How you'll make a difference:
The Young People's Support team offers an adolescent-centred preventative service for young people who face worrying risks to their safety and well-being. As a Senior Support Worker, you will build relationships with the young people and their families, and try to understand what life is like for them. Helping them to find their voice, you will be that listening ear and advocate so they engage and feel supported.
What you will be doing:
* You will primarily assess the family needs using an Early Help Assessment Plan and on occasion, support social care by contributing to Children in Need and Child Protection plans where the risks are specifically around the adolescent aged young person.
* Through designing and delivering direct work sessions, you will support young people facing significant challenges, including criminal and sexual exploitation, problematic sexual behaviour, peer-on-peer and group-based violence, family breakdown, permanent exclusion from school, substance misuse and mental health concerns.
* We require you to help to build a team around the family so support mechanisms can be constructed around the young person and available after you step back.
* It will be your responsibility to undertake return home interviews with young people who have gone missing and returned, establishing the reasons why it happened and provide support, advice and guidance to reduce the risk of it happening again.
* You will be expected to provide support and mentoring to the team of support workers, including those who are new and those who need some support in a specific area of practice.
* As part of the ongoing social care reforms, you will also hold some Child In Need cases, with supervision from a social work qualified manager.
What we need from you:
* We require you to be professionally qualified at NVQ4 or equivalent, or be working towards a relevant professional qualification related to the provision of services to children and young people.
* It is essential that you have experience of working in a similar setting supporting young people in crisis.
* You can demonstrate knowledge of relevant legislation, regulations, codes of practice, processes, and procedures.
* Given the elements of the role, you will need well developed interpersonal and communication skills to build relationships and engage successfully with colleagues, service users and partner organisations such as schools and the police.
What you need to know:
* We have two positions to fill, both are limited term contracts until 30th September 2026.
* We are also offering this as an internal secondment opportunity, you should first seek your line managers permission before applying.
* This role is hybrid, with a mixture of working at our office in Patchway and from home.
* Please note that due to the nature of this role, it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained.
* You will be expected to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area so you must have a full, valid driving licence with regular access to a vehicle or have an alternative means of travel.
Interviews will be held on Thursday 16th October 2025.
How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different:
* As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.
* We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
* We know our team work best when they have balance in their lives, and we offer genuine flexibility to help them achieve that work/life balance.
* We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Ensuring all our staff are given right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect.
Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.
* We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
* We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life.
* We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.
We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.
We're making a difference, be part of it
To view the full job description, please click this link: Senior Support Worker YPS - Job Description