Senior Support Worker

Would you like to make a difference to a person’s quality of life? Would you like to learn BSL while being paid? We are looking for a caring and motivated Senior Support Worker to support deaf BSL users to join our team.

Contract: Permanent, Full-Time (37 hours per week)
Location: Edinburgh, Slateford Green
Closing date: 20th February 2026
Interview date: W/C 2nd March 2026

Who are we? Deaf Action is a deaf-led charity, supporting and celebrating deaf people. We were established in 1835 and work with deaf people across Scotland and the South of England. Our work is geared towards empowering all deaf people to achieve their potential and fully participate in society, with equality of rights, access, and opportunity.

About you: We are looking for people who are caring, fun, motivated, willing to learn and show initiative. The people we support want our team to be friendly, reliable and practical. If you have experience in supporting people in their own homes, tenancies or a care home setting, that is beneficial. If you don’t, it’s not a problem and we can provide training. We always provide on the job and formal training, and our support workers often go on to complete formal qualifications in social care. If you already have knowledge of BSL that is a bonus, however we can provide training if you do not. The ideal candidates will be fully committed to our values, which can be found on our website.

The role: You will be working with a team to support deaf people living in a care-at-home service, delivering a person‑centred service. This will enable them to fully participate in the decisions affecting their lives, ensuring that wherever possible, service users benefit from informed choice, control, and independence. This will include both activities at home and within the community, all of which will promote independence and social inclusion. You will be accountable to the Support Services Manager. By working together, you will ensure that a consistent, high quality support service is provided to deaf service users in their own homes, and that staff are supported to develop and maintain such a service.

Key responsibilities:

• To carry out the role of Support Worker in conjunction with the responsibilities detailed below.
• To actively monitor and develop individual and team performance by ensuring effective supervision and Performance Development Reviews/Reports (PDRs). This will involve travelling to supervise staff ‘on the job’ and to liaise with service users to monitor satisfaction and review support.
• Be responsible for any risk assessments at the service users’ home as part of your Health and Safety responsibilities.
• Be responsible for any audits of deaf service users finances.
• To provide clear direction, co-ordination, feedback, and day to day line management for the work of a delegated group of staff. Thus, ensuring their motivation to provide outcome focused, person centred services.
• To ensure that each service user has an assessment of need and an individual care plan and that these are updated and reviewed on a regular basis.
• To lead by example while delivering support, assessing risk to promote choice and independence, and where appropriate providing support with personal care and daily living skills.
• To work within a flexible rota, including evening and weekends to the needs of the service and any on-call duties as necessary.
• To identify and support participation in local and Deaf Community activities (i.e. recreational/educational opportunities).
• To establish and maintain effective working relationships with a range of outside agencies and external stakeholders.
• Ensure service user confidentiality and compliance with Deaf Action’s Policies and Procedures and current GDPR legislation in all areas of work.
• To carry out such additional duties as appropriate, as and when requested by Management team.

What is on offer?

• Occupational pension scheme with employer contributions of 6%
• 32 days leave pro rata (including bank holidays) pro rata for part time
• An additional day off for your birthday
• 24/7 access to an Employee Assistance Programme provided by Health Assured
• Access to the Cycle to Work Scheme and IT Voucher Scheme
• Ongoing support for learning and development through our PDR process
• Death in service benefit

To apply, please send your CV, along with a covering letter to recruitment@deafaction.org. PVG checks will be requested. Applications welcome from all sections of the community. We expect you will share our commitment to the core values of Deaf Action.