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Start For Life Practitioner (23205)

Barnardo's -
Smethwick

Job details

Permanent
£20,029.34 a year

Benefits

Additional leave
Cycle to work scheme
Annual leave
Company pension
Employee assistance programme
Employee discount
Sick pay

Qualifications

Report writing
Communication skills

Full job description

Start for Life Practitioner

Sandwell (Oldbury, Smethwick, Tipton, Rowley Regis, Wednesbury & West Bromwich)
Barnardo's – Best Start Family Hubs & Healthy Babies

Help Shape the First 1,000 Days of a Child's Life

Barnardo's is a key partner delivering Sandwell's Best Start Family Hubs, supporting families from pregnancy through to a child's second birthday — a critical time for development, health and emotional wellbeing.

We're looking for a passionate Start for Life Practitioner to support babies and families to thrive through high-quality, accessible and community-based services.

About the Role

You will work directly with parents and carers, delivering universal and targeted support to improve outcomes during pregnancy and early childhood.

You'll act as a trusted point of contact, helping families navigate services while promoting wellbeing, early development and positive relationships.

✨ Key Responsibilities

Support families from pregnancy to age two through 1:1 and group-based interventions
Deliver sessions such as baby groups, baby massage and wellbeing activities
Promote parent–infant bonding, attachment and early development
Provide guidance on infant feeding, healthy lifestyles and emotional wellbeing
Signpost families to health, education and community services
Engage parents through events, outreach and community activities
Work closely with midwives, health visitors, early years and partner agencies
Maintain accurate records and contribute to assessments and reporting

✅ What We're Looking For

Level 3 qualification (or equivalent) in a relevant field
Experience supporting babies, children and families
Experience delivering group programmes and 1:1 support
Good understanding of child development
Knowledge of safeguarding and child protection
Ability to work in a multi-agency environment
Strong communication and report-writing skills

What You'll Bring

Passion for improving outcomes for young children and families
Empathy, resilience and a non-judgemental approach
Ability to build trust and engage diverse communities
A proactive, flexible and team-focused mindset

Why Join Barnardo's?

Be part of the UK's leading children's charity
Make a real difference during the earliest and most important years
Work in a collaborative, community-focused environment
Access to training, development and career progression

Additional Information

Flexibility to work evenings and weekends when required
Enhanced DBS check required
Commitment to safeguarding is essential

Apply Today

If you're passionate about giving every child the best start in life, we'd love to hear from you.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

Barnardo's require colleagues to be UK residents, based in the UK and to complete their roles from within the UK (with the exception of colleagues providing Barnardo's services in Jersey and colleagues who live in the Republic of Ireland providing services in Northern Ireland)

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
Service related sick pay from day 1
Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
Cycle2work scheme
Interest free season ticket loans
Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
20% discount at Barnardo's stores
Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Our basis and values

Reference number:
23205
Job Title:
Start For Life Practitioner
Location:
Smethwick
Locality:
Sandwell
Contract type:
Permanent (Fixed term funded post)
End date:
31/03/2029
Hours:
28.5
Salary:
£26,003.00 (FTE) £20,029.34 (Pro Rata)
Closing Date:
29 June 2026
Interview Date:
TBC

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Employee Assistance Programme

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