Youth Support Worker

Are you looking for a new opportunity?

Are you passionate about working with children and young people?

Are you enthusiastic about developing excellent and inclusive services with young people to enhance their, wellbeing, happiness and opportunities?

If so, we want you to join our team!

The Co-op Partnership is an innovative project where you will be working alongside young people and empowering them to continually develop their co-designed service, Magic Minds.

The service facilitates regular spaces and opportunities where young people can come together to:

• Learn to cook
• Play sports and games
• Try new outdoor activities
• Undertake digital creation activities
• Plan and prepare regular events and activities (such as silent discos on the beach, bbq's)
• Take part in confidence building activities

If you are:

• Confident and creative in engaging and working alongside young people aged between 10-25 years.
• Skilled in designing and delivering groupwork sessions for young people.
• Able to provide emotional and practical support to young people, in line with safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Able to work evenings and weekends to meet the needs of young people.
• Able to work in partnership with Co-op, Children's Services and the community, whilst keeping young people at the centre

Then please apply for the youth support worker role!

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Although this contract has a permanent status, please be aware that this post is subject to funding currently to 31 March 2026 and therefore should this funding not be extended further, you may be subject to a redundancy consultation or a TUPE arrangement. This contract is due to expire on 31 March 2026.

Please note that whilst the role is advertised as funding ending on 31/03/26, there is the potential for extension into 2027.

For an information chat about the role, please call or text Jess Hanson, Children's Service Manager, on 07729300857 or email Jessica.hanson@barnardos.org.uk. In Jess' absence, please contact coopservices@barnardos.org.uk 

Please note that shortlisting of candidates will take place on 12/05/25. Therefore if shortlisted, you will receive your invite to the young person's panel on this date. The panel is taking place on Friday 16th May in the afternoon/evening. 

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.  

Our basis and values