Casual Care Officer Disabilities

Casual Care Officer SCP 14 - £15.31 per hour (plus 12.06% statutory holiday pay entitlement).

This role is not available for sponsorship, therefore is only open to applicants who have the right to work in the UK. Are you playful and accepting, can you show curiosity and empathy? If you can then you have something really special to offer our Children living in Children’s Homes. If trauma brings resilience, then our Children are superheroes - they deserve the best; the best homes, the best help, the best opportunities, and children tell us over and over again, it’s the staff that matter.

We believe that we need the right people, with the right commitment, skills, tenacity, imagination, and energy in order to offer the best to our children. To do this you will be offered high quality support, training, guidance, and development and be part of a motivated and ambitious team. Hull City Council has been on a journey of improvement and has become a leading provider of Children's Homes. We are committed to developing nurturing, high quality homes where children can thrive and achieve their next steps.

To ensure we have a constant pool of staff to work within the Department’s Children’s Homes, we wish to appoint a number of Casual Care Officers within our Disability Children Homes. This will require personal care, moving and handling, help with aspects of high levels of supervision and support. Working with Children with a Disability is very rewarding, can be challenging and offers high support and care to children with complex health needs and disabilities which are varied across our homes.

This role is to cover holidays, absence and training, and does not have a set working pattern or regular hours. Due to the long shifts that may also include sleep in shifts, the ability to be flexible as to when, and how many hours you are able to work is essential. Where possible, work is pre-arranged however, there may be times when you will be asked to work at short notice. Various training courses are also mandatory, which will require you to attend over several days, during weekdays.

About the role:

This role is to provide a highly skilled level of care including taking the lead with care packages and ensuring Support Workers are guided and supported. In the absence of a Senior Care Officer, taking responsibility for decisions relating to the safeguarding and care of children as well as responding to the needs of families and staff on duty.

About you:

• You must have a level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare or equivalent, or the ability to complete this within two years of appointment
• Experience working with vulnerable adults or children in a safeguarding or care setting
• A strong motivation to work with Children and Young People and ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships
• An ability to work within relevant framework when assessing situations, in order to make decisions and recommendations
• You must be experienced, skilled and confident to lead on all elements of care, and be able to guide and support others.

ROLE AND PURPOSE:

To provide a range of support to children and young people who are unable to live within their own family and require short term or long term residential care. To provide a safe and stimulating environment, ensuring high quality provision and maximising life chances of children looked after. In line with relevant legislation and corporate parenting levels of responsibility.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

1. To promote and safeguard the welfare of children, young people and/or vulnerable adults. Within the context of individual care plans or instructions from the Line Manager to assess the needs of children in need and children looked after in order to provide care which is responsive to their individual needs.
2. Statutory Obligations – As per statutory requirements as specified in the Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards.
3. To use systemic practices to prepare, implement and review effective programmes for individual children and families/carers to ensure that their needs for development and/or independence are met. Work in partnership to assess needs and in consultation with Senior Care Officers, Children’s Home Manager, Social Workers and other Managers, plan appropriate packages of support.
4. Under delegation/supervision assume responsibility for specific issues i.e. for the health and safety of colleagues and children by identifying areas for improvement and responding to deficiencies in the workplace to ensure a safe working environment or for Quality Assurance to enhance the performance and effectiveness of service delivery. With a requirement to have the ability to stay calm when faced with confrontational situations.
5. Acts as a nominated ‘Shift Leader’ as required responding to the need of the service.
6. Provides an efficient and responsive service to children for their admission into and discharge from residential care to ensure their needs are met during these transition periods.
7. Assist children with a range of tasks including primary care and, where necessary, carries out tasks on their behalf whilst at the same time promoting independence within individual’s capabilities.
8. Acts as a designated worker in respect of individual children, including attending meetings/case conferences and dispensing medication as required, to ensure their safety, well being and quality of life.
9. Contributes to an efficient administrative system by preparing information for the Children’s Home Manager and quality assurance systems to ensure effective communication. Provides accurate reports and where appropriate, assessments to inform packages of support and care with special consideration to the transition period of admission and discharge.
10. Participates in budgetary tasks i.e. pocket money, purchasing of groceries, clothing, stationery etc, to ensure value for money within budget provisions.
11. Assist children to deal with complex needs or particular vulnerabilities to ensure their physical and emotional well being which will include implementing Therapeutic Crisis Intervention techniques.
12. To work and liaise with voluntary services, statutory organisations and colleagues within other parts of the Local Authority with the focus of providing up to date knowledge and working practices for intervention and service delivery to children in need and their families.
13. Works flexibly to meet the assessed needs of children and their families, by offering support to families and carers, sometimes in their own homes. Assist in providing day care and outreach as required, and work in partnership with schools and alternative educational provision to support and maintain an educational placement.
14. Refers to Line Management upon any concerns, suspicion, evidence or allegation in relation to child protection in accordance with the Safeguarding Board guidelines to ensure the safety and welfare of the children.
15. To be aware of and participate in own personal development by attending and contributing to supervision sessions, training courses and other departmental forums. To keep abreast of development with the profession.
16. In the absence of a Senior Care Officer, makes decisions relating to the safeguarding and care of children as well as responding to the needs of families and staff on duty.
17. Under supervision uses professional judgement to determine the needs of children balanced against risk to children and staff.
18. Under supervision, makes day to day decisions around the implementation of policy and procedures of the Department.
19. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated legislation places responsibilities for health and safety on Hull City Council, as your employer and you as an employee of the council. In addition to the Councils overall duties, the post holder has personal responsibility for their own health & safety and that of other employees; additional and more specific responsibilities are identified in the Council’s Corporate H&S policy.

GENERAL:

The above principal accountabilities are not exhaustive and may vary without changing the character of the job or level of responsibility. The postholder must be flexible to ensure the operational needs of the Council are met. This includes the undertaking of duties of a similar nature and responsibility as and when required, throughout the various work places in the Council.

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:

• A competitive salary
• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• Supportive and forward-thinking culture
• Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description. We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.