Do you have a background of working with children with learning disabilities or are willing to learn the skills that enable you to do so? Are you someone who enjoys working in a rewarding, supportive, and a challenging environment? Can you work with a diverse range of stakeholders in an inclusive and accessible way?
We have an exciting opportunity within our Families, Children and Wellbeing Directorate where you will get to make a real difference in the lives of children with learning difficulties. Every team member plays a vital part in helping our young people to thrive, and as a highly successful team we support each other to deliver our service with fairness and inclusivity. We are committed to delivering an outstanding service and to making Health and Disability Services accessible to everyone.
If you would like to discuss this role, please email Simon Kinyua -
[email protected] to arrange a conversation.
Job Introduction
At Drove Road, Tudor house and Rainbow Lodge, we provide a mixture of short breaks and full-time placements for young people between the ages of 8 and 18 with learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge.
Many of our young people have Autism with associated complex needs. Our dedicated team of staff works hard to create a positive, safe, stimulating, and homely environment in which each young person’s specific needs are met, and they are supported to develop and learn new skills while having fun. Particular emphasis is given to those skills that promote independence. As a Relief Home Care Support Worker, you will:
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Support young people from diverse backgrounds with intimate personal care when required.
- Use a range of inclusive and accessible communication tools to help our young people express themselves.
- Undertake a range of domestic tasks including cleaning, shopping, providing freshly prepared meals.
- Support your colleagues and yourself to stay safe during times of behaviours of concern.
You will be someone with:
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The experience of looking after children with learning disabilities or willing to learn.
- Inclusive and accessible communication skills for interaction with service users, families, social workers, and medical professionals.
- The ability to apply learned restrictive interventions to support young people in line with their behaviour support plans.
- A clear Enhanced DBS Certificate
Benefits:
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Support with in-house training to improve skills and knowledge.
- An opportunity to increase your skill and experience for future roles within social care, education and childcare.
- Enhancements over weekends, evenings, and bank holidays.
- Discount in some of the major store chains and leisure facilities.
Shift patterns
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Early shifts: 7am-2.30pm (until 11am during term times)
- Late shifts: 2pm-9.30pm or 10pm
- Sleep-in shifts when cover is needed.
Salary: £14.13 per hour plus enhancements for weekends, nights and Bank Holidays
For more information about the organisation and the specific tasks required, please download the job description / person specification.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
