Job Description

Hostel Support Worker -

The successful candidate will need to have professional experience of working with people who have experienced homelessness, and will ideally have worked within a homeless hostel or supported housing.

The candidate must be empathic and non-judgmental towards the client group, be proactive and solution focused, and be capable of providing high quality housing support to a wide range of vulnerable adults.

Many of our residents have mental health problems, drug (and/or alcohol) dependency issues, offending histories, are survivors of domestic violence, or have other issues that have caused or contributed to their homelessness and need for ongoing support.

All our residents have both a housing need and also additional (independently assessed) support needs. We provide rooms in shared houses (or flats) dispersed across different areas of Sheffield. There is usually a maximum of four residents per house, and the Hostel Support Worker would visit their allocated residents at least twice a week to provide individually tailored support to the residents.

Part of the Hostel Support Worker's role is to carry out a thorough support needs assessment, and draw up a comprehensive support plan (using the template we provide). The support plan will need to be reviewed and updated every 2 months (or more frequently if appropriate).

The support work is likely to include: form filling, signposting to and liaising with other organisations, helping residents to obtain appropriate ID, budgeting/basic debt advice, appointment making, charitable grant applications, making housing referrals/applications, intensive housing support, help residents to open bank accounts, assistance with claiming welfare benefit entitlements, accompanying to appointments, demonstrating basic cooking skills, supporting residents to maintain their room condition, and carrying out general welfare checks. Therefore, a high level of literacy and administrative skill is required, and time management skills are needed. An understanding of the welfare benefits system would definitely be an advantage.

A full-time Hostel Support Worker would be expected to support up to 16 residents, to provide a mixture of face-to-face support, and remote support (calls, texts, video calls, letter writing, form filling, online research of services, etc). The precise mix of support tasks will vary depending on the individual support needs, but will generally be around 2.5 hours per resident per week, with most of that being face to face support.

There are also some property management duties, such as carrying out a weekly visual safety inspection of the hostels (and fire alarm test). We provide a template checklist for this purpose as consistently good record keeping is required.

Very good IT skills in both Word and Excel (and using emails and the internet) is essential. Excellent record keeping and attention to detail is needed, as comprehensive case notes for each resident will need to be made electronically. It is important that the case records for residents are kept up to date.

The Hostel Support Worker would need to have their own car, and be willing to use it to carry out the Hostel Support work. The normal place of work will be based at our Sheffield office (S2 area), with visits to our dispersed hostels to provide the face to face support.

An up to date DBS check is required, but we can arrange this for the successful candidate.

Experience of lone working precautions would be useful, as the worker will be providing support to residents in their own homes.

Driving Licence, and use of a car is essential.

A minimum of 1 year of relevant experience is

essential

.

Working Hours: 37 hours per week (Monday to Friday). Part time hours can be considered. Occasional work outside these hours may be required.

Salary: 31,746 per annum (pro rata for part time hours). Salary is reviewed each April.

Annual Leave: 30 days pa + public holidays (pro-rata for part time hours)

Pension Scheme: Choice Housing contributes 6% of salary to employees' pension scheme, with an additional 2% increase each April for every full year of service, up to a maximum of 18%. Employees must contribute a minimum of 5% of their salary towards their pension.

Mileage allowance.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Permanent

Pay: 31,746.00 per year

Benefits:

Company pension
Ability to commute/relocate:

Sheffield: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Experience:

Hostel Support Worker: 1 year (required)
Licence/Certification:

Full UK Driving Licence, and access to a car (required)
Work authorisation:

United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person