Young Persons Independent Living Officer

Manchester Foyer – Full Time, 35 hours per week (rota Monday – Friday 8.00am to 8pm)

Manchester Lodge – Full Time, 35 hours per week (rota Monday – Saturday 8:00am to 8pm)

Are you friendly, enthusiastic and want to change the lives of the young people we work with?

Do you have a positive attitude and the ability to support and encourage our young people?

Yes? Then we have the perfect role for you?

We are looking for a Young Persons Independent Living Officer to be an ambassador for our Foyer and Lodge residences and maintain positive relationships with all key stakeholders, and most importantly our Young People.

You will develop effective and professional partnership working with a range of appropriate service providers, whilst coaching and mentoring young people on a one-to-one basis, empowering them to progress and meet their individual goals.

What you will be doing:

• Run groups and activities that support young people to develop and thrive in their own environment
• Support users in housing related support activities
• Manage a caseload of young people, tailoring support plans and helping them achieve their goals
• Engage, motivate and inspire their young people to live independently outside of the scheme environment
• To coach and mentor young people on a one-to-one basis
• Undertake a comprehensive assessment for each client in terms of support needs and risk and gather the appropriate information from other service providers as required
• To support clients to maximise their income – offering advice and guidance on benefit entitlement and employment; liaising with agencies including Housing Benefit Department, Job Centre Plus, etc.

What we need you to have:

• Good standard of general education to NVQ Level 2 or above or proven experience of working with Young People aged 16-25
• Experience of providing training, one-to-one support, guidance and coaching for young people
• Ability to enthuse and motivate young people to succeed
• Experience of adult and children safeguarding protocols
• Experience of working with children / young people
• Experience of working in a supported accommodation-based setting
• A working understanding of safeguarding children and young people
• Ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries

We're committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues to share this commitment. As this job is based in a supported housing project for young people, an enhanced criminal records background check (free of charge to you) is required.

A criminal conviction does not necessarily stop you from working with us. All decisions regarding convictions will be made on a case-by-case basis. Further detail on our commitment to safeguarding young people can be found in our Safeguarding policy attached alongside this vacancy’s candidate pack.

We offer a range of great benefits including:

• 25 days holiday per year and bank holidays, plus up to a further 5 days with long service and holiday buy/sell scheme
• Company pension scheme with up to 10% matched contributions
• Enhanced sick pay with up to 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay
• Health and Wellbeing Support including an employee assistance programme, free counselling, mental health first aiders and numerous wellbeing initiatives
• Life assurance
• Learning and development to support you to develop the skills you need to fulfil your role and progress in your career
• Commitment to Equality and Inclusion with employee network groups covering anti-racism, LGBTQ+, disability and long-term health conditions, carers, and menopause.

MSV are also committed to supporting you to balance work and life, including with any caring or parental responsibilities you might have, and have a range of flexible working options and wellbeing support available to all colleagues to facilitate this.

If you wish to discuss the roles informally, please contact Adele Travis on: 07973411810

Interviews: Date to be confirmed, however interviews may be carried out throughout the recruitment process and the role closed if a suitable candidate is found.

We’re passionate about inclusion and we’d love to hear from people from diverse backgrounds for this role.

We own and manage almost 9,000 homes in Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and West Yorkshire. Our growth aspirations are to respond to the housing crisis in the North West, by assisting the millennial generation locked out of decent homes, the elderly, those on low incomes, those in need of specialist housing, first-time buyers, and people who are ‘rightsizing’.