Job title: Employment Support Worker/Personal Assistant
Line Manager: Employment Service Manager & Access to Work Coordinator
Salary: £14.80 per hour
Hours: 9:00am – 12:15pm (hours worked on agreed school days, including INSET days where required)
This role will/is a job-share arrangement. Workers will be guaranteed at least 2 days per week, with the specific days confirmed on a weekly basis
Location: Braintree, Essex
Contract Type: Fixed Term (subject to Access to Work funding)
Introduction to Generate
Generate has been creating opportunities and offering support to people with a learning disability since 1972. We are committed to improving the lives of people with a learning disability by supporting and encouraging them in a creative way to access opportunities in their communities, take their place as citizens and reduce their reliance on services.
In addition to our youth and community services targeted at people with a learning disability, we also provide an Access to Work service. We work on delivering one-to-one employment support workers and Job Coaching staff across London to individuals with a range of disabilities.
It is funded for in-work support through the Department of Work and Pensions’ Access to Work Programme, although there is scope for this service to expand into other areas of supported employment. It is the largest provider of the programme within London with a wide breadth of scope in terms of location and range of disabilities supported.
Main Purpose of the Job
To support client with disabilities and/or health conditions in their workplace.
About the Role: We are looking for a professional and discreet Employment Support Worker / Personal Assistant to provide workplace support to an employee working as a Learning Support Assistant/Teaching Assistant in a primary school in Braintree.This role is funded through the Access to Work programme and is solely to support the employee in carrying out their duties effectively. The successful candidate will accompany the client throughout their agreed working hours, providing practical assistance whenever required while remaining as unobtrusive as possible.Support may also be required before classroom sessions to assist the client in preparing materials, organising resources, and ensuring they are ready for the school day. Support will also be provided during meetings, INSET days, school trips, and other school-related activities where the client is required to attend.The successful applicant must understand that their role is exclusively to support the client. They must remain in the background, allowing the client to interact independently with pupils and school staff, stepping in only when assistance is requested.
Key Responsibilities/Duties include, but are not limited to:
- Taking accurate handwritten and typed notes during lessons, meetings, training sessions, and other work-related activities.
- Preparing reminder lists and written prompts as required.
- Photocopying, printing, and preparing teaching resources and classroom materials.
- Reading aloud small-print communications and documents when required.
- Providing practical administrative support to enable the client to carry out their role effectively.
- Assisting with mobility around the school environment, including providing light physical guidance and an arm for balance where required.
- Supporting the client to move safely around classrooms and the wider school site.
- Opening doors and assisting with navigation throughout the school day.
- Providing occasional assistance with setting up a footstool and making basic comfort adjustments at the client's workstation, including light physical assistance to help elevate their leg when required.
- Pushing the client's manual wheelchair if their powered wheelchair is unavailable or out of service.
- Assisting with small manual tasks requiring dexterity, such as opening lunch containers and food packaging, peeling fruit, and fastening or unfastening coats.
- Carrying out similar practical tasks throughout the working day that enable the client to remain independent in their role.
- Accompanying the client throughout their agreed working hours, remaining available to provide support whenever required.
- Remaining discreetly in the background when support is not immediately needed, allowing the client to undertake their role independently.
- Maintaining strict confidentiality, professionalism, and clear workplace boundaries at all times.
Professional Boundaries
This role has clearly defined responsibilities under the Access to Work programme.The successful applicant must:
- Support only the client throughout the agreed hours.
- Remain with the client at all times during the support session.
- Not interact with pupils, teachers, school staff, parents, or other support workers unless specifically instructed by the client and appropriate to the support role.
- Not undertake classroom duties or assist with school activities.
- Not volunteer or carry out any additional work for the school, whether during or outside of your contracted support hours.
- Remain in the background whenever support is not immediately required.
- Protect the client's privacy and maintain complete confidentiality.
Essential Requirements
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Professional, reliable, and discreet approach.
- Ability to follow direction while working independently.
- Strong understanding of confidentiality and professional boundaries.
- Calm, patient, and highly organised.
- Ability to remain attentive while working unobtrusively.
- Commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Enhanced DBS certificate registered on the DBS Update Service, including checks for both Children and Vulnerable Adults (or willingness to obtain this before commencing employment).
Personal Qualities
The successful candidate will be:
- Patient and supportive.
- Calm and professional.
- Reliable and punctual.
- Respectful of professional boundaries.
- Observant and attentive.
- Trustworthy and discreet.
- Able to work independently without requiring supervision.
Please note that the duties and requirements of this role may change depending on the client's workplace needs and Access to Work support plan.
Generate principles:
1. Generate members will always be at the heart of Generate and at the centre of every decision
2. Generate will dream big to enable people with a learning disability to explore, shape and develop their own futures
3. Generate is committed to having respectful and genuine relationships with everyone
4. Generate works to link people with their local communities and support them to maintain their connections
5. The Generate approach is about using and developing our skills, knowledge and experience and engaging our hearts when we work each individual to improve their lives.
6. Generate will work together with members, families, partners and stakeholders.
7. Generate will empower people with learning disabilities to campaign for their rights
Job Type: Fixed term contract
Pay: £14.80 per hour
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence (required)
Work Location: In person
