Job Title: Keyworker Band 5

Service: East Sussex Children Service
Base: 19 High St, Battle, TN33 0AE
Hybrid role

Salary: £14.53 per hour

Contracted Hours: 37 hours per week

Fixed term until March 2025

We work across the Southeast of England; supporting individuals with autism spectrum conditions, learning disabilities and physical disabilities across residential care homes, supported living homes, day services and our fantastic outreach programme.

Each of our services is unique and supports individuals with different support needs. Because of this, Aspens Charities are able to offer a variety of amazing roles and challenges to suit what you may be looking for.

The Keyworker function has been developed as a response to the NHSE/I Long Term Plan commitment that by 2023/24, children and young people up to the age of 25yrs with a learning disability, autism, or both, with the most complex needs will have a designated Keyworker.

Aspens have been successful in securing funding to develop this service across East Sussex. This is an exciting opportunity to join our team.

This role is part of our Keyworker Project. This project will deliver a way of supporting children and young people aged up to 25yrs with Autism and/or Learning Disabilities and their family/carers. This role will enable children and young people and their family/carers to get the right support at the right time and help ensure local systems are responsive to meetings their needs in a holistic and joined up way.

Essential Availability:

· Flexible working across the week to meet demands of service delivery beyond 9am-5pm

· 37hrs per week

Essential Training and Qualifications:

· Professional qualification equivalent to degree level in a relevant subject, or equivalent level of experience of children and young people with learning disabilities, autism or both gained through lived experience, education, youth work, health, or social services.

Essential Skills and Attributes:

· Empathy/Understanding - able to demonstrate an approach that requires an understanding of the needs from the perspective of the child, young person and family and carers.

· Compassion - to listen and respond to the needs of the child, young person and their family and carers with understanding and compassion.

· Respect - respects the opinions and beliefs of the child, young person and their family and carers and works to ensure they are represented, with a commitment to the principles of child-centred, personalised care.

· Positive and Solution focussed - has positive, solution focussed approach to ensuring the best outcomes for the child, young person, and their family and carers.

· Commitment - commitment to ensuring the rights of young people with learning disability, autism or both are protected and enforced and that their views and preferences, and those of their families are listened to. Tenacious in the pursuit of the appropriate support and outcomes.

· Collaborative - commitment to joined-up collaborative working.

· Skilled in developing and maintaining good relationships with children, young people, and adults.

Essential Experience and Knowledge:

· Proven understanding of the education, health, and care system to fulfil the key working function of holding services to account.

· An understanding of the difficulties children and young people are likely to face with learning disability, autism or both and complex needs.

· Experience of strategies and resources that will support children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both and complex communication difficulties.

· An understanding of the role adults plays in supporting children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both with complex needs

· An understanding of equal opportunity issues and an awareness of what this involves, e.g., being able to communicate with people from minority groups, people with disabilities.

· Knowledge and experience of children’s mental health and human rights.

· An understanding of safeguarding procedures.

· Good understanding of the principles of personalised care of the challenges

· Working with children/young people and their families with autism, learning disabilities or both and complex communication and behavioural issues.

· Experience of liaising with multi- disciplinary professionals and working across agencies.

· Understanding of the Care Education and Treatment Review (CETR) and Dynamic Support Register process, and challenges.

What you can expect from us:

• Fantastic paid training and career progression opportunities (including recognised qualifications in health and social care)
• Paid DBS (we will recover the cost should your employment terminate for any reason, other than redundancy, before passing your probation)
• Flexible work arrangements with opportunities to take on additional bank shifts too
• 30 Days Annual Leave (including Bank Holidays) / Pro rata dependent on hours. Annual leave entitlement increases with length of service
• Nest Pension and Death in Service Benefit (Includes unlimited access to a suite of six services: a 24/7 UK-based GP, Best Doctors, mental health support, a health check, access to nutrition consultations and an online fitness programme [Smart Health])
• Dedicated Employee Assistance Programme and Access to Mental Health First Aiders
• Hardship loans and advance (subject to conditions)
• Enhanced family leave pay
• Travel season tickets (interest free loans for those wishing to purchase a travel season ticket)
• Aspens High Street Stores - 20% discount on all items for Aspens’ staff
• Blue Light Card and access to high-street discounts
• Refer a Friend scheme, so you can earn up to £250 for every person you refer to work for Aspens
• Recognition schemes, including ‘Employee of the Month’

Equal Opportunity Statement

At Aspens Charities, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals, including those with disabilities and those who are likely to be underrepresented in Aspens’ workforce, such as sex/gender, minority ethnic group, religion, belief, sexual orientation, age, as well as abilities. We believe that a diverse team leads to better outcomes and a more enjoyable work environment where everyone feels valued, heard, and has an equal opportunity to thrive.

As a Disability Confident employer, Aspens Charities is dedicated to supporting and promoting the recruitment, retention, and career development of people with disabilities. We recognise the value and contributions that individuals with disabilities bring to our organisation. Applicants who declare they have a disability and who meet the minimum criteria for the role will be offered an interview, where practicable and appropriate.

Accessibility and Accommodations

We are committed to providing an accessible recruitment process for all applicants. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, please let us know by contacting [email protected].

Apply via CV or Application Form Application Form

Email us your CV direct Contact: Recruitmen[email protected]