Job Description

Do you live or work in West Yorkshire and are you interested in helping local families who are waiting for an assessment on their child? Do you have experience of working with parents and want to offer support in West Yorkshire?

Help parents understand the assessment process, be a listening ear when they need to talk about how they are finding working with all these different professionals?

Have you had to work out what to say to health, education and social care professionals to try to get the right support for your child/ relative/friend?

We will consider a secondment for this role. Please speak to your line manager.

Our Neurodevelopmental Family Navigator Service is recruiting, and this could be the next role for you.

This is a hybrid role, working from our offices in Leeds, working from home and undertaking visits to meet families. You will be supported by other Navigators in Bradford, Leeds, Kirklees and Calderdale and work closely with the team.

As our

West Yorkshire Navigator you

will listen to parents and offer emotional support. You could be an experienced family support worker or even have experience of working in a school setting working with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their parents in your local community.



You could have lived experience of neurodivergence, either your own or with family members that would make you an asset in supporting others.



You will have experience and knowledge of navigating local services and systems and understand the importance of empowering families and support them to self-advocate.



You will have the opportunity to build strong working relationships with the school-age neurodevelopmental assessment team, and as part of your induction you will develop an understand the importance of collaboration.



Through the induction process and learning, you will understand that families on the waiting list experience high level so distress and stress and being able to work with them on their goals for up to four sessions so they can prioritise what is happening in their lives. Although this is not a counselling role, having an understanding of counselling skills will be an asset.



You will be provided opportunities to learn how to offer support, signposting and information on the assessment processes across West Yorkshire, support parents through wait times, support understanding on what to expect, someone to listen and offer ideas and connect to their local community.



This role will offer support, help work through the system, provide listening support and signposting whilst families are on waiting lists to prevent crisis and things getting worse.



We want to recruit Navigators that are reflective of the communities they work in, considering culture, language and the diverse population and communities we will be working in.



As a

Navigator

you will:


Have strong listening skills and ability to offer emotional support. Learn how to provide pre-diagnosis peer support - this includes Introduce those parents who have experienced the pre-assessment process and support to help improve service experience. Prevent potential crisis and family life becoming difficult by supporting wellbeing or the family. Involve parents/carers in improving service delivery. Have relevant information and signposting to local community support

In your role you will be:


Compassionate, approachable, person centred, solution focused and creative about supporting children, young people and their families. Non-judgemental / respectful Honest and transparent Supportive in your approach Treat parents/carers as equals Value lived experience, be a good listener when parents are distressed, offering to be there when parent need to be heard. Wanting to make things better for every child and young person and their families Passionate that people reach their potential and have the best life they want. Providing pre-assessment support to parents and carers Hold knowledge or willing to learn of local information and ability to signpost parents and carers to local support available to them, this can also include introducing them to services and support them to access services.

Due to the geographical area that you need to cover, being able to drive and having access to a car is essential in the role.



If you would like to discuss the role, please contact our Team Manager (Interim) Zoe Earp to arrange a conversation - zoe.earp@barnardos.org.uk



When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.



Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible


Pay & Reward FrameworkWe know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.


For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.


Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band - this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.



Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.


Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements. Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options Service related sick pay from day 1 Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension Cycle2work scheme Interest free season ticket loans Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal 20% discount at Barnardo's stores Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's


We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Our basis and values

Reference number: 21441
Location: Leeds
Locality: Three Yorks
Contract type: Fixed term
End date: 31 March 2026
Hours: 30
Salary: 25,492.40 (FTE)
Closing Date: 21 August 2025
Interview Date: 29 August 2025

Benefits

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Discounts at 100's of retailers
Employee suggestion scheme
Company pension
Employee Assistance Programme