Support Worker - Supported Living Service - Newham

Job Title: Support Worker

Contract: Permanent Full Time

Hours: 38 hours per week

Salary: £29,334 per annum

Location: NE London: Newham

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 worker to join our dedicated team supporting adults with a range of needs, including learning disabilities, autism, mental health challenges, and complex support requirements. This role offers a unique opportunity to combine direct care responsibilities with supporting people to live fulfilled lives as independently as possible.

As a support worker, you will play a key role in empowering the people we support who live either independently in their own flats or in shared accommodation.

This is a hands-on role where you will spend your time supporting people with everyday life activities, from developing essential life skills and accessing the community, to personal care and wellbeing.

No previous professional care experience is required. If you have personal experience of care or simply a strong desire to support others, we’ll provide you with training, including in Positive Behaviour Support (PBS). If you hold a current driving licence, this would be an advantage. You will 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:

· engage, enable and empower people and to support them to live the life they choose

· Understanding what’s important to the people we support – engaging, enabling and empowering them to have a good quality of life

· Working together with people to identify goals and aspirations and setting achievable outcomes

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, understanding the things that are important to them

· Working together with the people we support and their family to improve their quality of life

Financial and contractual responsibility

· Follow procedures and policies at all times 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/PBS 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

• Attend all essential Training for your service
• Develop a good working relationship with the families of the person we support

Requirements

Essential Criteria

• Friendliness and a kind and caring nature,
• Compassionate and understanding,
• Patience and empathy,
• A willingness to learn and be proactive in trying new things,
• An ability to build trust and relationships with others,
• A Considered and sensible approach,
• Commitment to empowering people with learning disabilities and autism to live fulfilled lives,
• IT literacy – Microsoft Office and online applications,
• 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.

Desirable Criteria

• NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (or equivalent)
• Additional training in PBS, safeguarding, or housing-related legislation
• Previous experience of working within the charity, housing or social care sector,
• Driver with use of car,
• Supporting adults with mental health needs,

  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.

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.

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.