Carer Support Officer

Service Description:

The Carers Hub is a service that supports unpaid carers living within the London Borough of Greenwich. The service operates from our premises in London SE7 and across the community via placements within community hubs. The service is funded by the Local Authority and provides:

• Community based placements
• On-site Duty Support Work via direct support and telephone Information and Advice Line
• Specialist information and support
• Stepped levels of support
• Signposting and referrals to other services
• Casework, advocacy and brokerage
• Emotional and practical support
• Home visits

Job summary

The purpose of the job role is to improve the wellbeing and resilience of adults who provide unpaid care and support to a family member or friend in the borough of Greenwich and to:

• Enable carers to feel supported
• Provide access to information and advice
• Enable carers to continue within their caring role
• Prevent the needs of carers from increasing
• Prevent the breakdown of caring roles

Main responsibilities

• To support carers to stay well for longer and adopt healthier lifestyles
• To support carers in having greater understanding, knowledge and access to support with their caring role
• To support carers in improving or maintaining home and social environments
• To support carers to feel less stressed and have reduced anxiety from their caring role
• To enable carers feel able to manage the financial and legal affairs of themselves and of those that they support
• To provide person centred support to unpaid carers
• To work flexibly in providing casework, advocacy, mentoring, crisis intervention and short, medium and long term support
• To provide a brokerage service that links carers to health and social care services as appropriate
• To work across the community to engage ‘hard-to-reach’ carers and carers from within BAME, LGBTQ and disability communities

• To provide a range of information and advice relating to welfare, housing and social issues and/or refer carers into appropriate organisations for specialist support as appropriate
• To work with other projects we deliver to engage carers with wider social, recreational and educational opportunities
• To work independently and as part of team
• To identify and work within community hubs to facilitate cross-borough engagement with carers
• To work in accordance with quality standard Safeguarding policies and procedures
• To work to set targets and deadlines in monitoring and reporting in accordance organisational process and policy

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Carer Support Officer

Experience

Requirement

Two years direct support experience working with Carers and/or vulnerable adults and children, including experience of working within the home and community settings

Essential

Ability to plan and deliver a structured programme of support for carers to improve their caring skills and develop their ability to problem solve

Essential

Proven record of being reflective of past experiences and never being complacent: processing failure effectively; identifying and acting on areas for improvement.

Essential

Ability to manage the expectations of carers and an understanding of the importance of professional boundaries

Essential

An understanding and professional manner; with an ability to use initiative creatively when working independently with carers

Essential

An understanding of the impact of discrimination on the lives of those from minority ethnic communities and others that experience social exclusion and an ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds.

Essential

Good communication skills, both verbal and written, in English. This should include the ability to keep good records and to give accurate information to a diverse user group and to produce reports for external agencies e.g. case conferences.

Essential

An ability to work independently and as part of a team; within GCC policies and procedures framework.

Essential

The willingness and ability to work flexibly as and when required.

Essential

Ability to drive and have the use of own car

Essential

Knowledge of Carers rights, legislation and local policies and practices

Desirable

An understanding of risk factors and safeguarding concerns relevant to carers and those they care for  

Desirable

An understanding of the role of relevant statutory and voluntary organisations and  the ability to negotiate with other service providers to influence their response in order to improve the service provided to carers

Desirable