Job title: Residential Practitioner – Waking Nights

Salary: C1 £28,598 - £31,022 pro rata (plus weekend enhancements and sleep in allowance where appropriate)

Hours: 35

Contract: Permanent

Location: Kirkstall, Leeds

Leeds City Council are currently recruiting 3 Waking Nights positions to our 45 bed Kirkstall accommodation. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who wants to kickstart their residential care vocation.

Kirkstall accommodation provides support to young people from various backgrounds, to gain independence skills to support their transition into adulthood and beyond. You will be joining a supportive team who have your wellbeing and development at heart, to ensure you have every success in this rewarding role.

We are seeking experienced and enthusiastic staff to join our passionate residential care team. Our mission is to continue to thrive and grow on what has already been achieved while maintaining our ethos of Leeds being a child friendly city.

This is a rare, exciting opportunity for someone to be part of a rapidly developing child focused service, where you’ll play a vital role in supporting young people with complex needs. Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions. 

About you 

As a Waking Nights, you will bring to the role: 

• NVQ Level 3 qualified (minimum) in Caring for Young People or be willing to complete within 12 months of being appointed
• The commitment to undertake QCF, Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care and Children and Young People Services
• The ability to demonstrate a clear understanding of young people’s needs within the supported accommodation service
• A flexible approach to work as a rota shift system is in operation to meet the changing needs of the young people
• The ability to use IT systems confidently

About the role  

As a Waking Nights, you’ll use your excellent communications skills to build positive relationships with vulnerable young people to support and guide them in their journey to adulthood and independence. This role is varied and stimulating with no two days the same, from supporting the residents with cooking and personal care to making arts and crafts and gaming with them.

As our next post holder, you’ll contribute to developing the role in a positive manner. Waking Nights will be expected to ensure the safety of the young people throughout the night, carrying out regular checks while maintaining the health and safety of the service and its residents.

This role offers immense job satisfaction as you witness the positive changes you facilitate in the lives of disadvantaged young people daily. You’ll also be making a positive impact to your community by working for a local authority.

What we offer you 

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including: 

• a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays 

• membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions 

• being part of an outstanding service with an excellent support network, strong leadership and guidance

• a clear career pathway and continuing professional development and training opportunities 
• a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further 

How to apply 

Please complete the online application form.  

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.  

For further information feel free to contact Tina Grant (team manager) on tina.grant@leeds.gov.uk

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.  

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.  

 This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa. 

 If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying. 

Job Description

Job purpose
The Residential Practitioner’s role is to support, encourage and safeguard children and young people in their development, enabling them to make positive contributions to their families, society and local communities.

You will do this by fostering positive relationships and maintaining strong bonds between children and staff based on shared daily life and routines, joint activities and established boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

Special conditions

This post is subject to a higher-level check with the Disclosure and Barring Service. Please note that a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to obtaining employment; this will depend on the circumstances and background to any offence.

Responsibilities

• Undertake key worker role, implement care plans, conduct risk assessments and devise support and health plans
• Provide and maintain a safe, stimulating and secure living and learning environment supporting day-to-day physical and emotional needs
• Work with professionals and communities of origin to sustain links and understand past problems
• Nurture children’s ambitions for their future and their learning, both in and out of school
• Support children and young people’s emotional, mental and physical health needs to build self-esteem
• Respect privacy whilst maintaining a duty of care ensuring that living spaces are clean and safe
• Provide appropriate levels of personal care for children and young people with disabilities and complex needs, including bathing, toileting, dressing, changing and feeding as appropriate
• Ensure that all records are accurate, up to date and GDPR compliant
• Manage complex and challenging behaviour in an assertive, restorative and sensitive manner
• Work to reduce the likelihood that a child/young person becomes criminalised, encouraging restorative approaches and outcomes
• Hours of work are primarily determined by the needs of the service and are worked on a rota basis including undertaking sleep-ins, early mornings, late evenings, weekends and bank holidays
• Maintain a close working relationship with colleagues, external agencies, families and the wider public
• Be flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required, commensurate to grade
• Participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up-to-date knowledge and skills
  Improve own practice through observation, evaluation, discussion and development programmes
• Work collaboratively with colleagues, knowing when to seek help and advice
• Contribute to the overall ethos, work and aims of the service by attending relevant meetings, training days and events as requested
• Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures such as child protection, health, safety and security, confidentiality and data protection, reporting all concerns to an appropriate person
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all by working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding and promoting the values, standards and equal opportunities of Leeds City Council
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment or victimisation and any form of abuse of equal opportunities, ensuring compliance with relevant policies and procedures
• The council has adopted a flexibility protocol, and this role will be expected to work within these parameters
• The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post

Qualifications

• To work in this role, you must hold the Level 3 Diploma in Residential Child Care or equivalent. If you do not hold the diploma, we will fund you to study for the qualification. You must complete the diploma within a reasonable period, normally 2 years after starting work. Failure to achieve the Level 3 Diploma will prevent you from continuing in this post.
• You must demonstrate good literacy and numeracy, through qualifications or a skills test completed at interview.

Essential requirements

It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements:

• Flexibility to travel and work across different work locations including providing support to children living within family settings as appropriate
• Availability to work on a rota basis and change work patterns as reasonably required, including undertaking sleep-ins, early mornings, late evenings, weekends and bank holidays
• Ability to build relationships and actively engage with individual and groups of children and young people
• Ability to build relationships and communicate effectively with a wide range of people
• Maintenance of accurate manual and digital records in accordance with GDPR
• Use of initiative to adapt to changing circumstances and develop solutions to issues
• Skills in managing conflict and aggression using de-escalation techniques
• Good standards of literacy and numeracy, demonstrated through qualifications or skills test
• Understanding of responsibilities in terms of health and safety, security, confidentiality and data protection
• Understanding of the needs of looked after children and the importance of advocacy for children and young people
• Basic computer literacy and of the use of Microsoft packages
• Recent experience of working with young people or vulnerable adults who may have emotional or behavioural difficulties, in either a paid or voluntary capacity
• Be physically fit enough to carry out all requirements of the role including the use of Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) to manage challenging behaviour as required
• Essential behavioural and other characteristics
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health and Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon.
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
• Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
• Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council.
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.

The council has adopted a flexibility protocol, and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

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