Family support worker (18799)

Are you a passionate, dedicated person who can provide help and advice to children, young people, and their families. We are recruiting for our Family Services team at HMPS Berwyn. To provide a safe and welcoming environment, and provide advice, support and information to friends and families visiting the prison, to develop and maintain positive relationships between prisoners and their families.

To provide age-appropriate play activities within the prison visit hall to ensure that children feel comfortable, safe, and secure while visiting their parent in prison and to promote opportunities for children to engage with their father/grandparent or extended family member who is in prison in an appropriate way during a visit and family days.

The post will involve evening and weekend work.,

• To assist and support the team in the Visitors' Centre service by providing support for the visitors before and after visiting; and by taking shifts in the Visitors Centre.


• To work collaboratively with the Visitors' Centre service by aiding and support where required.


• To support the delivery of services that provide a safe and welcoming place for the children of prisoners, by helping to provide play opportunities in the Visitors' Centre, facilitate play sessions in the visit hall when required and enrichment activities such as homework clubs, baby groups and children only visits.


• To be able to oversee other aspects of the children's services including sessional risk assessments, the provision and maintenance of safe and clean toys, books, materials, and the play area facilities (in conjunction with the prison)



• To coordinate plan and delivery the running of family days as required to include the preparation and assisting in the selection process. To provide an agreed number of family days which will be themed either on weekdays during school holidays or weekends for prisoners and their families. Support the service to deliver and high quality facilitated play/activities appropriate for the age ranges attending the family days. Days and times to be agreed with the establishment.


• To offer a range of age-appropriate play activities in the visit's hall, to encourage families to access support for their needs by interacting with visitors, offering information and advice as appropriate on a confidential


• To identify first time visitors and ensure they are provided with enhanced support and reassurance.


• To support families accessing information about the prison and assisted prison visits scheme and signposting to other agencies and that information is available in languages other than English.
  
  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., 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.

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