Peer Supporter

Job Type: Fixed Term

Working Hours: 17.5 hours per week (Monday, Tuesday, Friday 09:00 – 15:00)

Contract: Fixed Term until 31st March 2027

Location: Lancashire (Central and East) community based with some limited home working.

Benefits: NCT membership with access to exclusive benefits, pension scheme, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank and public holidays.

About us at the NCT

NCT is a charity with a clear mission: to support people as they become parents, through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood.

With a 65-year history of transformative change, we are a vibrant community of volunteers, practitioners, peer supporters, members, and advocates. We are the largest parenting charity in the country and over the decades we’ve supported millions of people on their unique journey into parenthood.

While many know us for our antenatal classes, we also do much more. We campaign on issues that matter to parents, provide infant feeding support, and run thousands of free community events and activities led by our amazing volunteers. We also support families facing challenges like social isolation, feeding difficulties, and poor mental health. We offer support in communities, in hospitals, and online.

NCT is committed to social justice and equity. We are dedicated to being an anti-racist charity and believe that inclusion is everyone\’s responsibility. Being there for every parent requires bold action to challenge inequalities. By creating inclusive spaces and services that are built on collaboration and trust, we welcome and celebrate diversity and strive to meet the needs of the pregnant women, new parents, families, and communities that we serve.

As the world changes and new challenges arise for parents, our charity must change too. Join us now and be part of this journey, ensuring that every parent feels connected, confident, and safe.

About the Role

Our Lancashire Infant Feeding Support project is commissioned by Lancashire Council to offer infant feeding support across the region in both community and hospital settings. The support is delivered by staff and volunteer peer supporters.

We are seeking a capable Peer Supporter who will support parents at Royal Preston Hospital and, on occasion, East Lancashire Hospital Trust or Ormskirk District General Hospital, as well as community groups and home visits in Central and East Lancashire. This role will mainly be based in the community, with some homeworking. Expenses will be reimbursed to/from a base (Royal Preston Hospital).

You will be responsible for offering breastfeeding support for parents within Royal Preston Hospital and, on occasion, East Lancashire Hospital Trust and Ormskirk District General Hospital and the community.

Some of the key responsibilities of the role include:

• Providing breastfeeding support to families on the wards at the hospitals, in service user homes, and community settings within Lancashire.
• Reporting any concerns or additional support needs of women to the NCT management team and/or Infant Feeding Lead for referral onto partner agencies as appropriate.
• Attending regular supervision/support sessions.
• Having a good working knowledge and understanding of the local demographics in the Lancashire area and ensuring all support is accessible and inclusive.
• Ensuring that data collection and feedback is collected in a timely manner in an inclusive way.

You must have good communication skills and be able to build relationships and create rapport with a wide range of people easily. This is a large project covering multiple locations, so you must be able to confidently prioritize your own work, be highly organized, and able to work independently.

Being able to make decisions and respond appropriately to our staff, peer supporters, parents, and other external stakeholders is essential, alongside good IT skills – including Outlook, Word, and Excel – and you must have good attention to detail.

It is essential for this post that you undertake the training to become an NCT Breastfeeding Peer Supporter. This requires breastfeeding experience of at least 3 months. The training can be undertaken within your working hours.

The role is 17.5 hours per week, which will be worked Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 09:00 – 15:00. This will be split across the two hospitals, in service user homes, and at community settings across Lancashire; however, there is also some home-based working required.

About you

• Are you within easy commuting distance around the Lancashire Central and East region?
• Are you willing to undertake our Peer Supporter training? (Requires minimum 3 months Breastfeeding Experience)
• Can you work at pace and juggle a number of different priorities?
• Are you passionate about supporting families to reach their parenting and feeding goals and contribute to their positive wellbeing?
• Do you want to join an amazing charity that supports parents across the UK?
• Would you like to be part of an amazing team of passionate staff?

We are taking positive action to increase diversity throughout our organization, at all levels, and to nurture a culture of inclusion for all our people and the parents and families that we support. More details about our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion action can be found on our website.

We are committed to zero discrimination both internally and externally regardless of visible or invisible differences such as sex, sexual orientation, age, race, ethnicity, disability, impairment, learning difference, or long-term condition, religion or belief, gender identity, economic class, marital/civil partnership, family status including single parents, socio-economic background, and pregnancy and maternity. We provide reasonable adjustments and are committed to an inclusive and accessible recruitment process.

We welcome and actively encourage applications from all candidates, including those from under-represented groups within NCT such as individuals from Black, Asian, or minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQI+ people, and people with a disability.

The welfare and safety of individuals is at the heart of everything that we do. NCT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults and expects all staff to share this commitment.

Please apply for the role via our careers page. You can also find further details and information on our website, please visit www.nct.org.uk

Closing date: 7/03/2024

Interviews: Week beginning 10/03/2024

Interview format: Virtual video call – flexible around your working day. The interviews will be a mixture of open and competency-based questions.

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