Activity Support Worker - Newham

Job Title: Activity Support Worker

Contract: Permanent Part Time

Hours: 15 hours per week

Salary: £29,334 per annum pro rata part time

Location: NE London: Newham

About Outward.

For 50 years, Outward has been providing high-quality support and care services to vulnerable people across London, predominantly in North East London. Established by families seeking alternatives to institutional care, we’ve grown into a respected provider of person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, and complex needs. We support over 1,000 people across nine boroughs, guided by our core values: engage, enable, and empower.

Outward is proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer. This means we are committed to paying the Real Living Wage – not just the government minimum or national living wage – to our frontline Support Workers and other eligible staff. We recognise the value of the work our teams do, and we are committed to ensuring fair pay that reflects the true cost of living. The Real Living Wage is updated annually by the Living Wage Foundation, and Outward remains committed to aligning our pay accordingly.

About the Role

We are looking for a proactive and passionate activity support worker to join our dedicated team supporting adults with a range of needs, including learning disabilities, autism, mental health challenges, and complex support requirements. This role offers a unique opportunity to combine care and support responsibilities with planning fun and meaningful activities.

As an activity support worker, you will play a key role in empowering the people we support to live independent and fulfilling lives. You’ll be fun, friendly and a great communicator with a willingness to plan and lead a variety of activities that are person centred and tailored to the people we support. You will work closely with the Deputy or Team Manager and play an active role in ensuring our services are high quality, well-managed, and aligned with Outward’s core values of engage, enable, and empower.

Your Responsibilities

As an activity support worker, you will:

·         Ensure that the activities on offer are person centred, and outcome focused

·         Ensure activities are where possible within the wider community and involve using universal services.

·         Ensure that there is constant involvement and consultation with the people using the service and their circle of support.

·         Organise and facilitate activities at the Hub base and develop these with the members.

·         Undertake shift leading and key working responsibilities,

·         Encourage all community-based activities to be accessed by public transport where possible.

·         Record all information accurately and appropriately.

·         Create and update club member’s risk assessments and support plans.

·         To assist with any personal care or other needs of attendees.

·         To support the attendees at all activities to get the most out of their time and to participate as much as possible,

·         To market the service appropriately

·         To ensure that all media relating to the service (plans, timetables, newsletters etc.) is accessible and created with the involvement of people using the service.

·         To undertake other tasks in line with the role; daily cleaning duties and day to day petty cash monitoring.

Requirements

Essential Criteria

• Friendliness and a kind and caring nature,
• Compassionate and understanding,
• Patience and empathy,
• A willingness to learn and be proactive in trying new things,
• An ability to build trust and relationships with others,
• A considered and sensible approach,
• Commitment to empowering people with learning disabilities and autism to live fulfilled lives,
• Able to plan and deliver meaningful activities for the people we support,
• Able to encourage people to engage in activities,
• IT literacy – Microsoft Office and online applications,
• Good understanding of safeguarding and risk management in a care/support setting
• Knowledge of health and safety issues within supported housing or care environments
• Understanding of confidentiality, GDPR, and data protection principles
• Staff must have access to a smartphone capable of receiving SMS messages and installing authentication apps for secure systems access
• Right to Work in the UK. Please note: Outward will not provide visa sponsorship.

Desirable Criteria

• NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (or equivalent)
• Additional training in PBS, safeguarding, or housing-related legislation
• Skill, hobby or passion you can share in activities with the group
• Knowledge of developing and delivering training

How to Apply

The above is not an exhaustive list of requirements for the role.

If you think you are who we are looking for, please submit a CV and statement detailing how you feel your experiences meets the requirements of the role by referring to the Job Responsibilities and the Person Specification.

There is no specific closing date for this advert. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. It would be great to hear from you.

Outward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require a DBS for successful candidates.

Benefits

We value everything our staff do for the people we support, so we provide a great benefits package:

• 25 days Annual Leave excluding Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time)
• Comprehensive Learning & Development Programme

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme
• Death in Service Benefit
• Health Assured – Employee Assistance Programme
• Eye care Vouchers
• Flu Jab Reimbursement
• Pension Scheme
• Purchase Additional Annual Leave
• Refer-a-Friend Scheme

Diversity and Safeguarding at Outward:

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Outward applies its Equal Opportunities Policy at all stages of recruitment and selection.  Shortlisting, interviewing and selection is carried out without regard to gender, sexual orientation, marital status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, age or trade union membership. 

As an employer, who aspire to become Disability Confident Committed, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. Please indicate clearly at the beginning of your supporting statement if you have a disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010), and you wish to be considered for an Offer Of an Interview (OOI) Please note that the OOI is available to disabled candidates only. Regrettably, any false declaration of disability in order to secure an interview will impact on your overall application.