Family Support Assistant
| Dyddiad hysbysebu: | 27 Rhagfyr 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cyflog: | £26,403 i £26,824 bob blwyddyn |
| Oriau: | Llawn Amser |
| Dyddiad cau: | 17 Ionawr 2026 |
| Lleoliad: | Shoreham-By-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6GA |
| Cwmni: | West Sussex County Council |
| Math o swydd: | Dros dro |
| Cyfeirnod swydd: | CAFHE06035_1766826022 |
Crynodeb
About Us
West Sussex County Council is a diverse organisation that provides services to more than 850,000 residents' every day. Through our Early Help Service, we will work with children, families, and young people to help ensure that every person is supported to achieve his or her potential. The foundations for mental health, emotional control, doing well in education and parenting ability are all set in place in the early years; the home surroundings, family life and parenting are all important factors in determining positive outcomes for children as they grow and develop.
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme helps meet commitments in 'The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days', published as government policy in March 2021. The programme's objective is to join up and enhance services delivered through transformed family hubs in local authority areas, ensuring all parents and carers can access the support they need when they need it. A Family Hub supports families from conception, through the child's early years and up to the age of 19 (or 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). Family Hubs can support all families, but it is particularly important that they are designed to be accessible to families experiencing social or economic disadvantage or those from minoritised groups who experience exclusion.
For more information about Children's Services, please visit our Education, Children and Families page and our WSCC Health and Social Care section of our website.
For more information about working for West Sussex County Council (WSCC), please visit our WSCC About Us page on our West Sussex County Council website.
The Opportunity
Salary: £26,403 to £26,824 per annum
Working Pattern: 37 hours per week
Contract Length: Fixed Term until 31st December 2026
Location: Adur (Shoreham) and Worthing area
Interviews: 28th January 2026
Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.
As a Family Support Assistant, you will be committed to enabling families to manage their problems and access support and advice quickly, equipping parents to be the best they can be for their child, by increasing knowledge, confidence, and resilience. You will undertake direct work with parents or young people to find out what they are worried about and what goals they want to work towards using a whole family approach. You will facilitate some direct group work with families on subjects such as Home Learning Environment, covering a range of subjects and based on identification of need within the family hubs or local community.
You may be the co-ordinator of Early Help Plans to assess each member of the family and agree outcomes that the family and professionals around them will work towards. You will use a strengths-based approach to support and sustain positive change that improves outcomes for children and young people.
You will help to provide a safe and welcoming space for young people through the Find It Out (FIO) offer. You'll be able to speak confidently with young people, understand their needs and be able to help them access appropriate support at a time that suits them, including after school hours.
You will be a team player with a passion for engaging with parents, providing direct support and encouraging families to access to our services. You will use your initiative to organise your workload and respond to unanticipated problems for families.
You must have experience of working with families along with a good understanding of the importance of parenting skills and community development, as well as the challenges of family life.
We are looking for someone who is NVQ level 3 qualified in Childcare, Play Work, Family Support, or equivalent related area.
Experience and Skills
Key Skills:
- Good communication and interpersonal skills across a range of audiences, with an ability to present information verbally and in writing which is clear, concise and accurate. Able to provide specialist advice and guidance whilst maintaining trust with families who may otherwise not want to engage with services they may distrust.
- Strong customer focus with the ability to work as a key contact and provide a professional service to meet customer's needs, both individually and in groups.
- Ability to respond sensitively and flexibly to diverse groups of providers and families whilst maintaining confidentiality.
- Ability to organise/prioritise work, co-ordinate a variety of tasks in a clear and logical way and meet agreed deadlines.
- Ability to work within recognised procedures, able to effectively organise own workload. Can use initiative to respond to unanticipated problems.
Qualifications and/or experience:
- NVQ level 3 in childcare, play work, family support or related area and/or relevant experience working with parents, carers and children.
- Good knowledge of child development.
- Good understanding of the importance of parenting skills and community development with an understanding of the challenges of family life.
- Knowledge of safeguarding procedures.
- Experience of working with families in a community setting.
- Experience of working within the early years, family support, family centre or child health sector
Rewards and Benefits
As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.
In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive:
For a full list of the benefits, you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
For an informal conversation, please contact Sarah Tiley at .