DISABILITY COALITION TOWER HAMLETS Real Independent Living Support

Transcription

1 DISABILITY COALITION TOWER HAMLETS Real Independent Living Support Job Description Independent Living Support Worker Salary: 29,070 (full-time equivalent) Reports to: Service Delivery Manager Hours: Part-time/Full time Place of Work: Jack Dash House, 2 Lawn House Close, London E14 9YQ JOB PURPOSE To help disabled people within Tower Hamlets access independent living by supporting them to use personal budgets and/or direct payments. This will be through a holistic and person-centred approach that ensures that the disabled people are empowered and enabled to exercise choice and control over how they get and manage their own support to live independently within the community. To support users with other practical arrangements for managing their ongoing support, working collaboratively with Monitoring Officers when needed. To conduct all activities with a view to maximising an individual s independence, whilst always providing support that is tailored and appropriate to their circumstances. To work with all communities within Tower Hamlets. DUTIES 1. Providing a one to one support planning service to people with an indicative personal budget. This may happen within the office, or at other locations around Tower Hamlets (and possibly neighbouring boroughs), including in people's own homes. 2. Supporting individuals to undertake research, identify and evaluate their options, find and negotiate resources and costs,

2 and supporting them to think creatively, - at all times providing the correct level of support based on the person s needs. 3. Supporting individuals to create a support plan that is fully and accurately costed, taking into consideration the indicative budget, and that provides the information that the council requires to sign off a support plan. 4. Participating in support planning workshops that bring together groups of people, and and their supporters, who are creating their support plans. 5. Supporting people to implement their plans after approval. This would typically involve bank account acquisition, arranging insurance, PA recruitment support, training in monitoring, etc, and support to implement all activities and support options specified in a support plan. 6. Where the individual wants or needs it, working with family members or other nominated representatives so they can support the individual with planning and managing their care and support needs. 7. Participating in delivery of one-to-one and group training for individuals, including around how to be a good and effective employer. 8. Providing ongoing support, for people with either a Direct Payment or a Personal Budget. This will include, but is not limited to, monitoring, re-employment, and staff management. 9. Participating in the PA issues resolution service (support with conflict resolution, managing changing circumstances, etc). 10. Providing, in conjunction with colleagues, a telephone helpline providing first level advice and information to the public and professionals. 11. Helping the Service Delivery Manager in supporting, developing and promoting the Independent Living Service., e.g. partnership working with social work teams.

3 12. Providing internal management reports and monitoring information as required. 13. Attending team meetings and contributing ideas, suggestions and support to continuously seek more effective ways of working. 14. Contribute to the management and usage of databases and other systems. 15. Working within all DCTH policies. 16. Attending meetings in various locations throughout the borough and occasionally working in the evening and at weekends. 17. Working collaboratively with monitoring officers to: a. support them to identify caseload priorities. b. inform them of client issues prior to their client visits. c. agree appropriate steps for resolving any recount three matters that arise, whether relating to monitoring or other support issues. 18. Signposting and supporting individuals to access other support and advice services, whether provided by Real or external agencies. 19. Supporting and coaching others (including volunteers), as appropriate. 20. Carrying out any other reasonable duties commensurate with the post, as directed.

4 DISABILITY COALITION TOWER HAMLETS Real Independent Living Support Person Specification Independent Living Support Worker Knowledge & Experience Essential Criteria: 1. Experience of working with disabled people, preferably working with direct payments/personal budgets. 2. A thorough knowledge of relevant legislation, including direct payments, community care and data protection. 3. Knowledge and understanding of independent living and the barriers to achieving it. 4. Experience of providing information and advice. 5. An understanding of the value of user-led organisations of disabled people Desirable Criteria: 6. An understanding of basic employment law and the responsibilities of employing someone. 7. Experience of holistic support planning. 8. Experience of working in a multi-cultural inner city area, preferably in Tower Hamlets. 9. Experience of working in the voluntary or community sector. 10. Knowledge of local authority and health sectors.

5 Skills & Abilities Essential Criteria: 1. Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to effectively communicate with users, colleagues and outside agencies. 2. Good levels of numeracy. 3. A commitment to and understanding of the social model of disability. 4. A thorough understanding of the issues affecting disabled people. 5. The ability to have empathy with personal assistant user s needs and ability to work with people with differing needs. 6. The ability to support individuals to explore flexible, creative solutions to problems. 7. The ability to work collaboratively within a team, including sharing responsibility and learning. 8. The ability to recognise and value the benefits of a diverse team of staff and volunteers. 9. The ability to see things from other people's perspective, and work in a way that empowers people. 10. Ability to work with all communities in Tower Hamlets. 11. The ability to travel to different places around Tower Hamlets in order to attend meetings, often in people's own homes. 12. Ability to work in partnership with service users, other professionals and organisations.

6 13. The ability to deal with situations of conflict. 14. The ability to maintain accurate records for monitoring and management purposes. 15. A sound awareness of issues and procedures around client confidentiality. 16. Time management skills and ability to effectively plan and prioritise work. 17. The ability to be responsible for one's own administration, including filing and other office processes. 18. Be computer literate, and able to use Microsoft Word, Access, Excel. 19. A commitment to equal opportunities. Desirable Criteria: 20. The ability to speak a language, other than English, commonly spoken in Tower Hamlets, e.g. Bengali/Sylhetti, Somali, etc.