Outreach Worker
We have 3 positions available in Wandsworth, London (office/field based, full time, fixed term)

About Us
We are SPEAR, a charity dedicated to helping homeless people in South and West London find secure accommodation and work towards a positive future.

For 30 years, we’ve worked tirelessly to support homeless people to recover from their personal issues and break down the barriers that they face.

We recognise that homelessness is much more than just a housing issue, so we provide a range of accommodation and support services to help people reach their full potential.
We’re now looking for three Outreach Workers to join our Wandsworth team for a fixed-term contract until March 2021 dependent on funding with the local authority, with a view to extend further.

The Benefits

• Pro-rated salary of £25,500 
• 26 days’ holiday pro rata
• Pension scheme
• Access to a free Employee Assistance Programme
• A range of benefits including cycle to work scheme and staff wellbeing sessions

If you are looking to make an impact on homelessness in South West London and have experience of working in street or community outreach services, this is an outstanding opportunity to further your experience and skills with our exceptional charity.

Our mission and ethos to provide safe, secure accommodation to everyone who needs it means our teams are filled with passionate, dedicated and supportive people all working together to deliver services that are changing lives.

So, if you are ready to enact change and undertake a hands-on role, directly dealing with rough sleepers and homelessness, this is the role for you.

The Role

As an Outreach Worker, you will be tasked with identifying and verifying rough sleepers and enabling them to access appropriate services such as accommodation and move away from living on the streets.

Working as part of a team, you will deliver services that are focused on the individual needs of each rough sleeper and operate in partnership with stakeholders to deliver the best possible outcomes.

Specifically, your role will involve:

• Generating an accurate picture of the number of people sleeping rough in a particular location
• Making contact with people sleeping rough, developing working relationships with them and assessing their needs
• Maintaining a caseload of clients, offering assertive, consistent and ongoing support to help them into accommodation or reconnection services
• Building working partnerships with other service providers, local businesses and community groups

As part of your role, you will be required to work shift patterns and practices that reflect rough sleeping habits including working early mornings and late nights.

About You

To be considered as an Outreach Worker, you will need:

• Experience of working in street or community outreach services
• Previous experience of delivering and administering an assertive case management approach
• Experience of motivating complex and diverse client groups to engage with support
• Knowledge of the services and legislative environment regarding housing, health, work and immigration as it relates to homeless people
• The ability to work as part of a team and initiate and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues, clients, the community, the police and other external agencies
• The ability to broker relationships with services and develop pathways to enable clients to make and sustain positive change
• The demonstrable ability to record and report work to a good standard, using IT systems as well as written records
• The ability to support outreach volunteers and peer mentors in outreach shifts

Other organisations may call this role Homelessness Support Worker, Homeless Outreach Worker, Rough Sleeper Support Worker, Link Worker, Homeless Link Worker, or Homeless Support Link Worker.

At SPEAR, we welcome and encourage applications from everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We are facing diverse problems, so need diverse people to tackle them.

So, if you’re seeking your next challenge as an Outreach Worker, please apply via the button shown. This vacancy is being advertised by Webrecruit. The services advertised by Webrecruit are those of an Employment Agency.