Senior Support Worker

Job Title: Senior Support Worker

Job Location: Bridgwater

Salary: £31,200.00 based on 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, plus potential sleep in allowance

Contract Type: Permanent

Every child deserves the chance to explore the magic of Wookey Hole, wander through the Cheddar Caves, or grab something delicious from Wells Market. Our home is perfectly placed for all of these adventures and at Phoenix Learning and Care, we make sure the children in our care get to experience as many of life’s joys as possible. To keep doing that, we’re looking for someone special to join our Team.

Our children have social and emotional needs related to Autism, ADHD, and experiences of trauma. They need steady, compassionate adults who can help them feel safe enough to flourish and grow. Someone who understands that the tough days are just as important as the good ones and that with the right support, every child can flourish. When you’re part of their world, you’ll see the difference your presence makes, day by day.

You’ll be joining a small, nurturing two‑bedroom home where positive relationships truly matter. With a 24‑hour support model, your full-time hours are worked across just 2–3 days a week, giving you the space to bring your best self to the role.

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Children's Support Worker who can confidently lead shifts and be a strong, reliable support to our Registered Manager. You’ll play a key role in the smooth running of the home, supporting with:

• Leading and guiding the team during shifts

• Recruitment and onboarding of new staff

• Supervisions and reflective practice

• Meetings with external professionals, including therapists and social workers

• Preparing for and contributing to inspections

If you’re passionate about therapeutic care, confident in your practice, and ready to help shape a home where children feel truly seen and supported, we’d love to hear from you.

A day in the life of a Senior Support Worker will involve:         

• Assisting the manager with recruitment, supervision, meetings, and inspections.
• Supporting children to have the best quality of life possible. Whether it be through baking at home, fun days out, or holidays with them. You could be doing anything from making sure the children have a healthy diet to taking them to Monkey World!
• Ensuring our children are kept safe and their plans are suitable for their needs. We’ll need you to help monitor their development by keeping our systems and records up to date. Don’t worry though, you’ll get all the training you need.
• Taking part in our on-call rota, averaging 1 on-call per week. You’ll get an additional allowance for this!

To be a successful Senior Support Worker, you’ll need:

• Patience, compassion, and resilience – The children you’ll support may have experienced trauma, which may have an impact on their behaviour.
• Great communication skills – Both verbal and written communication is important in this role as you’ll be speaking to a lot of different people at different times and need to be able to update the children’s plans.
• A driving licence – Our children love to be out in the community. We need you to be able to drive them to where they need to go. We have the cars, you just need the licence.
• To be flexible – You’ll need to be able to sleep at the home during your shifts. The children need support 24 hours a day. This does mean you’ll be able to work your full week in 2-3 days.
• Ideally, you’ll hold a qualification in residential childcare. If you don’t it’s key that you have this within your first 2 years of working in the sector. We will pay for and support this if you don’t already hold it.

In return for your time, you’ll get:

• Holidays – You’ll get 33 days annual leave. You’ll still need to work on bank holidays if the rota requires.
• Pension scheme– Our pension scheme is based on you paying in 5%, and us adding 3%.
• Learning & Development Opportunities – We provide comprehensive learning opportunities for team members to develop themselves.
• Discounts – You’ll have access to brilliant discounts through the Blue Light Card and our own employee benefits platform.
• Wellbeing Support – Your wellbeing is always our priority. You’ll have access to mental health and wellbeing support. On top of this, our therapies team offers a six weekly confidential check in clinic, and group reflective practice sessions.
• Cycle2Work -The cycle to work scheme enables you to buy a bicycle at a discounted rate.
• DBS – As this role required you to have an enhanced DBS carried out, we will cover this cost.
• Sleep-in Allowance - You have the potential to earn up to an additional £6,183 per year, based on completing 10 sleep-in shifts per month - but these are not guaranteed. 
• After 12 months service - You’ll also be eligible for our Medicash scheme which covers a wide range of medical, health and wellbeing expenses (Including immediate access to a GP!). You’ll get life assurance paid at x2 your annual salary, and even more high street discounts.

In line with safer recruitment guidelines, we will run an online check on the successful candidate. This can and may include any public social media profiles.

At Phoenix Learning and Care, we pride ourselves on our diverse workforce, and ensuring we have an inclusive environment for all our team members. We remain committed to ensuring our teams can bring their true selves to work without risk or fear of discrimination.