West Yorkshire Neurodevelopmental Early Support Worker

28,124 per year

Leeds

Full-time

29th April 2026

Listed today

The West Yorkshire Neurodevelopmental Early Support Service is recruiting to a full time Project Worker role. The role is full time, working Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm.

The West Yorkshire Neurodevelopmental Early Support Service provides early, preventative and non-clinical support to families of children and young people aged up to 18 who are awaiting neurodevelopmental assessment or who have received a new diagnosis (6 months), including Autism and ADHD pathways.

Operating across Bradford, Calderdale, Leeds, Kirklees and Wakefield, the service responds to prolonged diagnostic waiting times and post-diagnostic adjustment needs that increase the risk of family distress, escalation of need and pressure on specialist and statutory services.

The service delivers a consistent single point of access across West Yorkshire, offering structured triage and a graduated model of support aligned with Early Help principles, the SEND Code of Practice and NHS Waiting Well priorities.

The service focuses on strengthening parental confidence, reducing stress and anxiety, and supporting children and young people to remain engaged in education, community life and universal services while awaiting assessment or adjusting to a new diagnosis. Through timely engagement, practical guidance and clear system navigation, the service aims to prevent escalation to higher-cost statutory or clinical interventions.

The West Yorkshire Neurodevelopmental Early Support Service delivers measurable improvements for families awaiting neurodevelopmental assessment or adjusting to a new diagnosis, while contributing to system-wide demand management.

Our outcomes include:

improved parental confidence and understanding of neurodevelopmental needs.
reduced family stress and anxiety.
improved emotional regulation and wellbeing for children and young people.
sustained engagement with education and community provision; and
reduced escalation to specialist, statutory and crisis services.

In your role as Neurodevelopmental Early Support Worker, you will be:

Aspirational for every child, young person, young adult and their families
Passionate to enable people to reach their potential and have the best life they want.
Deliver group work and one to one direct support to children, young people and parents and carers.
Approachable
Non-judgemental, respectful and person-centred
Compassionate and creative
Honest and transparent
A great facilitator
Treat parents/carers as equals
Providing peer support to parents and carers
Holding knowledge of local services and developing an offer for parents and carers to access local support available to them, this will include introducing them to services and being able to access their services.
Valuing lived experience, being an active listener when parents need support, offering unconditional positive regard and empathy.

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

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

Barnardo's require colleagues to be UK residents, based in the UK and to complete their roles from within the UK (with the exception of colleagues providing Barnardo's services in Jersey and colleagues who live in the Republic of Ireland providing services in Northern Ireland)

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
Service related sick pay from day 1
Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
Cycle2work scheme
Interest free season ticket loans
Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
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

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Reference number:22803
Job Title:West Yorkshire Neurodevelopmental Early Support Worker
Location:Leeds
Locality:Three Yorks
Contract type:Permanent (Fixed term funded post)
End date:31st March 2027
Hours:37
Salary:£28,124
Closing Date:29 April 2026
Interview Date:Friday 8th May 2026

Connect with a cause that needs you!

West Yorkshire Neurodevelopmental Early Support Worker

Benefits

Vacancy Alerts

Additional Info