Support Worker - Family Time Support and Support Service North

Essex County Council; Colchester; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Essex County Council is seeking a Support Worker for the Family Time Support and Support Service North in Colchester. This permanent, full-time role involves helping children in care have safe, meaningful family time and supporting social workers with care plans.

You will engage with communities, build relationships with families, and contribute to safeguarding and outcomes through collaboration with partners. Driving mobility is required; First Aid certification is desirable.

Qualifications

• NVQ/BTEC Level 3 or equivalent experience in social care.
• Evidence of continuing professional development (CPD).
• Experience of building strong relationships with children and families in times of challenge.
• Knowledge of legislative and policy guidance applicable within Social Care settings.

Responsibilities

• Support children and young people in care to have safe and meaningful family time with their family members in accordance with care plans.
• Assist social workers to implement and monitor care plans, and write reports delivering interventions for children and families.
• Maintain high standards of professional practice contributing to continuous service improvement.
• Highlight safeguarding issues and assist in implementing plans to safeguard a child.
• Collaborate with internal and external partner agencies to improve outcomes for families.
• Provide info to service users on accessing third party agencies (benefits, immigration, housing).
• Attend meetings, reviews, and court hearings to provide information and evidence.
• Write effective reports for professional meetings, forums, and court.

Skills

Communication

Relationship building

Report writing

Education

NVQ/BTEC Level 3

Job description

Support Worker - Family Time Support and Support Service North

Support Worker - Family Time Support and Support Service North

Permanent, Full Time

Location: Colchester

Closing Date: Monday 9th November 2026 at 11.59pm

Interview Date: Thursday 19th November 2026.

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us having received our

2nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row.

The Opportunity

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting development and wellbeing of children, young people, and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers, and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

Child and Family Support Workers work within the Family Time and Support Service, ensuring that children and young people in care have safe and meaningful Family Time with their family members, as well as working alongside the frontline teams in conjunction with Qualified Social Workers to deliver bespoke, targeted intervention work, in accordance with the care plans, to vulnerable children and families. This work will normally be time limited, with measurable impact and meet the assessed needs.

Educated to Level 3 or with activity based alternative experience, in a social care setting, you will be passionate about engaging with and providing direct support in the community, building strong working relationships with partners to jointly deliver improved services.

Accountabilities

Responsible for supporting children and young people in care to have safe and meaningful family time with their family members, in accordance with their care plans.

Responsible for supporting social workers to implement and monitor care plans, and write reports where required, which deliver interventions for children and families.

Responsible for maintaining high standards of professional practice which contribute to continuous improvement across the service.

Responsible for highlighting issues and implementing plans to safeguard a child.

Building strong, effective relationships with the service users, providing practical advice and support, where necessary and deemed appropriate, enabling children and families to sustain change and function effectively within the community.

Work collaboratively across the service, with internal and external professional partner agencies, to ensure improved outcomes for children and families.

Provide information and advice in relation to involvement/accessing of third party agencies relevant to the needs of the service user (e.g., benefits agencies, immigration, and housing).

Participate in meetings, reviews, case conferences, and court hearings to provide information, insight, and evidence.

Writing effective reports which could be used in professional meetings, forums, and court.

Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

Educated to NVQ/BTEC Level 3 or equivalent experience.

Evidence of continuing professional development and in-depth knowledge in relevant professional area.

Experience of building strong, effective relationships with children and families in times of challenge and crisis.

Experience of observing, facilitating, and reporting on Family Time.

Experience of undertaking direct, activity based work with children and families where required.

Knowledge and understanding of the issues impacting children, young people, and families, leading them to require support.

Knowledge of legislative and policy guidance applicable within Social Care settings.

Proven track record of working 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.

Dependant on experience- and how many years working as band 6