Be the Reason Someone Believes in Themselves
Relief Support Worker | Leighton Buzzard |
Every day is a new adventure when you help someone grow. At MacIntyre, we support young people with autism and learning disabilities by walking alongside them as they explore and thrive. We are now looking for compassionate Relief Support Workers to join our team in Leighton Buzzard and make a real difference, one shift at a time.
This is more than a job. It is an opportunity to help shape futures, build confidence, and be part of everyday moments that truly matter - all while enjoying flexible working hours that fit around your life.
Who You’ll Support
You will be supporting young people with a wide range of interests, personalities, and goals. Every day brings something different, from high-energy activities to quieter moments of connection. This may include:
* Ryan, who enjoys nail-painting sessions and planning mini road trips.
* Liam, who thrives with encouragement while bowling or trying something new.
* Ben, who loves trampoline parks, the outdoors, and anything that brings excitement and laughter.
* Emily, who has big dreams and benefits from consistent support and encouragement as she works towards her goals.
What You’ll Do
As a Relief Support Worker, you will be a mentor, a motivator, and sometimes simply a calm and reassuring presence. Your role will include:
* Supporting daily routines with dignity, humour, and respect.
* Planning and sharing meaningful experiences that build independence and confidence.
* Creating a warm, safe, and welcoming home environment where young people feel valued.
* Providing consistent support through both the highs and the challenges of everyday life.
How Relief Works
Relief (Bank) staff support the permanent rota team by covering shifts that become available due to annual leave, sickness, training, or unforeseen circumstances. Shifts are flexible, and you can choose when you want to work -there is no obligation to accept every shift. Rotas are usually planned one month in advance, and the service will aim to balance your availability with the needs of the young people we support. This role can be a great way to gain experience, explore a career in support work, and earn extra income.
Important Commitment and Training Requirements
This role is incredibly rewarding, but it does require a clear and reliable commitment to ensure consistency and stability for our students. To support you in the role and ensure the highest standard of care, all successful applicants must complete mandatory training before undertaking shifts independently. This training is essential to help you feel confident, safe, and fully prepared.
The key commitments for this role are outlined below:
You must be able to commit to a minimum of 1 shift per week to provide consistency for the young people we support.
* Mandatory training must be completed before you can work independently.
* The training programme requires availability for at least 1 day per week during your first six weeks of joining.
* Training dates will be provided well in advance to allow you to plan accordingly.
We kindly ask that applicants apply only if they can fully commit to both the training requirements and the ongoing minimum shift commitment, as this consistency is vital for our students’ wellbeing.
"Please note, we are currently unable to offer sponsorships as we await further guidance from the Home Office. Applications requiring sponsorship cannot be considered at this time. We appreciate your understanding."
*Name changed for privacy
#IND
About you
Experience isn’t always necessary. If you have the right attitude, good customer service skills, share our values and are willing to learn, you’re likely to be a great fit. We are looking for people who celebrate differences, and we strive to make all our staff feel included, valued and respected.
Important Requirement:
You must hold a clean, full UK manual driving licence, as you will be responsible for driving the service vehicles.
About us
MacIntyre is a national charity which supports over 1,200 people with a learning disability and/or autism.
We were founded in 1966 by the visionary parent of a child with disabilities and have been growing steadily ever since. We celebrate and develop everyone’s unique gifts, talents and contributions.
Training and Development
At Macintyre we fully support your training and development. We know it can be daunting to start a new job, and not everyone learns the same way, so throughout your probation we will provide you with a mixture of eLearning, face-to-face training and mentoring support whilst on the job.
But it doesn't stop there - throughout your career with us you will have access to our own dedicated in house Learning and Development team, Quality Specialists and HR Teams. These teams, along with your Manager, will provide you with opportunities to learn and develop professionally as well as enabling and supporting you to achieve professional qualifications and career progression opportunities - all free of charge.
Pay and Rewards
We provide a range of benefits to reward and thank our staff which includes:
* Six weeks' annual leave including statutory public holidays
* Workplace Pension scheme MacIntyre will contribute 3% of your salary to all eligible employees
* MacIntyre Staff Savings Scheme
* Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) to support your health and wellbeing
* Health Cash Plan which provides money back on core health treatments such as: optical, dental, physiotherapy, chiropody (at reduced cost)
* MacIntyre Sick Pay (qualifying period)
* Life assurance scheme offering valuable benefits to your dependents
* MacIntyre Rewards Scheme which recognises and rewards staff
* MacIntyre Perks which offers up to 6% discount off leading retailers including Tesco, Curry/PC World, Costa and many more
* Access to the Blue Light Card which offers thousands of amazing discounts online and on the high street for emergency and social care staff.
* Enhanced DBS Certificate (cost paid by MacIntyre)
How to apply
If this job sounds like the right fit for you, click on the Apply button on the MacIntyre website, complete some brief details and upload your CV.
Alternatively if you would prefer to complete a manual application form, call usand we will send an application form to you.
Please note: we reserve the right to close this advert early if we have received a sufficient number of applications, so don't delay, apply today.
Safer Recruitment and Diversity statement
MacIntyre safeguards and promotes the welfare of the children, young people and adults we support. Therefore we work with successful candidates to complete appropriate checks prior to joining.
MacIntyre is committed to promoting equality, encouraging diversity and embracing inclusion among our workforce. We want our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and the people we support. As part of this commitment, our accessibility toolbar allows you a number of options: read adverts in another language (including Welsh for our Services located in Wales), change the font to Open Dyslexia, change the colours, and many others. Just click the button marked “Accessibility” at the top of the screen.