Outreach Worker

New Horizon Youth Centre; Greater London; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

New Horizon Youth Centre in London is seeking a Youth Outreach Worker to join our Rough Sleeping team. You will deliver a holistic street-based service to young people who are homeless or at risk, providing housing guidance, advocacy and access to our day centre.

The role requires twice-weekly street outreach shifts (early mornings and late evenings), a commitment to trauma-informed practice, and strong partnership working with local authorities and voluntary services.

Qualifications

• Ability to work with homeless and at-risk young people.
• Comfort delivering 1-1 and group work.
• Willingness to work out-of-hours outreach shifts.
• Experience using IT systems including CHAIN.
• Strong multi-tasking and time management.
• Ability to liaise with external services.

Responsibilities

• Provide comprehensive support to young people through 1-1 and small group work.
• Carry out at least two street outreach shifts weekly, including early mornings.
• Conduct housing assessments and refer to suitable accommodation.
• Manage a caseload and coordinate with partner services.
• Maintain records in NHYC databases and ensure data quality.
• Participate in team development and supervision.
• Support day centre operations and health and safety.

Skills

Street outreach

Housing assessments

Case management

Partnership development

Safeguarding

Tools

CHAIN database

Job description

Role overview

In addition to the around 40 young people we see every day out our centre, New Horizon provides the only youth-specific street outreach service to young people facing homelessness in London. We use our extensive housing expertise to place young people who are currently or at risk of rough sleeping into accommodation that is appropriate and safe, whilst encouraging them to access the day centre to benefit from the wide range of services we offer. This role will involve regular street outreach shifts (early mornings and late evenings) across London, as well as supporting young people at the day centre. The role works as part of our wider Rough Sleeping team, developing a best practice approach to supporting young rough sleepers and those who are hidden homeless.

Key details

• Contract type and hours: fixed term for 12 months. 35 hours per week, Monday-Friday. There is a requirement to carry out at least two street-based outreach shifts per week. Morning shifts may start from 5am and evening shifts may finish at 1am.

• Salary: starting salary for role is: £32,136.00. The salary scale is: AP26 – AP30 (£32,136.00-£35,778.00)

• Location: New Horizon Youth Centre, 68 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JR

• Application deadline: 9am on Monday 26th October 2026

Key objectives

1. To contribute to the delivery of the NHYC street outreach service, delivering a holistic service to young people who are street homeless, enabling them to move on to independence.

2. To build and maintain a network of external partnerships with services supporting those impacted by rough sleeping.

3. To enable delivery of a trauma-informed service to young people.

4. To support delivery of NHYC’s rough sleeping prevention strategy and best practice youth-specific outreach services.

Reporting to: Head of / Manager

Main tasks and responsibilities

Young People Services

Providing comprehensive support through 1-1 and small group work with young people sleeping rough. This will include:

1. Working within the Rough Sleeping team to ensure young people receive a high-quality service from the point of registration to move-on.

2. Carrying out at least two street-based outreach shifts each week (early morning and late evening required).

3. Carrying out housing assessments with young people and referring them into appropriate accommodation.

4. Managing a transitional case load of young people and helping them move forward and access appropriate services.

5. Working in partnership with the Outreach Team and other external teams, such as commissioned street outreach services, mental health, and substance misuse services.

6. Providing expert coaching and guidance to young people and monitoring and evaluating their progress.

7. Continued use of feedback and showing a commitment to a service that is sensitive and responsive to young people’s needs, including: Completing registrations, outcomes assessments, risk assessments and action plans with young people; Ensuring that all relevant work is recorded on the New Horizon database system and Chain database; Ensuring risk management and assessment procedures are followed; Delivering advocacy and referrals to appropriate services, including making internal referrals

8. Contributing to the management and development of the team and day centre, including attending daily handovers, ensuring that Health and Safety issues are addressed at all times, attending Reflective Practice and team meetings.

9. Taking a hands-on approach to working with young people

10. Participating in the training and supervision of new staff, volunteers, students and locum workers and actively promoting a learning and development environment.

Networking and Liaison

To proactively liaise, communicate and negotiate with internal specialists and external agencies. This will include:

1. Seeking out and responding to opportunities with external partners who might offer resources, funding, or individual services relevant to young people’s needs e.g, Local Authorities, Social Services, Community Psychiatric Services, DWP, drugs and alcohol support, and other voluntary agencies.

2. Promoting and representing New Horizon Youth Centre at relevant forums and meetings.

Information Management

To produce and maintain accurate and useful information in a range of formats in order to promote effective service delivery and evaluation. This will include:

1. Producing written reports to meet the requirements of team managers, service providers and funders.

2. Inputting and extracting information from client monitoring systems and other database systems.

3. Being self-servicing in day-to-day administration and following team and New Horizon’s administrative procedures.

Reviewing Personal Performance and Development Needs

To be proactive in reviewing and evaluating own performance and identifying and acting upon areas for improvement. This will include:

1. Continuously reviewing own working practices in line with feedback and current best practice.

2. Taking a proactive approach to supervision and attending clinical supervision, weekly team meetings as well as line management supervision every 4-6 weeks.

3. Reviewing and evaluating own performance to identify strengths and areas for development.

4. Undertaking development and training opportunities and being responsible for obtaining maximum benefit through review, reflection, and practice.

Other

To contribute positively and constructively to the development of the team, the service, and the Centre. This will include:

1. Covering for other members of the team, as necessary.

2. Following New Horizon’s policies, procedures, and performance expectations in all functions of the post.

3. Undertaking, as required, any other duties compatible with the level and nature of the post and/or reasonably required by the Services Managers, Head of Services, or Leadership Team.

Person specification

We are looking for an individual who can demonstrate the following competencies to a high level and want to use these to the full in their work.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

1. Ability to work effectively with young people facing homelessness to identify personal goals and support mechanisms needed for change. (E)

2. The skills, ability and confidence to carry out street outreach shifts at least twice weekly, including late evenings and early morning shifts across London. (E)

3. Experience of creating and delivering work both 1-1 and in groups which meet the needs of young people. (E)

4. Experience of using IT systems (including knowledge CHAIN and other databases) to support the achievement of personal and collective work goals (E)

5. The ability to multitask in a pressured environment. (E)

6. Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with a diverse range of internal stakeholders and external agencies. (E)

7. Ability to maintain enthusiasm for a high level of contact with young people on a day-to-day basis and a genuine interest, passion and commitment to help young people to access opportunities leading to independence (E)

8. Ability to hold and manage a transitional case load of young people with multiple complex needs, supporting them into accommodation outcomes and linking them in with specialist support services. (E)

9. Understanding of the kinds of challenging behaviour that young people might demonstrate and ability to deliver strategies for dealing with such behaviour. (E)

10. A high level of knowledge of health and safety issues in a working environment with particular attention to the context of street-based outreach. (E)

11. Experience and knowledge around safeguarding policy and procedures for children and young people (E)

12. A working knowledge of and commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as it applies to a supportive service and in the workplace (E)

13. Willingness and ability to work outside of normal office hours, AM outreach shifts can start at 5am and evening shifts can finish at 1am (within New Horizon’s flexible working hour’s arrangements) and over the Christmas period (E)

14. Willingness to work flexibly in response to changing organisational requirements (E)

15. Willingness to travel across London for street outreach shifts and partnership building. (E)

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

1. Thorough and up-to-date working knowledge of:

• Local and National Government policies and procedures in relation to the client group (D)
• Relevant organisations and their role/responsibilities in providing support to vulnerable young people (D)

2. Knowledge of the CHAIN database and street-based outreach services. (D)

3. Knowledge of housing options for young people sleeping rough. (D)

4. Ability to create and maintain external partnerships to support organisational aims and objectives including representation of the organisation at external meetings and events (D)

1. Knowledge of working to performance indicators, including monitoring and reporting on service outputs/outcomes, client tracking, analysing performance information, and identifying corrective action (D)

If you have any questions or would like to arrange a call to discuss the role, please feel free to email us at [e-mail] or call 0207 388 5560.