TACT is looking for one exceptional and experienced individual to become a member of the team.

The Advocacy Worker will play a vital role in improving access to support for vulnerable families across North Ayrshire. Many families face complex and overlapping challenges including poverty, poor mental health, housing instability, financial hardship, and domestic pressures - yet struggle to navigate an often fragmented and confusing support system. This role provides direct, person-centred support to ensure families receive timely, coordinated, and meaningful help.

Acting as a connector between families and third-sector partners, the Advocacy Worker will deliver proactive outreach, tailored guidance, warm handovers, and ongoing follow-up - all designed to help families overcome barriers, stabilise their circumstances, and build long-term resilience.

About TACT:

The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT) is a charity based in North Ayrshire that provides programmes and projects that make a difference to people’s lives by encouraging, supporting and promoting community action.

Elpis Trust delivers a person centred housing support service to 19 young women who are experiencing homelessness or are care leavers aged between 16-25 years. The supported accommodation is based in the Core service and satellite flats in the Ruchill and Maryhill area of Glasgow. Elpis provides a high-quality support service which addresses young woman’ identified and assessed needs and reflects the aims of the service to work within relevant organisational and statutory policies, including health and safety, employment and equality laws. This includes adhering to Scottish Social Services Council codes of practice, National Care Standards and contractual requirements. Staffs work closely with the young women to write up support plans and deliver an individually tailored service, utilising Ladders to Success and GIRFEC, SHANARRI Outcomes.

Job Purpose:

To have specific working responsibility at present for 19 vulnerable young women, 9 living in the Core building and 10 in scatter flats (to include mother & baby flats) in the Ruchill and Maryhill areas of Glasgow.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide direct support to young women who have experienced homelessness and/or have a variety of complex emotional and mental health needs.
• Provide support to young women in all areas of service.
• Establish a supportive relationship with each young woman, enabling them to maximise their own resources in order to improve their quality of life, and to assist each young woman to be as independent as possible in all aspects of their daily life, in line with their support plans.
• On a daily basis assist and support young women to carry out identified housing support tasks to ensure that they maintain and sustain their accommodation and be flexible and responsive to meet the changing needs of the young women, as well as the housing support service itself.
• Problem solve unexpected and difficult issues that may arise during shift and deal with challenging behaviour when lone working, use own initiative in order to support the young women’s complex issues, and make decisions based on current assessments of risk, following set risk assessments protocols and procedures.
• Resolve complex young women issues, involving discussion with colleagues and relevant agencies through reviews and meetings, ensuring correct procedures are followed.
• Risk assess young woman’s needs and actions and consult with appropriate people such as line manager, social worker, case worker.
• Complete and update all relevant paperwork including housing support plans, risk assessments and case notes for each young woman, complying with National Care Standards, SSSC Codes of Practice, GIRFEC model of outcomes (SHANARRI) to ensure person centred service delivery and to meet service aims.
• Complete regular health and safety welfare checks of the young women, the building environment and equipment, reporting and dealing with any issues raised during these checks.
• Inform line management of any areas of concern or significant change when delivering young women support, to ensure that appropriate risk assessment is undertaken.
• Carry out all duties in compliance with Elpis Trust’s policies and procedures.
• Actively participate in 3 monthly support, supervision and observation.
• Work closely with and with direction from the Duty Manager, to plan and deliver young women’s identified support needs.
• Work co-operatively as part of a team including attending and contributing to team meetings and work in co-operation with other members of the support team, as well as colleagues from other agencies.
• Communicate in a knowledgeable, confident and professional manner with external agencies, including social workers, case work team, commissioning team, carers and relatives of young women. This may include email, telephone calls, letters or face to face meetings.
• Communicate with other team members in a respectful and supportive manner in order to promote positive team work and cohesion.
• Ensure the young women’s views and wishes are central to your work and encourage a high level of young women participation.
• To actively participate in identified training, on-going supervision and performance development.

Note: Duties will be reviewed and modified in line with the exigencies of the service.

Knowledge, education, qualifications, competences and experience:

Essential:

• Membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme.
• Able to meet registration requirements with Scottish Social Services Council, Health and Social Care at S.V.Q. level 3, or be willing to achieve qualifications within specified timescale.
• Have an awareness of relevant National Care Standards and their application to work practice.
• Understand and adhere to the Codes of Practice from Scottish Social Services Council.
• Willing to maintain and enhance own knowledge, practice and competency.
• Previous experience working in Social Care.
• Be registered with SSSC or apply for registration within three months of start date.

Desirable:

• Experience of working with vulnerable young women and an understanding of the issues and needs involved.

Who we are

The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading fostering charity and membership organisation, dedicated to empowering, enriching and supporting the relationships at the heart of the fostering community.

Who we are looking for

We are seeking a passionate and organised individual with experience of participation work with young people to run our Young Person’s Advisory Board in Scotland and deliver an exciting programme of events.

You will play a vital role in ensuring the organisation listens to the voices of those that our work impacts. In this role you will help make a difference and improve the lives of fostering families and children and young people in foster care in Scotland.

What you’ll be doing

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with great self-motivation and creative thinking to lead on a project in Scotland to improve the lives of young people in foster care and their families. This post will work collaboratively with the Scotland team and other colleagues delivering participation work across the UK.

You will lead and coordinate the work of the Young Person’s Advisory Board which supports care experienced young people to campaign for change to children’s social care and lead on the delivery of a programme of activities related to this.

This role is vital in ensuring we are the best organisation we can be by listening to those our work affects.

This is a great opportunity to bring your expertise to designing and delivering the next stage of this project and make a genuine impact on the experience and outcomes for young people living in foster care and fostering families.

At this point, we hope you're feeling excited about the job description you’re reading. Even if you don't feel that you meet every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply.

What we can offer you

• 38 days leave (including bank holidays)
• A range of family friendly and fostering friendly leave options Flexible and hybrid working
• Enhanced maternity and adoption pay
• Enhanced sick pay
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Helpline
• Pension and life assurance
• Contribution to eye tests and lenses
• Season ticket loans

Our commitments to you

The Fostering Network is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community and especially those from under-represented and minoritised backgrounds. All applications and hiring decisions will be considered on merit.

• If you identify as care experienced and meet the minimum criteria for the role, you will be guaranteed an interview under our commitment to the Care Leaver Covenant
• If you have a disability, please tell us what reasonable adjustments would support your participation in the recruitment process
• We are open to job-sharing arrangements for all roles, please indicate this in the application form if you are applying as part of a job share

The overall aim of this post is to work alongside the incumbent Prevention Worker to deliver interventions to young people around healthy sexual relationships using the Rape Crisis Scotland sexual violence prevention pack (SVPP) and No More! (accessible SVP Pack), and to develop local strategic approaches to sexual violence prevention.

Main outcomes for this post are as follows:

• National and local strategic approaches to sexual violence prevention are more consistent and more effective.
• Strategic partnerships between rape crisis centres and local agencies are strengthened, promoting shared approaches to sexual violence and support for direction intervention by centres.
• Young people have increased knowledge and more positive attitudes towards sexual relationships, and less tolerance of violence.
• Young people have a greater role in shaping interventions in relation to sexual relationships.