Locations: Bromley, Croydon, Earls Court and Lambeth

Job title:SupportAssistant

Department:Housing & Support

Reports to:Team Manager or Team Leader

Locations: Bromley, Croydon, Earls Court and Lambeth

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Job Description

Overall aim

Supporting and empowering our customers to increase their life skills, self management and confidence to successfully sustain independent living.

This aim will be achieved through the provision of individualised support,tailored to the specific needs of homeless adults and young people.

Key responsibilities

1. Service delivery

• Working alongside Support Worker colleagues to assess customer needs and risks.

• Actively promoting customer involvement at all times.

• Working with customers to achieve support plan actions, recording outcomes and reviewing progress towards achieving their goals.

• Establishing supportive and professional relationships with customers and dealing effectively with unpredictable and challenging situations in a professional and sensitive manner.

• Ensuring customers are supported to achieve independent living through proactive support and building positive links with relevant agencies and external partners.

• Planning and delivering a range of customer activities and workshops.

• Ensuring customers are supported to raise complaints, comments and suggestions.

1. Housing Management

• Supporting colleagues to ensure all voids are advertised and lettings made promptly.

• Supportingcustomers to pay their rent, including providing advice on benefits and debt management.

• Being accessible and responsive at all times to customers’ concerns and requests for information.

• Supporting and advisingcustomers on any matters relating to their occupancy agreements.

• Dealing with breaches of occupancy agreements sensitively and efficiently, in accordance with warnings and appeal procedures.

• Responding in a decisive and proactive manner to customer and neighbour disputes.

• Reporting repairs and maintenance in accordance with policy and procedure.

• Supporting colleagues to remove items and make rooms ready for new occupants, where required

3.Health and Safety

• Ensuringcustomers have up to date information on Health and Safety, and supporting them to manage their environment.

• Beingfully aware of, and working within, Health and Safety legislation.

• Carrying out regular Health and Safety inspections, takingimmediate action to remedy health and safety defects and alerting the appropriate people in line with Health and Safety Policies.

• Supporting colleagues to undertake risk assessments for each customer, and reviewing them regularly.

4.Administration

• Keeping accurate records, including logbooks, service user files, monitoring information etc.

• Providing written reports and information as requested.

• Maintaining clear and concise records of all key working sessions.

• Being aware of, and adhering to, all relevant financial procedures.

• Maintaining personal records on the HR database.

1. General

• Ensuring SLYMCA’s Equality and Diversity Policy and Code of Conduct are actively promoted and adhered to in all areas of work, and that services are accessible to all individuals.

• Attending and fully participating in supervision and appraisals, team meetings and all training provided.

• Engagingwith colleagues and managementto fully support the effectiveness of the team.

• Working across other locations, and attending training and meetings on other sites, as required.

This job description provides an indication of the roles and responsibilities for the post of Support Assistant, but should not be construed as an exclusive list of the duties that the post holder may be asked to undertake.

All SLYMCA employees must also be aware of, and adhere to, all SLYMCA policies and procedures.

SLYMCA reserves the right to amend this role profile as necessary, after consultation with the postholder, to reflect changes to the role.

Please turn to the Person Specification on the next page 

March 2015

Experience

• Commitment to supporting the needs and aspirations of homeless and vulnerable people (can be demonstrated by examples of personal experiences or volunteering, as well as work experiences).

Knowledge

• An understanding of the reasons why people become homeless and the needs and challenges they face.

Skills

• Ability to plan and deliver workshops and activities to support customers to achieve the actions set out in their support plans (can be demonstrated by examples of personal experiences or volunteering, as well as work experiences).

• Ability to document clear records and to evidence outcomes achieved with customers.

• Ability to work inclusively, as part of a team, and to give and receive support and constructive feedback.

• Ability to manage time and multiple priorities effectively.

• Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing, demonstrating a good standard of written and spoken English.

• Computer literate, and competent in the use of Microsoft Office applications.

March 2015