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Job Information
Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us click here.
Waking Nights Support Worker
We are proud to share that children's services in Kingston have achieved an OUTSTANDING rating from Ofsted in December 2024, receiving the highest judgement rating in all five assessment areas. This marks Kingston's second consecutive OUTSTANDING rating, a true reflection of the commitment to ensuring children and young people across the borough have a fairer start in life, and providing the support and services they and their families need to live happy, healthy and successful lives. To find out more click here.
If you would like to be part of our success story, take a look at the below opportunity to see if it's the right fit for you.
The salary shown is full time equivalent and will be pro-rated accordingly.
Exciting opportunity to support vulnerable young people during the night in a OFSTED registered provision run by Achieving for children. This is part time role and a waking nights role hours will be Friday and Saturday night 10pm till 8am the following morning. The job is located in central Kingston.
About the role
This post will be responsible for providing support to our vulnerable residents overnight; ensuring the buildings are and safe and secure and for carrying out some cleaning and administrative duties. The postholder may be required to do regular welfare checks on a young person who is high risk of self harming or having suicidal ideations or is at risk of going missing. Whilst being part of a supportive team, they will also be expected to work independently and lone work most of the shift managing any risks and dealing with any safeguarding or licence breaches that might arise during the night. There will usually be a second staff member on site, who will be sleeping from 12 midnight, but who can be called on in case of serious incidents or emergencies. The post holder would be expected to work 20 hours a week made up of 2 shifts of 10 hours (10pm to 8am). They will be expected to be awake for the full 10 hour shift. The shifts are on Friday and Saturday nights.
The key responsibilities include to respond in an emergency situation and follow the correct policies and procedures, including mental health crisis & self harm episodes and reporting missing episodes; to respond to non-emergency situations e.g noise complaints, guest procedures, encouraging young people to adhere to home times; to liaise with EDT and emergency services and to provide a listening ear and emotional support for young people that are not able to sleep.
- Ability to assess risk and generate solutions to problems, strong analytical and planning skills, and the ability to assess and review young people’s needs
- Commitment to the protection and safeguarding to young people at risk of abuse or harm
- Ability to identify and record any safeguarding issues in accordance with the HOST & Achieving for Children’s Safeguarding procedures.
- Commitment to carry out day-to-day and deep cleaning tasks and routine Health & Safety
- Knowledge and understanding of the life skills needed to live independently and experience in delivering these to young people with a wide range of cultural backgrounds and need
- Ability to work as part of an effective, flexible and supportive team and willing to work weekends and unsociable hours - including under own initiative and lone working whilst under pressure
About you
- Educated to GCSE with a relevant professional qualification in working with children or young people or supported housing
About our benefits
We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:
- 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month(Or for term term workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract.)
- Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
- Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
- Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
- A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
- A range of staff benefits and discounts
- An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway
To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here. For our social work offer click here. For our Recruitment Journey, click here.
Important Information
Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.
Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.
Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.
Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
For more information about AfC: Drop in and meet Regina on the first Wednesday of every month at Civic Centre, Twickenham.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
