Support Worker - Supported Living Services - Waltham Forest, East London

Job Title: 3 x Support Worker

Contract: Fixed Full Time, Permanent

Hours: 38 hours per week

Salary: £29,334 per annum

Location: Waltham Forest, East London

About Outward.

For 50 years, Outward has been providing high-quality support and care services to vulnerable people across London, predominantly in North East London. Established by families seeking alternatives to institutional care, we’ve grown into a respected provider of person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, and complex needs. We support over 1,000 people across nine boroughs, guided by our core values: engage, enable, and empower.

Outward is proud to be an accredited  Living Wage Employer . This means we are committed to paying the Real Living Wage – not just the government minimum or national living wage – to our frontline Support Workers and other eligible staff. We recognise the value of the work our teams do, and we are committed to ensuring fair pay that reflects the true cost of living. The Real Living Wage is updated annually by the Living Wage Foundation, and Outward remains committed to aligning our pay accordingly.

About the Role

We are looking for a proactive and passionate Support Workers to join our dedicated team supporting adults with a range of needs, including learning disabilities, autism and mental health support requirements.

We are seeking female Support Workers for this role as a genuine occupational requirement in accordance with Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010. The people we support have needs and preferences relating to personal care, privacy, dignity and emotional wellbeing, and therefore require support to be provided by female staff. We are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our recruitment process and workplace.

As a support worker, you will play a key role in empowering the people we support to live independent and fulfilling lives. We are looking for enthusiastic, creative and committed individuals to join the teams. If you feel you can bring a fresh approach, some new ideas and a commitment to supporting vulnerable people to have genuine control over their lives, play an active role in the community and develop as individuals then we want to hear from you. You will work closely with the Support Coordinator, Deputy or Team Manager and play an active role in ensuring our services are person-centred, well-managed, and aligned with Outward’s core values of engage, enable, and empower.

Your Responsibilities

As a Support Worker, you will need to:

Main purpose of the Job

· To engage, enable and empower our customers to support them to live the life they choose

Responsibilities / Overview of Role

· Provide high-quality care and support services to the people we support

· Key work with the people we support, discussing support needs, identifying risk areas and contributing to support plans and daily notes

· Advise managers of any concerns related to the people we support care and report any incidents or SOVAs

· Work in one service or across one floating support team

· Provide cover for other services within the area team if required - (this will be in a similar type of service)

Putting the People we Support First

· Uphold the rights of the people we support to be involved at all levels of decision making

· Respect the wishes of the people we support at all times

Financial and contractual responsibility

· Always follow procedures and policies when purchasing goods to include petty cash

· Consider value for money when carrying out all work activities

· Support the people we support to manage their finances appropriately where required

· Raise any concerns about the safety of the people we support finances to a line manager

· Provide hours of care and support to individual or groups of the people we support as requested by line manager

· Report to manager where care or support has not been provided for any reason

· Support the people we support to participate in recruitment selection as requested

· Take personal responsibility for ensuring you have the knowledge and skills to carry out any tasks requested

Service Delivery

· Ensure the delivery of quality services which may include lone working

· Follow all policies and procedures when carrying out care and support tasks

· Follow support plans and risk assessment guidance at all times

· Provide information about changing needs of the people we support

· Record all information as directed

· Accountable in ensuring all information related to the clients you key work is up-to-date and completed to a suitable quality standard

· Ensure that all day-to-day records are completed and inform manager where you are unable to document actions taken or require a more senior member of staff to amend a risk assessment

· Provide both direct and in-direct support to the people we support across a team, areas as required

· Work hours will/may include evenings, weekends and bank holiday working

· Carry out personal care in a safe and appropriate way following guidelines, policies and procedures

· Provide advice and guidance to support workers carrying out personal care activity

Additional Responsibilities

· Provide information, support and buddying to new support workers volunteers and apprentices as appropriate

· Work in a co-operative way at all times with other departments and external agencies

· Act as an ambassador for Outward at all times

· Treat the people we support with dignity and respect at all times putting their needs at the forefront of all decision making

· Follow the code of conduct at all times

· Read and follow policies and procedures

· Take personal responsibility for the safety of self and others at all times

· Work responsibly and appropriately with due regard to confidentiality, commercially sensitive information

· Comply with all legal and regulatory responsibilities as may fall to be applicable

· Appropriately record day to day intervention and observations of the people we support care and support activities

· Take all reasonable measures to follow all health and safety policies and procedures and appropriate legislation as applicable to the role

· Responsible for informing line manager where there is a health and safety concern

· Take all possible measures to keep the people we support safe, respond appropriately to risk and report on safeguarding, accidents and incidents as per policy and procedures

· Report and log repairs to landlord/Outward housing management, follow up any in-actio 

This job description is not an exhaustive list. You are expected to undertake any other duties as may be reasonably requested of you by your line manager.

Requirements

Essential Criteria

• Good understanding of safeguarding and risk management in a care/support setting
• Knowledge of health and safety issues within supported housing or care environments
• Understanding of confidentiality, GDPR, and data protection principles
• Staff must have access to a smartphone capable of receiving SMS messages and installing authentication apps for secure systems access
• Right to Work in the UK. Please note: Outward will not provide visa sponsorship.
• Existing knowledge/experience in following the PBS approach would be beneficial but not essential as we do provide extensive training

Desirable Criteria

• NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (or equivalent)
• Additional training in PBS, safeguarding, or housing-related legislation

How to Apply

The above is not an exhaustive list of requirements for the role.

If you think you are who we are looking for, please submit a CV and statement detailing how you feel your experiences meets the requirements of the role by referring to the Job Responsibilities and the Person Specification.

There is no specific closing date for this advert. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. It would be great to hear from you.

Benefits

We value everything our staff do for the people we support, so we provide a great benefits package:

• 25 days Annual Leave excluding Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time)
• Comprehensive Learning & Development Programme

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme
• Death in Service Benefit
• Health Assured – Employee Assistance Programme
• Eye care Vouchers
• Flu Jab Reimbursement
• Pension Scheme
• Purchase Additional Annual Leave
• Refer-a-Friend Scheme

Diversity and Safeguarding at Outward:

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Outward applies its Equal Opportunities Policy at all stages of recruitment and selection. Shortlisting, interviewing and selection is carried out without regard to gender, sexual orientation, marital status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, age or trade union membership. 

As an employer, who aspire to become Disability Confident Committed, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. Please indicate clearly at the beginning of your supporting statement if you have a disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010), and you wish to be considered for an Offer Of an Interview (OOI) Please note that the OOI is available to disabled candidates only. Regrettably, any false declaration of disability in order to secure an interview will impact on your overall application.

Outward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require a DBS for successful candidates.