Job Title: Supported Housing Worker (4 Posts)

Team: Residential Services

Reports To: Hostel Team Leader

Cardinal Basil Hume founded the Centre in 1986; we offer a diverse range of services for homeless young people, families in need and the local community on one site. The Centre enables people to gain the skills and support they need to overcome poverty and homelessness.

We have a person-focussed approach which encourages us to recognise that each human being is different with complex needs and so our response needs to be multi-layered. Therefore we offer six principle service packages: residential services for homeless young people; family services for children and families; housing, welfare rights and money management advice; employment support; learning and skills (English, IT and Adult Learning); and immigration advice and advocacy.

The Centre takes the Benedictine ethos of our founder seriously, ensuring that we offer a non- judgemental welcome and a stable and safe environment for people in need to seek help and support.

With an annual income in the region of £2.3 million, there are currently 54 staff members. In addition, the Centre benefits from the generous and diverse contribution of volunteers; there are currently some 130 active volunteers.

Key Purpose

To work with residents and other agencies to jointly plan, coordinate and monitor a personalised support package for each young person resident in the Centre’s hostel that enables them to progress towards their life goals. Key Tasks

Assessment, Support Planning and effective risk management  To assess referrals and interview applicants to determine if the Hostel is able to meet their individual needs and effectively manage potential risks.  To be the named key worker for a group of up to seven clients being a combination of emergency bed referrals, and long stay residents with high levels of support needs, providing support that could average 4 hours of support per client per week.  To carry out detailed assessment procedures with newly referred clients, working in conjunction with other services to identify each client’s aspirations and support needs.  Develop appropriate support plans and risk management plans for each client in line with the Centre’s support planning, positive risk management procedure and the Quality Assessment Framework.  Provide appropriate levels of support to each client through regular keywork sessions, group work and through facilitating the input of wider services to support clients to achieve their stated goals.  To work in partnership with clients to assist them in problem solving and in engaging them in processes which help them make informed choices about their future direction, and empower them to act on those choices.  To challenge clients where necessary by issuing warnings and provide appropriate support to address issues on non-engagement, anti-social behaviour, licence breaches.  Provide focused support for young people in NEET and support for young people to sustain ETE activities.  Include family, carers and partner agencies in the delivery of support and the management of risks.  To input information on the client database (InForm) in order to ensure that all staff have consistent, timely and accurate information about the client.  To ensure that all work undertaken aspires to standard A of the Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) for supported housing, and that documentary evidence to support this is available.  To provide reports around service targets; support planning, ETE, move on, arrears etc.  To accompany clients to activities in the community when required, working towards building their capacity to attend independently.  Supporting and facilitating group client activities within the hostel, often in conjunction with external agencies, as agreed with management.  To support individuals to work towards gaining greater independence through participation, at service and organisation level and within the wider community.

Financial inclusion  To support clients to maximise and sustain their income.  To be responsible for managing housing benefit and service charge arrears by addressing concerns promptly and providing appropriate levels of support to clients on these issues.  Strengthen the support offered to residents on financial inclusion including one-to-one budgeting work, organising group workshops on financial management, and via referrals to specialist agencies to address debt issues.

Working in Partnerships  To coordinate the support offered to client in conjunction with other internal departments such as the employment and learning team, housing, immigration etc.  Liaison with specialist agencies that can complement the support offered by CHC to meet the client’s support needs and identified goals.  As part of the support planning process, organise and participate in client case conference meetings with specialist agencies working with the client.  To promote and encourage services offered by agencies on site, through one-to-one appointments and group workshops.

Move On  To ensure that young people have realistic expectations about their potential move-on options from the outset of their stay at the Centre  To work closely with partner agencies to identify appropriate move on options for young people.  Support clients to make referrals in a timely manner, and support them to follow up on these as needed  If appropriate accompany clients to move-on appointments  Refer clients for floating support where appropriate.

Health, Safety, and Security  Ensuring the safety, security and well-being of residents, staff and other visitors to the hostel.  To promote a safeguarding culture applying best practice to ensure the safety of all residents and particularly those with particular vulnerabilities and/or children  To work with colleagues to deal with adverse incidents and emergency situations in line with the centre’s Incident Reporting, Child Protection and Adults at Risk policies.  To ensure all incidents reports are rigorously completed and followed up appropriately; this includes reporting of incidents relating to Child protection and Adults at Risk.  To cover core hostel duties including shift handovers, duty office reception, updating the resident’s register, health and safety patrols, room checks, bagging rooms, in agreement with the Shift Manager.  To work in line with the HASAW Act, and the Centre’s Health and Safety policy, by reporting any safety hazards, concerns or ideas for improvement.

Team Working  To work closely with other members of the Hostel team and other Centre staff to ensure that clients’ needs are effectively communicated and that clients are provided with excellent support.  To participate in team meetings to promote consistency of practice, and to analyse, reflect and identify learning from experience that can be used to improve practice in the hostel.  To take a lead role on specific projects as agreed with your line manager  To contribute to the development of the Centre’s practice through participation in peer review, and through attending external events and sharing the learning with other members of the staff team.  Taking lead responsibility for other keyworker’s clients in their absence and covering the reception in the absence of the administrator.

General  To undertake this work within a rolling rota over 5 days between the hours of 8am and 8:30pm, Monday to Sunday.  Participation in regular supervision meetings and an annual performance review with your line manager.  Undertaking training identified as beneficial and in agreement with your line manager.  Providing support to other Centre departments e.g. fundraising as requested and with the agreement of your line manager.  To carry out other duties required to ensure effective support for clients as requested by your line manager.  To complete the above in line with the Centre’s agreed values and aims and in accordance with policies and procedures.

Person Specification:

Essential  Understanding of issues faced by homeless and vulnerable young people.  Experience of working with disadvantaged and vulnerable young people (16 -25), including those with complex needs within a supported housing environment.  A sound understanding and experience of carrying out thorough assessments for vulnerable young people with complex needs.  Experience of managing a varied case load; providing one to one support / key working sessions for vulnerable young people  Experience of inclusive working to identify needs and risks and developing support and risk management plans to respond to needs / risks.  Experience of adopting a multi-agency approach such as social services, police/YOT, specialist voluntary sector agencies to deliver a personalised support package for vulnerable individuals.  The ability and experience of providing support around financial inclusion.  Experience of providing resettlement support.  Sound knowledge and experience of providing housing management services; voids management and day to day H&S tasks.  Experience of dealing with adverse incidents; proven ability to set boundaries, challenge appropriately, and to manage conflict positively and constructively.  Thorough understanding of safeguarding/child protection practice.  Knowledge of the Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) and the implications of this for your day-to-day work.  Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to produce high quality reports.  Experience of using computerised databases to manage information.  Must demonstrate a commitment to high standards of customer care.  A good organiser with the ability to organise and prioritise own workload and is flexible and willing to be “hands-on” to get things done.  This role requires a flexible working pattern that includes regular evening and weekend working, and a proportion of bank holidays.

Desirable  Commitment to the Centre’s mission and values and empathy with our clients  Commitment to empowering vulnerable young people  Self-motivated to work alone taking sole responsibility for a workload but also work as part of a team.  Ability to organise and prioritise own workload.  Ability to work flexibly and to deadlines  Ability to maintain confidentiality  Reliable, trustworthy, motivated, enthusiastic and proactive

Other Work Requirements  Disclosure & Barring Service Check

 Ability to work flexibly and attend outside normal work hours when necessary. TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

Salary: £26,930 per annum

Hours: 35 hours per week working five days out of every seven (Monday- Sunday) including a proportion of evenings, weekends and bank holidays (TOIL is given for Bank Holidays worked).

Holidays: 24 days, rising to 26 after one year’s service, and 28 after two years’ service.

Notice: One month

Probation: Six months

Season Ticket Loan is available

The Centre requires all its staff and volunteers to respect the ethos of the Centre and to be in sympathy with its aims and objectives. A commitment to respecting and implementing the Centre’s Equal Opportunity Policy is also expected.

The Centre requires its staff to recognise the valuable role that volunteers play in the work of the Centre and to welcome and support volunteers with whom they work.

The Centre requires all its staff and volunteers to undertake an enhanced DBS police check.

Our Founding Ethos

The Centre takes the Benedictine ethos of our founder seriously, ensuring that we offer a non- judgemental welcome and a stable and safe environment for people in need to seek help and support.

“Each person matters; no human life is redundant. Every individual must be given the opportunity to live a life in which his or her basic needs are provided for and in which, so far as is reasonably possible, their full potential is realized.” Cardinal Basil Hume OSB Our Vision

The Centre strives towards a society where every individual will have a safe place to live and where their right to develop is respected and supported. Our Mission: Turning Lives Around

The Cardinal Hume Centre enables people to gain the skills and support they need to overcome poverty and homelessness.

Our Values

Integrity: we strive to be true to our founding ethos and to living out our vision and mission; we are accountable to all our stakeholders. Respect: we seek to be non-judgemental, to listen, and acknowledge each other’s worth and to put people at the centre of our work. Inclusiveness: we promote equality of access to our services and support each client to access the same life opportunities as everyone else. Compassion: we will demonstrate our care for each individual who comes to the Centre in the quality and consistency of the services we offer to them. Empowerment: we will provide holistic support to our clients in helping them to identify their needs and in making informed choices about their lives Collaboration: we will work together with others who share our values, seeking partnerships to augment and complement our service offer.