Family support worker

As a family support worker, you'll help families build resilience, reduce risks and improve stability within the home. You'll do this by providing hands-on support, coordinating with other professionals and helping to prevent problems from escalating or requiring more intensive statutory intervention.

You'll typically be employed by local authority children's services departments, schools, charitable organisations or health and social care agencies, working as part of a multi-agency team. Families are typically referred through early help or children's services pathways, and you may work alongside social workers and other professionals to assess and support them.

The families you work with may need support across a range of issues, including parenting, mental and physical health, disability, substance misuse, housing, finance, education and relationship breakdown. Your role will vary depending on the needs of the family you're helping, and you may specialise in a particular area depending on your employer's focus.

Job titles vary and you may also be known as a:

• early help family support worker
• family intervention officer
• family outreach support worker
• parenting support worker
• family support practitioner
• family time worker.

Responsibilities

As a family support worker, you'll typically need to:

• assess families' needs and develop support plans to address issues and prevent problems from escalating
• build supportive relationships with children, young people and parents through home and community visits
• deliver practical parenting support and help families develop skills in areas such as routines, behaviour management, play and home organisation
• support children's learning, development and engagement with education
• provide guidance on budgeting, household management and accessing local services
• provide practical and emotional support during periods of crisis
• work collaboratively with social workers, schools, health professionals and other agencies
• monitor progress, review plans and adapt support as required
• maintain accurate case records and share information appropriately in line with safeguarding policies and relevant legislation
• in some roles, contribute to written reports or attend court proceedings related to a family's case
• manage your own caseload, time and administrative responsibilities.

Salary

• Salaries for family support workers typically range from £24,000 to £30,000, depending on your experience and type of employer.
• Experienced family support workers and those with specialist skills can earn in the low-to-mid £30,000s, particularly in supervisory or senior case-management roles.
• Senior roles such as team leader, service manager or head of family support services can attract higher salaries, often above £35,000, depending on employer and responsibilities.

Contract work is usually paid at an hourly rate, ranging from £13 to £22 per hour, depending on your experience.

Salaries vary depending on your location, type and size of employer, experience, skills and level of responsibility.

Income figures are intended as a guide only.

Working hours

Full-time family support workers usually work around 37 hours per week. There are also part time, casual and job share options available.

You may need to work early mornings, evenings and weekends to accommodate families' needs and commitments, such as work and school hours.

What to expect

• Work is usually split between office-based tasks such as attending meetings, writing reports and updating case records, and visiting families in their homes or local community settings.
• You'll work as part of a multi-agency team alongside professionals from social care, education, health and voluntary services and, in some roles, prison and probation services, depending on the needs of the families you support.
• The role can be emotionally demanding, as you may deal with sensitive issues such as domestic abuse, neglect or bereavement, and not all families may be ready, or want, to engage with support. While the work can be challenging, it can also be rewarding when families make progress and achieve positive outcomes.
• Jobs are available throughout the UK, and you may work across a range of community-based environments, including family hubs, schools, children's centres and voluntary sector organisations.
• A driving licence and access to a car are useful, as the role typically involves home and community visits.

Qualifications

Although entry routes into family support worker roles are varied, you'll usually need a combination of relevant experience and qualifications.

Typically, employers seek a minimum of a level 3 qualification (or substantial relevant experience) in an area such as:

• childcare
• community work
• early years
• health and social care
• youth and community work.

You could also complete a relevant apprenticeship, such as the:

• Level 4 Early Intervention Practitioner higher apprenticeship
• Level 4 Children, Young People and Families Practitioner higher apprenticeship.

Apprenticeships combine paid work with part-time study, allowing you to train on the job. Search for opportunities at Find an apprenticeship.

Employers will also expect you to have experience of working with children and their families, as well as knowledge of safeguarding practices and procedures. Training in areas such as safeguarding and child protection can support your application.

While you don't have to be a graduate to become a family support worker, degree subjects such as childhood studies, education, health and social care, psychology or youth and community work can be helpful.

To work with children, young people and vulnerable groups, you will need to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (or the Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme in Scotland).

Skills

You will need to have:

• excellent communication and active listening skills
• sensitivity, empathy and a non-judgemental approach
• the ability to build and maintain rapport with adults, young people and children
• patience and calmness under pressure including when dealing with challenging behaviour
• flexibility and adaptability when responding to families' changing needs
• strong organisational, decision-making and problem-solving skills
• resilience and the ability to cope with emotionally demanding situations
• effective teamwork skills, as you'll often work within a multidisciplinary service or multi-agency network
• safeguarding awareness and the ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries
• IT skills for recording information and maintaining accurate case records
• knowledge of local services and the ability to signpost families to additional support.

You may also need relevant language skills depending on the communities you support.

Work experience

Employers typically expect you to have relevant experience working with children, young people and their families. This can be either in a paid or voluntary role. Although structured internships are less common, you can develop appropriate skills by working or volunteering in services that support children and families.

Experience of working with families who have complex needs or who have suffered hardship, trauma or mental ill health is particularly useful.

You could gain experience in settings such as:

• children's homes or residential care
• family hubs and children's centres
• domestic abuse or family refuge services
• mental health services
• nurseries and schools
• social care services
• youth projects.

Experience may be gained through roles such as family support assistant, support worker (children and families), residential care worker, learning mentor or youth support worker. These roles often involve providing practical help, emotional support and supervision, as well as supporting children and families to access appropriate services.

Experience in mentoring, coaching or support roles with children and adults in challenging situations is also helpful. You can get involved through your university's volunteering and community services, your local volunteer centre or national volunteering websites such as Do-it.

Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available.

Employers

Jobs are available in the public and not-for-profit sectors, particularly within local authority children's services, early help teams and family hubs, as well as specialist support organisations and charities.

Some family support workers are employed in schools or community-based services. A smaller number of roles are based within health and specialist settings, including child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), health visiting services, perinatal mental health teams and children's hospices.

Look for job vacancies at:

• Charity Job
• Children and Young People Now Jobs
• Community Care Jobs
• Jobs Go Public
• NHS Jobs

Opportunities are also advertised on individual local authority and charity websites, and by recruitment agencies such as Service Care Solutions and Seven Resourcing.

Professional development

It's important to undertake ongoing learning and development throughout your career to keep your skills and knowledge up to date. You'll usually take regular training relating to:

• policy, legal frameworks and procedures (including data protection and confidentiality)
• child protection and safeguarding
• assessment and early intervention approaches
• parenting programmes and family support strategies
• health and safety
• first aid
• equality, diversity and inclusion
• recognising the signs of substance misuse, domestic abuse and trauma.

Training may take the form of in-house or external sessions, conferences, workshops and seminars. You'll also receive regular supervision to support your professional development.

You can take qualifications relevant to your specialism. For example, domestic abuse charities and bereavement organisations offer accredited training, and courses are also available in areas such as children’s mental health and debt advice.

Some family support workers study for higher-level qualifications, including Level 4 qualifications, diplomas or foundation degrees in working with children, young people and families.

If you already have a degree, you may choose to do further study at postgraduate level in subjects such as childhood studies, family support or youth and community work. Childhood studies, for example, is offered as a PGCert, PGDip or a full MA. Leeds Trinity University also provides an MA in Family Support.

Search for postgraduate courses in family studies.

Career prospects

With experience and relevant qualifications, you can specialise in a particular area of family support work, such as homelessness, domestic abuse, early intervention, youth justice or supporting people with disabilities.

For many family support workers, progression involves moving into senior practitioner roles, such as senior family support worker or lead practitioner, before moving into supervisory or managerial posts. Management roles may involve leading a team of staff or overseeing a family hub, project or community service. You'll typically have responsibility for planning, delivery and evaluating family support services.

Some experienced practitioners move into strategic or policy development roles within local authorities or charities. Others may progress into related areas such as youth work, safeguarding, early years services or community development.

Family support workers may also choose to qualify as social workers. You can find out more about social work careers via the British Association of Social Workers (BASW).

Those interested in academic or research careers may undertake postgraduate research, such as a PhD in family studies or a related field.