Welfare Support Officer

Mears Group; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 29,000; Full time

Job summary

Mears Group is seeking a Welfare Support Officer in Sheffield to assist asylum seekers through their right to work applications. This role requires experience with vulnerable populations, strong communication skills, and the ability to offer emotional support. The position is full-time, offering an annual salary of up to £28,917 with additional benefits including a company vehicle and various employee perks.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Annual Mears Fun Day

Volunteering Leave

Staff perks with Mears Rewards

Family friendly policies

Company Vehicle and Fuel Card

Access to EAP Counselling sessions

Qualifications

• Experience of working with vulnerable and diverse client groups.
• Understanding of safeguarding.
• Ability to identify individuals and family needs.
• Effective communication skills with colleagues and service users.
• Experience with record keeping and risk assessments.

Responsibilities

• Support asylum seekers through their Asylum application process.
• Provide practical and emotional support.
• Monitor service users' wellbeing and support needs.
• Ensure all records are updated for home office audit purposes.

Skills

Accurate Record-keeping

Customer Service

Internal and External Liaison

Report Writing

Team Work

Experience with vulnerable and diverse client groups

Understanding of safeguarding

Ability to identify needs and support packages

Experience with mental health

Effective communication

Job description

Annual salary: up to £28,917.00

Welfare Support Officer

Sheffield

Salary up to £28,917 per annum

Full time – Permanent, 40hrs per week, Monday to Friday

Including company vehicle and fuel card or £3,500 company car allowance

Mears provides temporary accommodation to asylum seekers whilst their claim is being assessed in three regions: Northeast, Yorkshire and Humber, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. At the end of May 2021 Mears had over 19000 service users across the three regions. Mears work in partnership with central and local Government, registered providers, tenants, landlords and investors to find solutions to homelessness, provide more social and affordable housing and create specialist housing for people with care needs.

About the Role:

Due to contract expansion, we are seeking for a Welfare Support Officer to join our team. This is an exciting position that works exclusively to support Asylum seekers going through their right to work Asylum application process with the home office. The ideal candidate will be resilient, trustworthy, caring, a people person and extremely empathetic to others. As a Welfare Support Officer every day is different, no day is the same. Although this role comes with it challenges it is an extremely rewarding role.

As a Welfare Support Officer your main duties will include but not limited to ensuring service users aresupported atvarious stagesof their Asylum application processincluding anysafeguardingand welfare issues you come across, providing practical and emotional support to service users, monitoring service users’ wellbeing and support needs and ensuring all records are updated and accurate for home office audit purposes. It is essential to maintain boundaries and being resilient to ensure a professional and a well-defined service is provided to always meet the needs of the service users.

Role Criteria:

• Experience of working with vulnerable and diverse client groups
• Experience and understanding of safeguarding
• Ability to identify individuals and family need and recognise the required support packages to maintain independence
• Experience working with mental health and or challenging behaviour
• To communicate effectively with colleagues, local authorities, and service users
• Experience with record keeping and risk assessments
• Ability to work under own initiative
• Resilient
• You will be supportive, trustworthy, a good listener, approachable and empathetic to others
• Flexible and happy to travel
• Full UK driving license

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK, Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

As part of the recruitment process for this role, we will carry out a DBS & BPSS check, as well as Security Clearance. For these checks to be completed, we will require from you the relevant identification, including Proof of Address, References, a valid passport and proof that you have lived in the UK for the last 5 years.

To drive a Mears vehicle, you must be aged over 21 have held your licence over 3 months and have less than 9 points.

Benefits we can offer you

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Annual Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organised as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work!
• Volunteering Leave - Mears supports employees to undertake paid volunteering in the community, in support of our social value commitment.
• Staff perks with Mears Rewards - discounts of up to 10% weekly groceries, holidays, eye test vouchers, Share save scheme, plus much more
• Family friendly policies
• Company Vehicle and Fuel Card
• Access to EAP Counselling sessions

Required Qualifications:

Accurate Record-keeping, Customer Service, Internal and External Liaison, Report Writing, Team Work

Apply below or to discuss your application further; contact:

Beth Dunford ([e-mail])

If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.

At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.