcomes and the completion of care act reviews.

The Early Help & Wellbeing Team is a welcoming, compassionate and innovative team to work in, offering preventative and early help to connect people who are experiencing difficulties with their mental wellbeing and/or neurodivergent conditions to opportunities in their own communities and provide support that enables them to achieve personal ambitions, goals and aspirations.

This post is to support the South Essex Early Help and Wellbeing team but the candidate must be willing to support the countywide service based on demand.

The Opportunity

ECC Adult Social Care is making a transformational shift from a focus on long-term care support, to a model with four key principles: prevention, early intervention, enablement and safeguarding. Enabling people, to access information and tools, to live independently and allowing a positive response to growing service demand in a sustainable way, within the financial constraints of ECC.

Working with Social Workers and Occupational Therapists, delivering bespoke intervention work, in accordance with the care plan, to vulnerable adults. The role may be required to manage a caseload, including assessment of risk through direct work, within a quality assurance process. A focus of the role will be to ensure vulnerable people are safeguarded in line with ECC's statutory obligations.

With relevant experience of working with vulnerable adults, or educated to Level 3 (RQF). You will be passionate about engaging with and providing support in the community, working with partners as required.

Accountabilities

• Assess social care needs and provide support to vulnerable adults, to enable them to live healthily and independently; maintaining high standards of professional practice which contribute to continuous improvement across the service and delivering the four key principles.
• Contribute to the development of care and support plans that gain commitment to solutions to meet each individual's needs.
• Works collaboratively with others, including placement team, to support the individual to commission care and support from appropriate providers; including developing their own employees through Direct Payments.
• Accountable for working within the statutory legal framework, policy and guidance and determining when the threshold for statutory intervention has been reached in In line with legislative and organisational standards within the Care Act 2015 (e.g. MCA / DoLs / CHC etc.).
• Responsible for highlighting issues and implementing plans to safeguard a vulnerable adult.
• Building strong, effective relationships with clients, families and carers providing practical advice, support and, where necessary, acting as an advocate. Enabling vulnerable adults to live healthily and as independently as possible.
• Work collaboratively across the service, with internal and external professional partner agencies to deliver joint objectives and ensure improved outcomes for vulnerable adults.
• Provides information and advice in relation to involvement/accessing of third party agencies relevant to the needs of the client (eg benefits agencies, immigration, and housing).
• Attends meetings, reviews, case conferences and court hearings to provide information, insight and evidence; providing reports where appropriate.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Experience within a social care setting, an NVQ/BTEC Level 3 or equivalent is desirable.
• Evidence of working with people with mental health difficulties and or neurodivergence/Learning disabilities
• Evidence of continuing professional development and knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Experience of building strong, effective relationships with adults, their families and carers in times of challenge and crisis.
• Experience of undertaking direct, activity based work with adults.
• Knowledge of legislative and policy guidance applicable within Social Care settings.
• Proven track record of building working relationships with partners and external agencies.
• A certificate in First Aid and/or knowledge of Sign Language is desirable in this role.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.