Residential Worker

Residential Worker

Permanent, Full Time

£25,395 to £32,131 per annum

Location: Harlow

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Closing Date: 22nd January 2026

To read more about our business area, please visit:

Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

The Opportunity

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity and compassion; promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse.  Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future. 

The Residential Worker will effectively contribute to care planning and working with children and families directly to ensure the delivery of good quality care. 

Experienced in supporting children and young people within a children’s residential environment, the role will demonstrate collaborative working with children and young people to establish a positive working relationship which provides support. 

Accountabilities

• Responsible for directly supporting children and young people within a residential home, to ensure all regulatory requirements and codes of practice are met.
• Supporting the planning process for children and young people, contributing to the assessment of individual needs and developing placement plans, to ensure clarity on how these needs will be met, implemented and monitored on a regular basis.
• Facilitate constructive contact with children and young people’s families to ensure that the young people receive care to support them in preparing for adulthood.
• Supporting young people to ensure they are encouraged and supported to make decisions about their lives. 
• Work collaboratively with the management team to ensure that the young people live in a healthy environment in order to be more independent.
• Contribute to ensuring young people are able to access education and pursue their particular interests to further develop their ability to be independent and preparation for adulthood. 
• Contribute to the operational effectiveness of Residential Home ensuring the care of young people is regularly monitored and on occasion and includes leading shifts, on occasion.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to NVQ level 3 Caring for Children and Young people or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and knowledge in relevant professional area. 
• Evidence of experience of working with young people in a paid or voluntary capacity; or paid work in residential care with other service users.
• Understands and demonstrates the ability to promote people’s equality, diversity and rights alongside experience of being able to protect children from abuse.
• Experience of using relevant technology in which to store, access and retrieve key client information.
• Experience of contributing to the development, provision and review of Placement, and other care management plans, with evidence of the ability to encourage young people to develop and maintain a positive sense of identity

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR) on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency.  Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service.  The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate.  This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.  For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email jamielea.wallis@Essex.gov.uk

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