Role: Senior Practitioner – Accommodate and Connect
Salary: £36,462 per annum
Contract: Fixed term until 01/03/2026
Hours: 37.5 per week
Location: East Sussex, working across Hastings, Lewes, Rother, Eastbourne and Wealden
Closing date: 20/01/2025
Interview date: 29/01/2025
Whatever your experience of street homelessness and its impact on people’s lives – personal or professional – when you join the Thames Reach team as the Senior Practitioner for Accommodate and Connect, we’ll make the best use of all your understanding, compassion and commitment.
About us…
Thames Reach runs projects and services that help to end homelessness in London and the South-East. We work directly with homeless people on the streets and in hostels. We work to prevent vulnerable people from becoming homeless. We help formerly homeless people get their lives back on track. We help people find work and access training and volunteering opportunities.
Is our mission easy? No, but we never give up on people. Last year we helped more then 12,000 people.
Is our work rewarding? Yes, in every sense. There’s no better place to develop or transfer your skills and build a fulfilling career.
About this role…
We are looking for a Senior Practitioner to deliver our exciting new Accommodate and Connect Case Working service.
Delivered in partnership with 5 local authorities in East Sussex and the Centre for Homelessness Impact, Accommodate and Connect focuses on tackling barriers verified rough sleepers face when presenting in area they do not have a local connection to.
Your role will be to work with rough sleepers who have been placed in emergency accommodation to enable them to successfully reconnect to support and accommodation in their home (or another safe) area.
As a new 12-month pilot service you will work with commissioners and senior managers to implement the service – building relationships, ensuring processes are effective and identifying and resolving barriers to achieving good outcomes for people using the service.
We will not accept applications where Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used to assist with completing the competency questions.
You will:
.Work with outreach and housing teams to identify and engage suitable clients to develop and complete reconnection plans.
.Identify and address immediate support needs – building the necessary partnerships with other agencies.
.Identify and access accommodation providers across and outside of the UK.
.Represent the service and organisation at external forums.
.Maintain accurate, comprehensive records in line with Thames Reach and delivery partners requirements and those of the project.
.Work flexibly across and outside of the region in the line with the needs of the service and its clients
To succeed you’ll have:
.Experience of working assertively with people who have slept rough to address their support needs and access suitable accommodation
.Great communication, advocacy and negotiation skills
.Excellent organisational skills including a proven ability to effectively prioritise competing tasks
.A commitment to achieving positive outcomes for the duration of the service and participating in an open evaluation of the service and its outcomes.
.The ability to influence providers, reassuring them of risk mitigation when required.
.The skills to be a proficient user of Microsoft Office
We are listed in the top 100 UK Best Workplaces 2023 in the UK. As part of a commitment to our employees we offer:
.Generous holiday allowance – 29 days per year plus 8 public holidays (pro rata).
.Pension – we contribute 6.5% to your pension when you contribute 1.5%.
.Excellent development opportunities – career progression, regular supervision and appraisals, and learning programmes to support your career with Thames Reach.
.Wellbeing support – our 24/7 employee assistance programme and opportunities for TOIL.
.Life assurance – four times your annual salary and critical illness cover.
.Other benefits including a blue light discount card, interest free season ticket and cycle to work loans.
Thames Reach is committed to achieving a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We value, respect, and celebrate diversity. We welcome and encourage applicants from all sections of the community regardless of their history of homelessness, sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, or religious belief.
To apply visit our website and complete our application form.
For further information please contact Isobel McKenna, Area Director at Isobel.mckenna@thamesreach.org.uk
Thames Reach is committed to safeguarding. Applicants must be willing to undergo pre-employment screening appropriate to the post, including, but not limited to checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service. Having a criminal record will not exclude you from applying but you will be asked to provide further details as most posts are considered exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .