Youth Development Worker

About The Role
Do you enjoy being around young people and helping them achieve their full potential? Are you able to inspire, motivate and guide them to navigate challenges successfully? Do you want the opportunity for continued career development and support personal growth? If so we want to hear from you.
We are looking for a Youth Development Worker to join our Bristol Young Peoples Team on a full-time basis. This position is field based within a team of 3 Youth Development Workers working with 45 young people across Bristol with 3 housing officers and a team manager. Your workload will be around 15 Young People that you visit weekly in the community, which would give you a capacity to provide high quality service. You will be a part of a larger team who deals with Young people services in North Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire. We are very proud of our work and helping young people is at the heart of everything we do.
We take a strength-based approach, where we encourage young people experiencing homelessness to aim high, dream big and fulfil their ambitions. You will be providing key worker support to our young people. Working through support and action plans, updating risk assessments and risk management plans with them, for them to develop the life skills necessary to move on and live independently in the community.
The team works with low support vulnerable young people aged 16-25, who are impacted or threatened by homelessness in Bristol in our temporary accommodation for around 12 months up to 2 years. The service also supports young people who are leaving care and asylum seekers.
As Youth Development Worker, you will be providing housing related support, however you will be working closely with other agencies around specific needs including mental health and DV, private letting agents and landlords and/or others.
One of the great things about this role is that you are able to bring your own personality. Our young people come from a wide range of backgrounds, and we try to mirror that in our Support team.
The role involves managing tenancy, housing management, working with benefits (housing benefits, universal credits, PIP and other), bills, exploring options around education, training and employment, writing support plans and risk assessment, budgeting, engaging with other professionals, working towards move-on from temporary accommodation.
You will need to take a creative approach to support; adapting your style of communication with everyone to provide a person-centred approach to help the young people establish and work towards their goals and aspirations.
We are looking for someone who is motivated to make a positive contribution to the lives of the people we support and a “can do” approach to their work. Are you prepared to go the extra mile to ensure a positive outcome for your clients? Experience in a similar role would be desirable, however what is most important is having a passion for helping people in the local community.
This role will be challenging at times as you will be working with and supporting clients across a range of difficult and challenging issues/behaviours; an attention to detail, using your initiative and problem solving will be key.
This role is being offered on a full time, fixed term basis ending in May 2025. Bandwidth hours will be 8.00 am to 6.00 pm.
Interviews will be carried out on 6th and 7th February.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable groups, and expect all colleagues to share this commitment. Appointment to the post will be subject to a satisfactory enhanced check via the Disclosure and Barring Service.
If you would like to discuss this vacancy, please contact our Resourcing team on 01392 814 599 or email careers@livewest.co.uk.
About The Candidate
To be considered for the role of Youth Development Worker you will be/have:-
- An ability to engage with a range of young people.
- A tenacity in seeking the best outcomes for young people.
- A good understanding of young people’s needs, safeguarding and emotional and mental health issues.
- An understanding of support needs and support planning.
- Understand risk assessing and risk management.
- Innovative and creative in your ways of working.
- Resilient and flexible in dealing with others.
- Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
- Confident in lone working and be a good team player.
- Level 3 qualification or equivalent in a relevant subject such as youth work, health and social care, coaching, mental health, housing, or ability to work towards.
- Good level of IT, literacy and numeracy skills.
This role is suited to someone who likes to manage their own diary and caseload, and enjoys interacting with lots of people on a daily basis.
About The Company
Our Reward and Benefits:
- Defined Contribution pension scheme – employer contribution of 6% - 9%.
- Discretionary Bonus scheme.
- Death in Service benefit (3 x salary).
- 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays with service related increase to your entitlement up to 30 days plus an option to purchase extra annual leave.
- Family Friendly policies.
- Health Cash Plan including dental and optical cover (worth up to £1,100 per annum).
- Employee Assistance Programme.
- Health and Wellbeing programme which includes enhanced sick pay, monthly campaigns, training and yearly flu jabs.
- Cycle to Work scheme.
- Car Benefit scheme.
- Learning and Development including coaching and professional qualification support.
- Volunteering days.
About Us:
LiveWest provides over 40,000 homes to over 80,000 people throughout the South West from Gloucestershire to the Isles of Scilly. We have plans to build over 6,000 homes in the area over the next five years, developing new homes of all tenures including low-cost rent and sale, market rent and sale, and a range of supported housing and intermediate housing products, creating choice and flexibility.
As well as developing new homes, we continue to invest in existing properties and communities. Through the stability of good housing, we place better living for better lives at the centre of our mission both today and for generations to come. At LiveWest we believe in a home for everyone.
As an Inclusive Employer, we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all colleagues. For further information about our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy, please visit our website.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme