Welfare Support Officer

Salary up to £28,917 per annum. Full time – Fixed term contract, 40hrs per week, Monday to Friday. Including company vehicle and fuel card or £3,500 company car allowance.

Mears provides temporary accommodation to asylum seekers whilst their claim is being assessed in three regions: Northeast, Yorkshire and Humber, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. At the end of May 2021, Mears had over 19,000 service users across the three regions. Mears works in partnership with central and local Government, registered providers, tenants, landlords and investors to find solutions to homelessness, provide more social and affordable housing and create specialist housing for people with care needs.

About The Role: Due to contract expansion, we are seeking a Welfare Support Officer to join our team. This is an exciting position that works exclusively to support asylum seekers going through their right to work asylum application process with the home office. The ideal candidate will be resilient, trustworthy, caring, a people person and extremely empathetic to others. As a Welfare Support Officer, every day is different; no day is the same. Although this role comes with its challenges, it is an extremely rewarding role.

As a Welfare Support Officer, your main duties will include but are not limited to:

• Ensuring service users are supported at various stages of their asylum application process including any safeguarding and welfare issues you come across.
• Providing practical and emotional support to service users.
• Monitoring service users’ wellbeing and support needs.
• Ensuring all records are updated and accurate for home office audit purposes.

It is essential to maintain boundaries and be resilient to ensure a professional and well-defined service is provided to always meet the needs of the service users.

Role Criteria:

• Experience of working with vulnerable and diverse client groups.
• Experience and understanding of safeguarding.
• Ability to identify individuals and family needs and recognise the required support packages to maintain independence.
• Experience working with mental health and/or challenging behaviour.
• To communicate effectively with colleagues, local authorities, and service users.
• Experience with record keeping and risk assessments.
• Ability to work under own initiative.
• Resilient.
• You will be supportive, trustworthy, a good listener, approachable and empathetic to others.
• Flexible and happy to travel.
• Full UK driving license.

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK; Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship. As part of the recruitment process for this role, we will carry out a DBS & BPSS check, as well as Security Clearance. For these checks to be completed, we will require from you the relevant identification, including Proof of Address, References, a valid passport and proof that you have lived in the UK for the last 5 years. To drive a Mears vehicle, you must be aged over 21, have held your licence for over 3 months and have less than 9 points.

Benefits We Can Offer You:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organised as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work!
• Volunteering Leave - Mears supports employees to undertake paid volunteering in the community, in support of our social value commitment.
• Staff perks with Mears Rewards - discounts of up to 10% on weekly groceries, holidays, eye test vouchers, Share save scheme, plus much more.
• Family friendly policies.
• Company Vehicle and Fuel Card.
• Access to EAP Counselling sessions.

At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. We are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.