Hanover has been successfully housing and supporting people in Scotland for more than 40 years. Our core purpose is to help people feel safe and secure at home so they can live full and independent lives. We proudly provide and manage a wide range of housing throughout Scotland that enhances our residents’ quality of life.

The role will see you working as a Retirement Housing Manager and Development Manager at our Rose Park, Peebles and Halyrude Court, Peebles. 20 hours per week, 10 at each development.

As the face of Hanover, you will be committed to exceeding our customers’ expectations by providing a high quality, personalised service to our customers through efficient management. Overseeing the management of our Retirement Housing development, the property repairs and maintenance, promoting the use of communal facilities, general management and being the main point of contact for customers.

From emergency situations, to day-to-day upkeep. This rewarding role is the opportunity to make a real difference in the community.

Main Responsibilities

You’ll be dealing with a wide range of people; from residents and their families to contractors, local community groups and other agencies. A vital role within an independent living environment.

Housing Management

The Retirement Housing Manager gives advice and assistance to customers and others regarding Hanover’s housing management services as well as information and advice relating to use of development facilities and availability of local services and organisations. The Retirement Housing Manager serves to:

• Welcome prospective and new customers and assist in settling in of the latter.
• Undertake routine housing and estate management duties.
• Further the involvement of relatives, friends and wider community with customers on development.
• Advocate and liaise on customers’ behalf with statutory and other agencies where this is appropriate to customer’s needs.

Property Repair and Maintenance

The Retirement Housing Manager takes pride in the physical environment available to our cherished customers and serves to:

• Summon contractors in event of emergency breakdown to lifts, boilers, power utilities.
• Test fire and other alarms in accordance with Association procedures.
• Notify and record communal repair complaints in accordance with Asset Management’s procedures.
• Liaise with contractors and record services provided and work done.
• Carry out inspections of communal areas in co-operation with Asset Management staff.
• Liaise with maintenance and services staff and report on conditions of fabric, machinery and utilities and undertakes health and safety checks and communal meter readings.

Communal Facilities

The Retirement Housing Manage promotes the use of communal facilities and manage their use effectively and efficiently as well as encouraging social communal activities on the part of customers and customers’ access to services of local community groups.

General Management

You’ll be responsible for supervising Cleaners and ensuring our high cleaning standards are upheld as well as ensuring the effective security for the development and grounds.

Customer Emergencies

The Retirement Housing Manager is relied upon as a personal response to customer emergency alarm calls and is required to provide emergency aid pending an emergency services’ arrival.

• Offer a sympathetic response to customers and others in event of illness, hospitalisation, and bereavement.
• Liaise with customers, relatives and others in event of emergencies and their aftermath.
• Providing emergency assistance to customers’ short term with regard to daily living tasks as necessary.

Garvald West Linton is an established charitable organisation based in the Borders providing residential care, creative work opportunities and further education for thirty-five adults with learning disabilities. Garvald also offers day placements for adults with learning disabilities who live locally. The residents and staff together make up a community of approximately 70 people. There are five community houses. On average, there are seven residents in each house with one House Manager, one Deputy House Manger and a group of care staff including night duty staff.

Our Ethos

Life and work at Garvald is based on the Rudolf Steiner principles of curative education and social therapy. Through working with these principles Garvald aim to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the individuals in our care. The days at Garvald are well structured with each individual having a day programme of workshop activities, different therapies, leisure activities and further education. At weekends, there are cultural events. Christian and national festivals are celebrated during the year and the daily, weekly and annual rhythm of life at Garvald is a therapeutic and reassuring influence for residents. Garvald also supports residents to engage and participate in activities in the wider community out with Garvald.

The role of The Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is collectively responsible for the governance and strategic direction of Garvald. It is responsible for receiving money from local authorities and donors, safeguarding it and ensuring that it is used for meeting Garvald objectives as stated in its articles of association. The Trustee Board must always act in the best interests of Garvald. The Trustees must act as a group and not as individuals. Although the role is unpaid, Trustees have the opportunity to significantly contribute towards an important and well-regarded service for people with learning disabilities.

We are now seeking new directors to join our board and looking for enthusiastic and dynamic individuals with a range of skills and experience. These include business/professional skills in PR/marketing, legal, property/estates management as well as individuals with senior management experience within the social care sector.

We provide care and support to adults with learning disabilities, acquired brain injury, dementia and mental health issues, both at home and in the community.

We’re recruiting Neighbourhood Workers in Duns, Berwickshire, and in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders and our main priority for this role is to find people with the right values, behaviours and attitudes that match our own!

As an equal opportunity employer we are fully committed to developing, maintaining and supporting a culture of equality and diversity in which all employees and job applicants are treated equally. We are an accredited Disability Confident organisation and we encourage applications from all members of the community.

About the role:

You will:

• Provide support to individual people in any task associated with living as independently as possible within their own home and in as integrated a way as possible within their own neighbourhoods and communities.
• Assist the people we support to achieve a level of personal growth and development consistent with their ages and abilities.
• Provide guidance and practical help in basic self-help and home-making tasks, e.g. assisting with budgeting, cooking and cleaning
• Assist with personal hygiene, mobility and physical comfort, whilst promoting self-esteem and, where possible, independence.
• Take an interest in and, where appropriate, share in the hobbies, interests and activities of individuals and encourage them to make full use of and enjoy a wide range of local facilities.
• Help to create a home life which produces feelings of security, privacy, responsibility and self-worth.

You don’t need to have previous experience or qualifications. You do need to have a positive attitude towards people with a disability and an ability to work with others in a positive and honest manner, along with a good sense of humour. We’ll provide full training and ongoing support to enable you to have a rewarding career, plus the opportunity to gain an SVQ Level 2 qualification.

Full-time or part-time posts are available. Applicants should be flexible in their approach to hours of work, as staff are required to work a range of shifts including regular weekends and sleepovers. A valid driving licence would be desirable although not essential.

You’ll be expected to apply for and maintain your registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and to ensure that your values and behaviours comply with the SSSC code of conduct.

Any offer of employment will be conditional on a satisfactory Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) check and two satisfactory references.

Benefits:

Flexible working hours

Opportunity to gain SVQ Level 2

The Lavender Touch is seeking new trustees to help the charity as we grow and develop

Based in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, the Lavender Touch is a well-established charity working to support people through their cancer experience, this includes their families and carers.

The Lavender Touch believes that it is important to work with the local communities to co-design and adapt to local needs.

The Lavender Touch provides a diverse range of activities and support to its beneficiaries. This is an exciting opportunity to get involved with the charity as it seeks to develop.

The role may appeal to people with a background and skills in one or more of the following areas: cancer care, business planning and development, fundraising, HR, working with volunteers, IT, charity governance or marketing.

The Lavender Touch would like to appoint trustees to complement the current board in its role as a governing body: setting strategy and ensuring exemplary governance and fiscal control. Ideally the candidate would be someone with an understanding of charities and the voluntary sector and/or lived experience.

The charity is keen to bring additional skills to its board, however, the lavender touch is keen to attract applicants from a diverse audience so other skills will also be welcomed.

Trustee meetings are held on average every 6 weeks and these are currently being held virtually. There may a requirement for additional communication with employees and charity members.

An opportunity to join the staff team of a long-established but innovative befriending project in the Scottish Borders. You would be responsible for managing all our work with adults with learning disabilities aged 25+ in Berwickshire and Kelso, including a befriending group and 1:1 friendships.

The aim of the project is to improve members’ quality of life, overcoming their social isolation to create the friendships crucial to happiness, and developing their social and communication skills. The respite provided to family carers as a result of befriending is also an important element.

The post is focused on service delivery: working with members and their families or professional carers; recruiting, training and supporting volunteers; organising and running the befriending group; developing and supervising 1-1 friendships. There is considerable room for creativity and potential to start new groups or deliver the service in different ways.

Time of working is flexible but will include regular evening work running the befriending group. The Berwickshire office is in Duns, but working from home is possible. The post is funded by the Lottery, Scottish Borders Council and grant-making trusts, and we aim to provide a long-term service. There is a children and young people’s Co-ordinator whom you would work alongside.

At present the service is mainly delivered through Zoom, telephone and hard copy newsletters, with room for further innovation. It will transition back to face to face delivery once pandemic conditions allow.

At Aberlour Options Borders we provide a range of support services for young people up to the age of 18 years who have various disabilities. Our aim is to provide families with a short break from their caring role through the provision of high quality child-centred services which provides a positive experience for the young people we work with.

We have a strong reputation for supporting young people with high levels of complex needs, supporting them to grow, learn and maximise their potential. We believe every child has the right to flourish. Our Young People’s Workers play a fundamental role in ensuring that the young people they work with have the best possible experience in working towards their objectives in line with their care plan. Whilst not without its challenges and demands, this is a highly rewarding role, where the work we do has a demonstrable impact on each young person's progress. Using a person centred approach you will provide enabling support ensuring the highest level of physical, personal and emotional care to support children in their daily living and within the local community.

We are looking to recruit two Young People’s Workers, each working 23 hours per week for 42 weeks of the year and 35 hours per week for 10 weeks of the year (school holidays). You will be part of a residential respite rota which will require you to work days, evenings, nights, weekends and public holidays. There will be a requirement to do sleepover shifts with both these contracts. These will be paid at £40 per sleepover.

Please see advert on our website for further information about shifts or e-mail us at jobs@aberlour.org.uk.

A Day in the Life of a Young People’s Worker

Our day usually starts around 7.30am with the morning routine. We support our young people to get ready for their day ahead assisting with all aspects of personal hygiene. We then prepare breakfast and medications for each of our young people and organise the day’s activities. We plan mornings out, considering the health and safety requirements for each activity we undertake. After lunch we prepare an in-house activity. This also allows staff to complete daily paperwork such as weekend logs for our young people, updating care plans and review reports etc. In the evening we cook a healthy dinner considering our knowledge of our young peoples’ likes and dislikes and particularly if they have restricted diets.

"Aberlour Options provide a safe, fun and homely environment for respite for our son. He loves going to stay and asks daily when his next visit is" Parent

"My respite treat me like part of the family" Young Person

If you have an interest in working with young people we would like to hear from you. Ideally, candidates will have social care experience, understanding of autism, complex needs and mental health and have the relevant qualifications or will be willing to work towards these.

You will be working alongside a highly motivated and skilled team to provide a personalised service for our young people. As a Young People’s Worker you will receive a planned and supported induction consisting of a varied training programme; including CALM training, Child Protection training and support completing an SVQ Level 3 in line with SSSC requirements.

Job Purpose

• Increase support capacity focusing on inclusion, access and innovation to impact the reach of our service. This post will specifically focus and bring expertise and knowledge to further our intersectional approach. The role aims to increase our reach and engage survivors specifically within rural and remote communities, LGBTQI, BAME, children & young people, disability, older women and learning disability.
• The focus of the Inclusion and Access Support Worker will be to initially scope out new ways to engage and support survivors who are not currently accessing our services.
• Explore digital engagement and access and develop and implement new ways to engage survivors and engage with community organisations to increase awareness of SBRCC’s services.
• In Co-operation with the CEO develop and implement an inclusion and access strategic plan.
• To recognise, respect and address the needs of survivors who face particular barriers when seeking help to access our service.
• To engage and provide emotional and practical centre and outreach support in various venues across the Scottish Borders. The Sunrise service provides support to self-identifying female survivors 18+ who have experienced sexual violence at any time in their lives.

Only women need apply under Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010

Further information about our organisation’s work is available on our website, scottishbordersrapecrisis.org.uk

Job Purpose

• To engage and provide emotional and practical centre and outreach support in various venues across the Scottish Borders, the Sunrise service provides support to self-identifying female survivors 18+ who have experienced sexual violence at any time in their lives.
• The focus of the support worker will be to provide support to survivors, to recognise, respect and address the needs of survivors who face particular barriers when seeking help to access our service and/or have complex needs.

Only women need apply under Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

Further information about our organisation’s work is available on our website, scottishbordersrapecrisis.org.uk

The Supported Housing Worker role requires assisting in the management of the development thus ensuring the tenants are able to enjoy an acceptable standard of living in an environment which is clean, safe and friendly. You will be responsible for overseeing the wellbeing of the tenants and for assisting them in maintaining their independence.

As housing care worker your role will involve working with our tenants to ensure they receive the support and personal care identified in their care plans. You will directly support tenants in their homes by providing individual advice, practical housing support assistance and personal care.

Both roles are to ensure that we are able to offer the best service to our tenants and make it possible for our tenants to continue enjoying as much independent living as they’re able.

As well as a competitive annual salary, our valued team also benefits from:

• competitive hourly rates of £9.30 - £9.76 per hour;
• guaranteed rota hours working between 7.30am & 10pm
• generous annual leave entitlement;
• a choice of pension scheme with employer contributions;
• flexible working policies;
• access to extensive paid training and development opportunities; and
• a supportive and inclusive culture.

We also have opportunities with our Trust Staff Agency - for employees who want to work across different locations, in various roles, with highly flexible hours to suit family commitments - it's a great opportunity with the same training and development that our other roles benefit from.

Previous experience working in social care or the housing sector would be an advantage but this is not always necessary. Our ideal candidate is someone with enthusiasm, a caring nature and willingness to learn as full training, support and ongoing development will be provided.