We are looking for x1 Full Time - 37 hours per week (including evenings and weekends) and x1 Full Time – 37 hours per week specifically working nights in Edinburgh.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 670,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the role

Our housing support and care at home service currently supports one young person to continue to live in their own home in their community. We provide full-time care and support on a 2:1 basis for a young lady with learning disabilities who at times can present behaviours that challenge.

We do this by supporting her in her daily routines, assisting her with personal care and medication. The young lady we support has an absolute zest for life and likes to be as busy as possible. We always have a plan and are off out on adventures, walks, swimming, surfing and out and about to local parks and trying new things.

As a Housing Support Practitioner you'll be part of a dedicated team who work together to develop and deliver person-centred care plans. You'll have the exciting opportunity to join the young person on her journey to lead a more independent life by supporting her in achieving outcomes, making informed choices, and promoting participation in her community. We strongly believe that behaviour is communication and work to identify what the young people are trying to tell us through their behaviour and support them to communicate that in a positive way.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

Working in this environment can be so rewarding when you see the difference you're truly making. Our aim is to give every young person we work with the support and guidance to reach their potential and support their aspirations for a positive future, and this is a vital part of our work.

Some key responsibilities of a Housing Support Practitioner are;

• Helping young people in all aspects of their daily lives.
• Maintaining effective working relationships and communication with colleagues, young people and families.
• Being alert to child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Helping young people transition in to happy and healthy adults.
• Being solution focused and building on strengths.
• Achieving the highest standards of safeguarding, whether through direct care provision or support activities to the children and young people who come into contact with our services, or by appropriately reporting concerns.

Let's talk about you

You don't need a lot of previous experience or qualifications for this role – we're looking for someone with a positive attitude, and the desire and commitment to giving the best care to children and young people.

• A positive approach, providing a fun environment for the young people in our care.
• Ideally, a HNC and SVQ 3 in a social care discipline (or a qualification which would meet the registration requirements) or a commitment to working towards these.
• Experience of working with children and young people with disabilities.
• A commitment to working on rota pattern, which includes midweek, weekends and some bank holidays.

About Aberlour Options Lothian

Aberlour Options Lothian offers a range of short break services to children and young people with complex needs. We offer a safe, homely environment for a child to come and stay for a short break that gives their families a rest from their caring role. During that break, children enjoy a range of fun activities and experiences with our staff. Our service is very much a ‘home from home’ for the children who stay with us. We are within easy commuting distance of Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian with access via the numbers 26, 111 and 124 bus routes.

The difference we make to families:

“It’s not easy to accept that sometimes you need help. We had reached rock bottom but Aberlour Options Lothian was that lifesaving buoyancy aid.

It wasn't easy accepting leaving my son there especially in the early days when it was new to everyone. It is a safe and welcoming place and a second home in many respects now. Somewhere he is safe, cared for and has loads of fun with the carers and other children.

It’s not just about respite; we have received help with managing behaviour, preparing for hospital visits and operations. Help and advice when there seemed to be no one else listening or who understands. It’s hard to look back to where we were but no we wouldn't be here today without their help and support.

To sum it up: Saved our lives. Peace of mind. Finally a rest.”

What we are looking for....

As part of a small team, you will ensure that the highest level of physical and emotional care is provided to the children and young people. Experience in this type of work is preferred however we will consider all applications. We are looking for someone to work 12 hours per week ; working mainly weekends including sleepovers.

At Aberlour we want to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team. At Aberlour we have strong values - Respect, Integrity, Innovation and Challenging - which influence our everyday work. If you choose to apply for this role please tell us about your values in your supporting statement.

What we offer...

As well as a supportive team and excellent training opportunities, we want all our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, an excellent employer pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts across various retailers.

Barnardo's Scotland Fostering Edinburgh have a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Supervising Social worker to join our busy team on a Full Time (37 hours) permanent basis.

Location: The successful candidate will work on a hybrid basis with their office base in Edinburgh, however some meetings and training occur Scotland Wide.

As a Supervising Social Worker, you will work within a team of supervising social workers, children's workers, therapists, education liaison worker, managers, and admin staff responsible for the recruitment and support of foster carers who provide care to looked after children and young people who are referred to the service from the Local Authority.

Some of the key responsibilities are:

• Work alongside others in providing support and advice to carers being able to demonstrate initiative whilst also being part of a team
• Ensure that Children & Young Peoples welfare remains paramount and central in all aspects of the service.
• Ensure the voice of children/young people and carers/adopters are represented in the service through engaging in and where appropriate lead in the delivery of participation and consultation activities.
• Deliver relevant training to Barnardo's cohort of foster carers and adopters to the relevant standards on both a group and individual basis and provide feedback to enable training materials to be updated to remain relevant and effective.
• Be flexible to respond to the needs of young people, carers and colleagues.

Ideal Candidate's must haves:

• Demonstrate both excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience of Fostering assessments or similar.
• Have a good understanding of the legislation and National Standards we work within.
• Relevant Social Work Qualification such as DipSW, CSS, CQSW
• Valid Social Work Registration with SSSC.
• Demonstrable and applied knowledge of child protection procedures.
• Previous post qualifying experience in childcare setting settings and/or pre- qualifying work experience in Family Placement
• Hold a full UK driving licence with access to their own vehicle.

History of Service

Barnardo's has well over 100 years of experience delivering fostering and adoption services across the UK.

Our fostering service in Scotland has been operational for over 18 years and rated ‘Good' across most areas from Care Inspectorate. Our fostering Service is supported by Practice Managers, comprising of new and experienced team members. This team is supported by experienced administrative staff, and the work of the supervising social workers, childrens worker (PW2) and a Psychotherapist. The Edinburgh team is the only Scottish Service operating the Mockingbird model, supported by the fostering network.

When completing your application please refer to your skills, knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable) 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 Framework

We 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.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• 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

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is reflected in our values and our practice, and we have invested in this area of our work to ensure that we can deliver on our commitments to be an inclusive employer. EDI is a key enabler of our purpose as a charity and we want to ensure that the diversity of our teams is reflective of the communities we serve and that we continue to learn and develop our work with a focus on inclusion. We particularly encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic Communities, candidates who are LGBT+ and Disabled candidates.

Our basis and values

Edinburgh Family Support Partnership is a transformational new collaboration between City of Edinburgh Children's Services, Barnardo's Scotland, Children 1st, Citadel, Safe Families and Edinburgh Community Food. Our aim is to radically transform how Edinburgh Children's Services and partners deliver services to families within the city of Edinburgh whilst simultaneously improving a family's journey through the current complex landscape of accessing family support.

Our multi-disciplinary teams will be community based, in each of the 4 locality areas across the city of Edinburgh. As well as connecting families with holistic responsive and flexible support the multi-disciplinary teams will empower families to ‘reach in' themselves and be supported along their journey through a relational and strengths-based approach.

Our aim of providing early intervention that empowers families to take control encourages an integrated approach, leads to tailored plans and provides the right support when it is needed and diverts children and families from escalating into statutory processes. Families are at the heart of our approach and restorative family led decision making drives our support in partnership with families, their networks, communities and enables them to address challenges before they become a crisis.

If you are passionate about supporting and empowering families when the support is needed, then this is a great opportunity to be part of an innovative project and influence how family support is delivered in Edinburgh.

The team will have 3.5 FTE project workers – with one worker being located within each of the 4 locality hubs across Edinburgh to ensure maximum reach to families across the city.

Please note that this post is a fixed-term contract until June 2026 in line with current funding, however there may be capacity for continuation in line with service development.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). 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 Framework

We 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.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• 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.