Specialist Support Worker - Targeted Early Help Service

In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ. 

Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We've set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.

The purpose of this role is to provide whole family support to improve outcomes for children and young people aged 0-18yrs.

This opportunity is fixed term until April  2024 at which point it will be reviewed.

• You will hold a caseload of families acting as the Lead Professional working towards agreed outcomes supported by other professionals such as schools, health, nurseries etc.
• You will write assessments and SMART plans with families which will be monitored for progress through Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings. 
• Much of your time will be spent away from the office completing direct work with all family members to ensure their views are heard at all times and they remain central to your work. 
• Your work will be recorded on our IT system which you will be responsible for uploading to ensure it reflects the work you are doing. 

We are multidisciplinary team with a passion for making a difference to families quickly to ensure their level of need does not increase.  We work with families with children aged 0-18 yrs old and as such have a diverse skill set.  We are very supportive of each other making sure that everyone feels equipped to work with children of all ages.  We support families who have been identified as needing a multi agency approach to address emerging needs.  Each family will have a thorough assessment in order that we can create a robust plan to address assessed needs which we regularly review.  The work is incredibly varied as we support families with multiple needs.

Restorative practice is deeply rooted in our approach to supporting children and young people which ensures that all of our families feel that we are working with them and not doing to them; feedback from families tells us we are doing this well.

Prevention is at the heart of our work. We work with children and young people to prevent level of need escalating to a point where a family may require support from statutory social care.

We are seeking applications from people with experience of working directly with young people as well as people with experience of whole family support.  A professional qualification is desirable but is not essential as we believe that experience is equally important.  We need you to have demonstrable experience in working with children, young people and families that are vulnerable and require specialist support to prevent their situations escalating.

We need you to be creative and flexible in your approach and an expert in building relationships quickly with children, young people and families. 

Assessment writing and planning is key identifying need and planning for change therefore you must have experience in both of these areas.

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

The closing date is given as a guide. 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 submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen here. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

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.