Female On-Call Worker

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Job Title: On Call Worker

Location: Northampton

Responsible to: Operations Manager

Main purpose of the post: eve provides a service for victims of Domestic Abuse. The On- Call Team will provide out of hours cover for the following areas:

  • Resident issues
  • Refuge maintenance issues
  • Admission to refuge
  • Advise and Signpost those seeking refuge
  • Answer calls from professionals (the latter are usually between 4 and 6 pm).

The On-Call Team support vulnerable women and children who are fleeing domestic abuse to access safe, supportive services providing best practice needs-led support, sound information, advice and guidance that adheres to comprehensive policies and procedures. Women and children fleeing domestic abuse often have a wide range of complex additional support needs, which may include mental health issues, drug, and alcohol issues etc

eve has a growth mind set and believes that with appropriate support to recover and rehabilitate from the trauma of domestic abuse service users can develop confidence, self-esteem and resilience and can live lives that they choose for themselves and their families.

Responsible for: Covering out of hours phone calls to the 24-hour number on a mobile phone including receiving and responding to resident calls from the refuge houses and calls from professionals. This post includes attendance visits to the refuge when necessary.

Working arrangements: The worker will be part of a designated team, each working seven days. This can be covered flexibly in agreement with other workers within the team. A minimum total of shifts per year will be calculated once the number of workers within the team is known *example 6 workers = a minimum of 8 shifts per year. Cover is from 5pm – 9am Monday – Friday and 4.30pm Friday – 9am Monday. This includes Bank Holidays that fall within the week of on call duties, including daytime cover for Bank Holidays that fall on weekdays.

Cover does not necessarily need to be from the post holder’s home – the calls are diverted to a mobile number – the post holder must respond appropriately to all calls, also being able to attend the refuge within 20 minutes.

Calls may be received at any time of the day or night, and the worker must be available to deal with these, and to attend the refuge in Northampton when necessary.

QUALITIES AND SKILLS REQUIRED

Essential

  1. Excellent telephone manner and communication skills
  2. Experience of working with adults with a range of needs i.e. mental health, drug/alcohol dependency etc.
  3. Ability to respond empathically to vulnerable women via the telephone and in person
  4. Ability to make risk assessments and make appropriate mitigations to reduce risks to self and others
  5. Ability to take clear and relevant notes with a good understanding of confidentiality
  6. Ability to use IT software packages effectively, particularly Microsoft Office.
  7. Availability, flexibility, and ability to work alone without supervision
  8. Able to drive and have use of car
Desirable
  1. Understanding of domestic abuse
  2. Experience of work within the community
SPECIFIC DUTIES
  1. To provide support, information and crisis management to individuals living in eve managed accommodation.
  2. To offer telephone support and information out of hours. To communicate on highly sensitive subject matter.
  3. To liaise and work with professionals from other agencies
  4. Liaise with eve daytime staff at the beginning and end of each day/shift to provide service user briefings and updates following out of hours phone contacts and call outs.
  5. Assess needs of the client and where appropriate liaise with other agencies currently involved
  6. Keep and maintain records as appropriate and provide written reports where required.
  7. Attend refuge in response to resident calls – including resident crises, fire, and alarm re- setting, and attending to emergency maintenance issues.
  8. Submit time sheets and other information in accordance with eve policies and procedures.
  9. To attend regular staff meetings and act upon decisions agreed.
On call duties – details
  1. Be available via a mobile phone to which all calls to our on-call number are diverted.
  2. Answer and respond appropriately to calls from professionals, usually received between the hours of 4pm and 6pm.
  3. Answer and respond appropriately to emergency calls from eve managed properties (fire, utility problems, resident emergencies etc.) and visit the refuge to deal with these issues as appropriate. This may involve re-setting fire alarms, dealing with resident crises or accessing contractors for emergency maintenance issues.
  4. Answer and respond appropriately to calls from agencies (including Police and statutory agencies) wishing to find refuge places for those fleeing domestic abuse.
  5. Answer and respond appropriately to calls from victims of domestic abuse wishing to find a place of refuge.
  6. Undertake risk assessment procedures to ensure the safeguarding of staff, service users and other professionals at all times.
  7. Make appropriate use of on call support team for back up when required; full training will be given.
  8. On Call workers are usually only required to attend the refuge or other eve premises when dealing with resident emergencies, house emergencies, admission to refuge, attending supervision/ staff meetings or training.
Working with Service Users
  1. Build supportive, empowering relationships with women and children who have been victims of domestic violence and abuse, adhering to eve’s values, Professional Code of Conduct and working with the needs presented.
  2. Liaise with other staff and volunteers, statutory bodies and voluntary agencies as appropriate, having due regard to confidentiality and Information Sharing Protocols
Policies and Procedures
  1. Support the development and review of policies and procedures to enable On-Call team by creating clear expectations and providing pathways for two-way communication, discipline and a safe, positive environment
  2. Support Operations Manager to safeguard children and vulnerable adults and Risk Assessment and Management to ensure an excellent level of response to safeguarding and other safety risks and needs.
Administration
  • Comply with data protection legislation, confidentiality and information sharing policy and procedures and all legislation connected to the work
  • Keep and maintain records both electronic and paper based as appropriate and provide written reports where required
Miscellaneous
  • Assist in the daily running and security of the Out of Hours service
  • Attend and contribute regularly to team development days, staff meetings, supervision, and other team events
  • Cover staff holidays and sickness where required
  • Undertake further training as required
  • Any other duties as may be required by Trustees or managers from time to time.

TRAINING – please read carefully as this is important!

Prior to commencement of duties reflected in this job description, a comprehensive training programme will be delivered.

The post holder must attend all training sessions, which will usually be delivered over three sessions per week for up to 7 weeks, lasting up to 3 hours per session. Whilst these are usually delivered within the hours of the on-call post (i.e. after 4pm) if the post holder is available and willing, some training may take place during the normal working day.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

On Call Worker

Hours              On average seven days (Mon – Sun inc = a shift) per *every 6 weeks covering the out of hours service which operates Monday – Thursday from 5pm to 9am the next day, and at weekends from Friday 4.30pm through to Monday 9am. A minimum of 8 shifts per year (using the *example in section Working arrangements)

Payment         £2,684.00 per annum for one week in 4, plus travel expenses. Payment will be made monthly. This payment includes 100 worked hours @ £9.00 per hour. Additional payments at the normal hourly rate of £9.00 will be paid for hours worked over and above 100.  Training hours are paid at £10.00 per hour.

In Addition     An additional £26.50 is paid for hours worked on a bank holiday outside of 9am – 5pm

  • An additional £38 is paid for a bank holiday shift (9am – 5pm)
  • Any additional shifts covered (excluding swaps, holiday/sickness cover) from Monday – Friday inclusive will be paid at £26.50 per shift
  • Any additional Saturday or Sunday shift covered (excluding swaps, holiday/sickness cover) will be paid at £38 per day.

Holidays:        On Call staff are entitled to paid holidays of 5.6 weeks pro rata per year.

Holiday pay is based upon the *average number of hours pay received over the previous 12 weeks (in which On Call Workers were paid).

*To calculate your average hourly rate, only the hours worked and how much was paid for them should be counted. Take the average rate over the last 12 weeks. If no pay was paid in any week, count back a further week, so that the rate is based on 12 weeks in which pay was paid.

A working rota will be drawn up six monthly. Staff are required to negotiate with their line manager and others on the team if working times clash with planned holiday. Bank Holidays will be covered between the on-call team.

Sickness:       The On-Call team are expected to cover for each other in the event of sickness. All sickness is monitored.

On Call workers are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) providing all NVCFR policies and procedures and statutory guidelines are adhered to.

DBS:               An enhanced check through the Disclosure and Barring Service will be required.

Notice period: 4 weeks on either side

Probationary period: 6 months

Smoking:        Nene Valley Christian Family Refuge operates a no-smoking policy for all staff.

Work permit/NI number: Before appointment applicants will need to demonstrate to Nene Valley Christian Family Refuge that they are legally entitled to work in the UK.