Key Worker

Are you passionate about supporting children, young people and adults who are autistic and/or have a learning disability?

We are seeking to recruit a highly skilled Key Worker for our Key Worker Service in East Berkshire. The role is diverse and service user centred. It would suit someone with significant experience in supporting young people and young adults with autism and Learning Disabilities and their families.

The day-to-day work will involve a flexible approach to coordination and direct support for the young person and their family, as well as providing responsive communication at times of increased need. This is an exciting role which allows for the Key Worker to support families to navigate the system whilst advocating for them and ensuring that their voice is heard.

There will be opportunities for collaboration and co-production - our vision is to provide young person and family centred support, whilst influencing system change to achieve better outcomes for more children, young people and adults under the age of 25.

The service will be provided across the entire East Berkshire footprint covering Slough, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest. Although the team is “virtual”, there will be frequent (weekly) travel within and across the East Berkshire area, therefore being a car driver with access to a car is essential, as well as being based near the local area.

The Key Working Function has been developed as a response to the NHS England & NHS Improvement Long Term Plan (LTP) commitment that by 2023/24, children and young people with a learning disability, autism, or both, with the most complex needs will have a designated Key Worker, applying the recommendations made by Dame Christine Lenehan in ‘These are our Children'. The East Berkshire Key Worker Service has been established since 2023 and continues to develop and evolve.

We are looking for someone who

has significant experience of working with individuals with Learning Disabilities and/or who are Autistic as well as their families.

has an understanding of mental health and how this may impact this service user group

Is tenacious and passionate about advocating for our families, whilst respectfully challenging professionals and working collaboratively with other agencies

Able to complete frequent visits to service users and have the ability to be flexible to complete visits/meetings at short notice within working hours across the East Berkshire area

A Barnardo's Project Worker 3 job description and person specification is attached to the advert for this role. This is a generic role description in use throughout the organisation to cover all roles at the given salary band. The Additional Information Sheet outlines the specific responsibilities, skills and experience required and it is important that you read this carefully before you apply.

When completing your application form, please refer to the skills, knowledge and experience required as detailed in the Person Specification and also in the Additional Information Sheet. 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.

Where a role is advertised as fixed term, we are happy to consider secondment opportunities. Please discuss this with your line manager and the hiring manager for the role.

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.

Our basis and values

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Disability Confident

About Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.