Family Support Worker

South West Community Chaplaincy; Tees Valley; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car (P11D value £23,000-£26,00

Pension scheme with employer/employee*

25 days annual leave (+ holidays)

Employee Assistance Programme

Blue Light Card scheme

Cycle to work

Job summary

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity is seeking a Family Support Worker to deliver a high-quality emotional, practical and social support service for families with a life-threatening illness in the North East. You will work in partnership with health, education and social care professionals and manage your own caseload with a flexible approach.

The role requires experience in child health or related fields, a warm inclusive approach, and proficiency in IT. DBS checks and driving licence are required.

Qualifications

• Experience in child health, education or social care, preferably in a community environment.
• Warm, inclusive approach to achieving goals quickly and correctly.
• Knowledge of child protection and data sharing rules.
• Practical and people-oriented with good IT skills.
• Strong communication and teamwork to support family updates and fundraising.
• Understanding diversity issues affecting children and families.

Responsibilities

• Deliver needs-led emotional, social and practical support to families with a life‑threatening illness.
• Manage own schedule, remaining flexible to family needs on caseload.
• Collaborate with health, education and social care professionals.

Skills

Child health experience

Education or social care background

Community work

IT skills (MS Office)

Education

Qualified in health/education/social care

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Family Support Worker

£27,000 + Company Car (with an approx. retail value of £23,000-26,000, taxable benefit in kind of £6-£8k) and other excellent benefits

This role covers Northumberland, Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Durham, Darlington, Hartlepool, Sunderland, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough.

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity is going through an exciting time where we are growing, with the aim of reaching more families in need.

About the role:

We are looking to appoint a Family Support Worker on a full-time basis (35 hours, 5 days per week), to deliver a high-quality family support service as part of our North East Care Team to families in the local area, at a time where they need it most.

Reporting to the Family Support Manager of the Southampton Care Team and working in partnership with health, education and social care professionals, you will take responsibility for providing needs-led emotional, social and practical support to families where a child/young person has a life threatening or terminal illness.You will enjoy responsibility for managing your own schedule, remaining flexible to the needs of the families on your caseload.

Having worked in a stressful and emotional environment you have a genuine interest in building supportive relationships and helping people; and having provided bereavement support to families, you understand processes of grief, loss and change - and how best to help others deal with its impact.

What we’re looking for:

• An experienced child health, education or social care professional- applications will be particularly welcome from those who have worked in a community environment and those with a recognised qualification in education, health or social care.
• A warm, inclusive approachto achieving goals quickly and correctly.
• Practiced in child protection, information sharing and the rules around data protection- you lead by example, drawing on your own professional experience and working within established guidelines.
• Practical and people-oriented- you will thrive working at a fast pace whilst maintaining accuracy and be a confident user of IT (including MSOffice)
• A persuasive and open communicator you will work collaboratively with your team and volunteers to ensure delivery of a high-quality service and support fundraising colleagues by writing case studies and family updates
• A practical knowledge of diversity issuesaffecting children, young people, and their families - aware that being responsive to others needs and concerns, is essential.

What we offer:

We are proud to be a Best Companies Two-Star rated organisation, an outstanding place to work! As a Top 10 Charity, we have a range of fantastic benefits that we offer our employees, including:

• Control over your own schedule, based on the needs of families on your caseload, to balance home and working life
• Company car for front line care posts (car P11D value of £23,000-26,000, taxable benefit in kind of £6-£8k)
• Pension scheme where we contribute 5% of your salary and you contribute at least 3%
• 25 days of annual leave plus public holidays - rising to 26 days after 1 year, 27 days after 5 years and 30 days after 11 years, with an additional 5 daysto use in your 10th or 20th year of service (pro rata for part time)
• The option to buy/sell annual leave, as well as additional leave for your birthday, wedding/civil ceremony and an extra half day off for Christmas shopping
• Time off in Lieu
• Family friendly policies, focused on employee wellbeing, and an active cross-organisational wellbeing group running a number of initiatives throughout the year
• Employee Assistance Programme with access to remote GP, counselling, physiotherapy, resources to support your mental health and financial wellbeing, as well as a 24/7 helpline via Help@Hand
• Access to the Blue Light Card Scheme, and other rewards and discounts
• Bike to work, season ticket loan and payroll giving schemes
• A recommend a friend recruitment bonus scheme
• Robust training and development programmes to support your learning and growth.

If you’d like to find out more about these benefits and working with us, please visit our why work with us page on our website.

More information about us and our recruitment process can be found in our Candidate Pack on our website.

Development opportunities:

As part of our learning and developmentAnne Harris Skills Development Programmewe aim to provide a high level of training and development opportunities for all staff, so you are able to perform to the best of your ability, achieve individual and team objectives aligned to Rainbow Trusts strategic plan, supporting staff to be the best they can be, and feel a valued member of a high performing organisation.

Our Family Support Workers are given the opportunity to complete a number of diverse training courses in their first 12 months, including but not limited to: Mental Health First Aid, Makaton, counselling skills, and Introduction to Play.

The programme aims to provide a building block for you to individually tailor your own learning and development needs, with all family support workers having a foundation level of skills within their first year.

About us:

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity enables families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness to make the most of their time together, providing expert practical and emotional support where they need, it for as long as it is needed. For families living with childhood illness, time is everything. Right now, there are too many families coping alone with no support, no time to think, no time to make memories and no time for each other. We believe that no family should go through this alone, so we are here to change that.

Additional information:

Interviews will take place at our North East Care Team Office, we will only contact those applicants who have been successful.

If you require any adjustments during the interview process, please let us know as part of your application.

There will be a requirement for flexible working and a full current driver’s licence to accommodate the team and family need. An enhanced DBS disclosure will be required for this post.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we expect all employees to share this commitment.

Rainbow Trust is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. We are a Best Companies One-Star rated organisation.