Team Leader Housing Support

Action for Children; Dundee; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

29 days annual leave + bank holidays

Training and professional development

Flexible maternity/adoption/paternity

Pension with employer contribution

Staff discount portal and Blue Light

Job summary

Dundee Youth Housing Service, part of Action for Children, provides temporary accommodation for homeless and care-experienced young people. The Team Leader will oversee housing support staff, ensure risk-managed, person-centred service delivery, and coordinate placements with social work and council teams.

You will lead a 24/7 year-round service, supervise staff, support independent living skills, and ensure safeguarding and quality standards are met, with on-call duties and cross-agency

Qualifications

• Must possess SVQ 3 in Social Services & Healthcare, or HNC Social Services or equivalent / SVQ4 in Social Services or Healthcare or willing to work towards / SSSC registered.
• Previous experience of supervising staff.
• Significant experience of working with children and young people with Learning Disabilities.
• Confident in all aspects of MS Office.
• Experience of coaching and supporting staff to reach a competent standard.
• Ability to work under pressure while maintaining drive and enthusiasm and to be able to deal with children and young people effectively and safely with challenging behaviour.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational leadership to practitioners and support workers delivering support to young people.
• Oversee delivery of structured support pathways including referral, assessment, support planning and reviews.
• Ensure interventions are effective and outcomes-focused.
• Manage staffing for a 24-hour, year-round service and respond to unplanned absences.
• Coordinate on-call rota and provide guidance outside normal hours.
• Lead partnership work with internal and external agencies to develop holistic support packages.

Skills

Supervising staff

Coaching

Communication skills

Education

SVQ3 in Social Services & Healthcare, or HNC Social Services, or SVQ4 in Social Services/Healthcare

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Salary: £29,000 per annum,

Location: Dundee

Contract/Hours: Permanent / Full Time 37 hours

Interviews will be held Monday 28th September

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 670,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the service

Dundee Youth Housing Service is spread across two residential sites in the city of Dundee. We can accommodate 25 young people at one time through a mixture of housing support and care at home intervention.

The Dundee Youth Housing Service, in collaboration with the Dundee City Council, fulfils its statutory duty by supporting homeless/care experienced young people aged 16 and above. The aim of the service is to engage with young people and families at the earliest opportunity. To be responsive, to prevent situations escalating, and take the pressure off the local authority front line services.

As the initial point of contact for any young person facing homelessness in the city, our service plays a crucial role. Within the strategic housing partnership, Action for Children stands as the sole organisation dedicated to preventing young individuals from becoming homeless. Our service operates 24/7.

Our primary focus is to provide temporary accommodation for young people who have been assessed as homeless. We extend our support to young individuals who are homeless and have care experience.

A bit about the role

As a Team Leader within Housing Support, you will provide operational leadership to practitioners and support workers delivering support to young people, ensuring high‑quality, consistent and person‑centred services. You will oversee the delivery of structured support pathways, including referral, assessment, support planning and regular review, ensuring interventions are effective and outcomes‑focused.

You will work closely with Social Work, DCC Housing Teams and the AFC Prevention Team to ensure robust baseline assessments are completed prior to accommodation placements. Through supervision, guidance and quality assurance, you will support your team to empower young people to develop independent living skills and progress confidently towards sustainable, permanent accommodation.

You will manage and coordinate staffing arrangements for a continuous 24‑hour, year‑round service to ensure staffing levels consistently meet service demands, responding quickly to unplanned absences and allocating resources effectively to maintain performance and service continuity.

You will also be part of a Team Leader rota, providing on‑call cover as required. This includes responding to incidents, offering guidance to staff, supporting decision‑making out with normal working hours and escalating concerns appropriately in line with policy. This role includes an additional payment for participation in the on‑call rota

The role involves leading partnership working with internal and external agencies to develop and deliver holistic, tailored support packages that respond to individual needs. You will promote best practice, encourage reflective working, and ensure safeguarding, risk management, and equality principles are consistently applied.

Ultimately, you will support your team to help young people live independently, engage positively with their communities, and achieve long‑term, positive outcomes—while maintaining service standards, compliance, and a focus on continuous improvement.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

As a Team Leader within Housing Support, you will lead and support staff to deliver effective, person‑centred support to young people. While maintaining an understanding of frontline practice, your role will focus on overseeing the delivery of general support and guidance, including independent living skills, tenancy sustainment, housing applications and access to appropriate services.

You will ensure your team has a strong awareness of local services available across Dundee and that young people are effectively signposted to relevant support based on assessed need. Through supervision, guidance, and role‑modelling best practice, you will support staff to deliver consistent, high‑quality interventions that promote independence and wellbeing.

You will also be responsible for:

• Promoting and maintaining effective working relationships with colleagues, partner agencies, young people and families to support positive outcomes
• Ensuring safeguarding and child protection responsibilities are fully understood, embedded in practice and escalated appropriately in line with policy
• Providing regular supervision and facilitating practice meetings, ensuring reflective practice and a cohesive, consistent approach across the team
• Monitoring compliance with policies, procedures, and professional standards, addressing issues through support and performance management where required
• Leading and embedding practice aligned with GIRFEC, The Promise, the Health and Social Care Standards, and the SSSC Code of Conduct

Through strong leadership, oversight, and support, you will ensure services are delivered safely, consistently and in line with statutory and organisational expectations, contributing to positive long‑term outcomes for young people.

Let's talk about you

• Must possess SVQ 3 in Social Services & Healthcare, or HNC Social Services or equivalent / SVQ4 in Social Services or Healthcare or willing to work towards / SSSC registered.
• Previous experience of supervising staff.
• Significant experience of working with children and young people with Learning Disabilities.
• Confident in all aspects of MS Office.
• Experience of coaching and supporting staff to reach a competent standard.
• Ability to work under pressure while maintaining drive and enthusiasm and to be able to deal with children and young people effectively and safely with challenging behaviour.

Diversity, equality and inclusion

At Action for Children, we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace.

Weactivelyencourageapplications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under‑represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children.

Male staff are under‑represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles.

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