PLAY WORKER

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 Lancashire and Blackpool area, 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

Working Pattern: 18 hours a week contract (Two evenings and one weekend day every week)

Additional hours will be available during Afterschool sessions and 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 Naomi Burgess Naomi.burgess@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.

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

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. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

• Reference number:23357
• Job Title:PLAY WORKER
• Location:Blackpool
• Locality:Lancashire
• Contract type:Permanent
• Hours:18
• Salary:£25,878 FTE (£12,589 Pro Rata)
• Closing Date:22 September 2026