What experience do I need to become a Support Worker?

We’re lucky to have a wide variety of people from the care sector, nursing, teaching, the military, the police and the fire service. You may come from a completely different sector but have a lived experienced yourself, either directly or for someone in your care.

What personal qualities do I need to have?

Kindness. Also patience, understanding, empathy, an ability to instill hope and positivity in others. The list is long but above all, you must be kind.

What if I’m new to this line of work?

Some who join us are new to it, but don’t worry, as we provide an initial 2 week induction and training period, courses during the year and refresher training too. Plus if your ambition to step into a leadership role and run a setting, or several settings, level 3 and 5 diplomas are available for you too. In addition to what you can learn, you’ll have supportive leaders who will help you develop.

Where will I work?

Our support workers could work anywhere in the UK, so you’ll need to expect to travel and also stay away from home, unless of course a setting happens to be close to home.

Who else will be in the team?

Team size will vary based on the individual and personal needs of the young person in our care. It’s usual that you’ll be part of a team of 4, 6, or 8 people reporting to a team leader and supported by our regional leaders. You’ll also have the support of our compliance, administration, HR and training teams; we work as a team.

What hours could I work?

At PCG, the complex care we provide is based up on a kind and focussed person-centred approach which is tailored to each young person as an individual. To ensure consistency, our shift patterns revolve around rolling 4 shifts on and 4 shifts off.

These include a combination of 12-hour day, 12-hour waking nights, and days-into-sleeping night shifts. The days-into-sleeping nights is the only shift awarded an enhanced shift allowance.

Rotas are designed to meet the needs of the individual, so we all apply a flexible approach to ensure we can provide the very best care possible.

Can I develop my career?

Absolutely. We’re developing our services right across the UK and our aim is to hire our field based leaders via promotion. In order to help you get there, we offer level 3 and 5 diplomas to those who show leadership qualities.

What do people do at your head office?

The main purpose of our head office is support our field based teams to ensure they have everything they need but also to grow the business in a sustainable and safe way. Our team is made up of finance experts, HR, recruitment, compliance, administration and more.

What if I have leadership and management experience but want to be field based?

You may well be Level 3 or Level 5 qualified, Ofsted registered or a manager within the care sector and you’d like to run one of our teams. We’re growing very quickly and although we like to promote from within, we’re always interested in hearing from people with lots of experience too.

I have already done some relevant training; can I transfer these over to PCG?

Our L&D team will review any certificates of training to determine if they will be applicable to transfer. If the course is covering the same criteria and it is in date, we may be able to accept this.

What possible behaviours and scenarios could I experience with the young people?

We can’t prepare you for every possible situation you may face. Our young people come from incredibly complex and traumatic backgrounds, and this can often manifest as extremely challenging behavior. It is essential that you are comfortable with the unknown. These behaviors can include, but are not limited to, severe aggression towards staff or property, extreme self-harm, sexualized behaviors in public and at home, criminalization, absconding, threats and targeting of staff. As a support worker, you are there to support the YP through these challenges using all the positive behavior support training you will receive. In severe cases, you will need to be comfortable using safe restraint techniques.

How many restraints could I be involved in?

Every YP is different and presents different challenges so there is no set in stone answer to this. As an example, one package has reduced from 35 physical interventions in a month to 2 physical interventions 4 months later. This reduction is possible due to the unwavering commitment from our Support Workers and our Restrain Reduction lead, working together to promote a positive response to challenging behaviour.

What other things might I be asked to do as a Support Worker?

Whilst a lot of your time will involve coaching and mentoring our young people, there will be times when you may be supporting with things in the home such as cleaning, cooking and other household tasks that may be needed whilst the young person is having some down time.

How do I apply?

Keep an eye our vacancies page and apply when you’re ready. Alternatively you can reach out to the recruitment team directly via the get in touch page. We look forward to hearing from you.