Play worker (SEND) (Blackpool)
| Posting date: | 11 December 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £24,242 to £25,942 per year |
| Additional salary information: | £24,242 - £25,942 FTE (£4,586 - £4,908 pro rata) |
| Hours: | Part time |
| Closing date: | 18 December 2025 |
| Location: | Lancashire, North West England |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | Barnardo's |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 22188 |
Summary
Are you looking for a new challenge? Do you enjoy working with children & young people and positively impacting their lives? We have an exciting opportunity for a number of Play Workers to join our friendly, passionate and dedicated team at our Include Me 2 Service based in Central Lancashire, on a part time, permanent basis.
About the Service:
Our Include Me 2 Service is a short breaks service facilitating group sessions for children & young people aged 4 – 18 with a wide range of Special Educational Needs/disabilities offering them opportunities to get involved in play and leisure activities such as arts & crafts, cooking and trips out in the community whilst offering valuable respite to their families. We are a fun-loving team looking for an enthusiastic, happy and kind individual to join us as our Play Worker!
Locations:
Blackpool, there may also be some occasions where we need you to support in our groups in the Lancashire area.
Working Pattern: 7 hours a week contract (one weekend day every week)
Additional hours will be available during school holidays.
Essential Requirements to evidence in your written application:
Experience of working with children & young people (gained either in employment or volunteer capacity)
Ability to work well as part of a team
Ability to communicate effectively with children & young people
Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding and the commitment to adhere to Barnardo's safeguarding & child protection policies/procedures.
Awareness of various factors impacting the families we work with such as poverty
Most importantly, you will need to enjoy the challenges and rewards of working with children & young people!
Some of the main responsibilities include but are not limited to:
To contribute to the planning of sessions and activities.
Delivering and recording group sessions.
Facilitating activities and days out.
To ensure the sessions run smoothly and our safeguarding policies and procedures are adhered to at all times.
To provide a safe, fun and inclusive environment for all our service users.
For more information about the role, please contact Emma Coupe emma.coupe@barnardos.org.uk
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.
Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 7
Salary: £24,242 - £25,942 FTE (£4,586 - £4,908 pro rata)
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
Pay & Reward Framework
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.
About the Service:
Our Include Me 2 Service is a short breaks service facilitating group sessions for children & young people aged 4 – 18 with a wide range of Special Educational Needs/disabilities offering them opportunities to get involved in play and leisure activities such as arts & crafts, cooking and trips out in the community whilst offering valuable respite to their families. We are a fun-loving team looking for an enthusiastic, happy and kind individual to join us as our Play Worker!
Locations:
Blackpool, there may also be some occasions where we need you to support in our groups in the Lancashire area.
Working Pattern: 7 hours a week contract (one weekend day every week)
Additional hours will be available during school holidays.
Essential Requirements to evidence in your written application:
Experience of working with children & young people (gained either in employment or volunteer capacity)
Ability to work well as part of a team
Ability to communicate effectively with children & young people
Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding and the commitment to adhere to Barnardo's safeguarding & child protection policies/procedures.
Awareness of various factors impacting the families we work with such as poverty
Most importantly, you will need to enjoy the challenges and rewards of working with children & young people!
Some of the main responsibilities include but are not limited to:
To contribute to the planning of sessions and activities.
Delivering and recording group sessions.
Facilitating activities and days out.
To ensure the sessions run smoothly and our safeguarding policies and procedures are adhered to at all times.
To provide a safe, fun and inclusive environment for all our service users.
For more information about the role, please contact Emma Coupe emma.coupe@barnardos.org.uk
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.
Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 7
Salary: £24,242 - £25,942 FTE (£4,586 - £4,908 pro rata)
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
Pay & Reward Framework
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.
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.