Why choose First for Support?

A care worker, also described as a support worker, is someone who is going into the setting of the clients that we work with, whether that’s their own home or a residential home. You are there to give the person you are working with a little extra support with their day to day activities. We specialise in children’s support services, so you are likely to be working with children and young adults.

Because different clients have different needs, the placement and setting you’re going into will define the kind of role you’ll be needed to do. For example, if you are working in a residential children’s home, your priority most of the time will probably be keeping the child active, busy and stimulated. If you are supporting young adults, your role is likely to be more about encouraging their independence, which could be teaching them and helping them to do household tasks like cooking and cleaning, and managing shopping tasks including how to use money.

There are a lot of different areas of care that you can go into, working with all ages from the very young to the very old, and working with people who have a huge range of different needs. There is also a variety of different settings you can work in, for example residential homes or supported living homes. As, at First for Support, we are predominantly working with children’s services you could be providing a number of different services within that sector.

Our First for Support Recruitment Consultants have been care workers themselves, so they can honestly say, hand on heart, how rewarding they found this work. Being trusted to have an important and personal role in that person’s life, caring for them and making sure they are happy and comfortable, feels so special. You know that you’re really making a difference to someone's day and you’re helping them with things that we might take for granted. You get to see a different side of people living totally different lives, and it can be really humbling and inspiring.

Apart from how good the role can make you feel, as you’re changing people’s lives, a huge benefit of being an agency support worker is the flexibility it gives you, to earn money around the other demands on your time. We understand that you will be juggling other commitments alongside working for us, and we’re really supportive of that. We don’t demand that you sign up to fixed shifts. If you are a student, you can pick up shifts when you’re not at lectures, or when you’re head down working on an essay. Equally, if you’re a parent and you need to fit your care worker shifts around your childcare needs, we will work around you.

Being a support worker can sometimes bring challenges. The young people you are supporting can have learning difficulties or autism, which can mean that they have challenging behaviours at times. We are here to support you and make sure that you feel comfortable and equipped to deal with any situation. We have training modules that you can work through, to give you that confidence and to make sure you have an understanding of how to communicate with your client.

The most important skill you need, to be an excellent care worker, is to be a caring person. That in itself is such a key skill and will come across in everything that you do. It will help you build rapport with your clients and they will instinctively feel reassured and settled by your presence, when you are a naturally caring person. You need to be patient, and have good communication skills. You also need to be organised, as part of the role will be to document your day - writing down, recording and reporting everything that happens with the young person you are supporting.

No, you don't need any qualifications, you just need to complete your mandatory training in areas like Health and Safety, First Aid, and safeguarding children, which we can arrange for you and support you through. Then, you’ll need to do refresher training every couple of years, to keep your skills and knowledge up to date.

As an agency, we provide support worker roles on a shift basis. However, if you are registered with us, we can help you to look for a permanent position with one of our clients if that is what you would like. Then, when you have a permanent role, you can progress your career – taking specialist qualifications and moving up to a Senior Support Worker role if you choose to.

The minimum rate of pay, working with us at First for Support, is £10.50 per hour plus your holiday pay. The pay rate if often higher than that, depending on the type of placement you are working in. If you are working night shifts or weekends that could mean a higher rate of hourly pay, too.

Whatever hours suit you! As support work is shift work, you can pick up shifts as and when you are available. We don’t order you to work a certain amount of hours per week. So, whatever your availability allows you to work, you are welcome to take as many or as few shifts that work for you and your lifestyle. It might be that one week you have a lot of availability and want to work a lot, another week might be totally different and you have hardly any time free at all. That’s all absolutely fine with us.

We can help you by registering you with our agency so that we can find you regular work in placements that you want to be in. We can work with you to make sure you are getting the right shift times and days that suit you. We can also help you to build up a strong CV if you are looking to get a permanent role. And, basically, because we care about our family of support workers, we are always to help you in whatever way we can. You are always welcome to call us or email us at any time. We are here for you!

We would love to find the perfect placement for you. We mainly cover Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth, and we have some placements in the New Forest, Salisbury and Dorchester areas as well. You are welcome to email us at info@firstforsupport.co.uk or call our office on 02382 515806. Or, you can get in touch with us via this brief form on our website which will send us a message with your contact details.