This exciting new role will give you the opportunity to work alongside a range of ND expertise in the city. Working closely with colleagues, children and their families you will help us to better understand the challenges they face when children have additional needs and help shape our work to meet these needs.

Your new Role

As a Family Support Worker, you will work alongside a range of neurodiversity professionals, as well as children, families and practitioners, helping them to better understand neurodevelopmental differences and identify the support that can make a positive difference.

Reporting to the Service Lead, you will provide high-quality information, advice and guidance to children, families and professionals. You will help practitioners across the workforce to map a child's individual profile, understand their needs and develop appropriate plans to support them.

You will have the opportunity to build positive relationships with families and professionals, helping them navigate the challenges and celebrate the successes of neurodiversity. Your work will contribute to improving outcomes for children and young people while supporting earlier and more effective intervention.

This is a varied role, and occasional evening and out-of-hours working will be required.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who is passionate about improving outcomes for neurodiverse children and young people and who understands the difference that timely, practical support can make to families.

You will have a nationally recognised qualification such as NVQ Level 4, another higher-level qualification, or equivalent relevant experience. You will have up-to-date knowledge of neurodiversity and a good understanding of the impact neurodevelopmental differences can have on children and their families.

You will have experience of working directly with children, young people and families and be confident working collaboratively with a range of professionals. Experience of delivering training to parents or professionals would be an advantage.

You will also need to be a car driver with access to transport, or otherwise be able to travel effectively around the city to meet the requirements of the role.

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached below for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

Working Arrangements: You will be expected to work from the office base at the civic offices twice a week in line with the council's hybrid working policy.

Informal enquiries: Please contact Claire Mason at claire.mason@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Interview date: Monday 15th December 2026

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

We strongly encourage candidates to add all Career and Education History to their application, as CVs are not reviewed as part of the shortlisting process.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

Internal only Employees

If applying as a secondment you will need permission from your current line manager releasing you for this secondment. Please state you have this on your Personal statement

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career's portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council

Safeguarding

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.