Support Worker

Support Worker
Location: South East
Pay rate:  £28.70

An exciting opportunity has come up for a disabled Children’s Family Support Workers to support disabled children and young people and their families through their child in need plans. Your role is to act as allocated worker reviewing child in need plans to ensure that they meet the assessed needs. Your will be the point of contact to help and support when issues arise with personal budget or in the event of a difficulty or crisis. You will also support parents in poverty, with mental health problem, victims of domestic violence and where English is a second language,  to access their rights to benefits and appropriate housing. This is a fantastic opportunity for candidates who are committed to enhancing the lives of young people and their families. We are seeking practitioners who are able to provide a positive support and impact to the young person.

In this role you will

• Hold a caseload of disabled children and their families to ensure that they have the right support in place to meet their needs, that the child, parents, support provider and the professional network are working towards agreed SMART goals linked to their EHC plans.
• Organise child in need reviews for children and young people, which are usually in the schools where the professional network can attend.
• Review process begins with gathering information from the child, parents and professionals about the current needs and progress towards the goals in the last CIN.
• Where there has been a significant change in needs or more than two years since the last assessment the FSRO would gather information to inform a reassessment led by a Deputy Team Manager.
• Attend and contribute to Team around the Child meetings and Child in Need Reviews. They are responsible for completing minutes, uploading these to LCS and circulating to the attendees.
• Review the FSRPs would work with the child, parents and the professional network to develop new goals and identify the affordable support in the individual budget to meet the family’s needs.
• Ensure that goals are SMART and personalised to the child/young person and their family. They usually including access to leisure, at least one developmental goal and a regular short break for the carers.
• Support families by costing a number of plans and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the different options.
• Ensure that families have a clear understanding of personal budgets and their options for managing this process, including direct payments.
• Work through the direction of a DTM to submit the plan to the EHCMB and make a referral that contains a summary of needs and the rationale for the proposed plan.
• Calculate and structure payments for support plans, advise parents on the use of the pre-paid card and ensure the parent signs the pre-paid card agreement.
• For those families that cannot manage their own direct payments or where funds have been misused they will set up families on managed accounts in consultation with the Direct Payments Manager.
• Liaise with commissioned services and other teams in the council to set up services in accordance with the support plan and work with the family to ensure they are accessing their current support plan
• Work directly with families throughout the year providing emotional and practical support through short-term interventions that would enable them to manage better and be more resilient.
• Work in partnership with Family Outreach Practitioners to support families on their caseloads to meet needs not addressed through the individual budget. 15. FSRPs need to respond promptly to crisis situations to source support through the family where possible or seek crisis funding where appropriate.
• Need to amend support plans, costs and payments on the relevant systems and present the financial request, rationale and support planning information for a management decision.
• Use and assist others in the use of information technology systems to carry out duties in the most efficient and effective manner.

The Ideal candidate will

• Have a level 3 qualification in Childcare (or equivalent)
• Previous experience of Support Work
• An accreditation in completing specialist assessment (e.g. PAMS, AIM) Desirable
• Enhanced DBS

This is an agency post and Pertemps can offer you:-

• A dedicated consultant who has access to all roles across the UK and is available for you to speak to
• An easy registration process (all done online)
• Referral schemes and incentives

This role is ideally located for those travelling from Hammersmith, Chiswick, Wembley, City of London, Wimbledon, Fulham, Lambeth, London, Twickenham, High Wycombe, Slough, Maidenhead, Bracknell, Guildford, Croydon, Bromley, Dartford, Romford, Watford, Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Lewisham, Newham, Islington, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Ilford, Chelmsford, Brixton, Barking, Southwark, Mitcham, Enfield and Woolwich.

We recruit across all areas of Qualified Social Work. If you are a Social Worker and this is not the role for you, contact us about other roles including IRO (Independence Reviewing Officer), Occupational Therapist, BIA (Best Interest Assessor), MASH, LAC, Support Workers,  Children’s Social Work, Adult Social Work, Service Manager, Head of Service, Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager.