The organisation

The Refugee Council is one of the leading organisations in the UK working with people seeking asylum and refugees.

Our operational teams based in various locations throughout England provide advice and assistance across a wide range of issues, including helping people seeking asylum through the complexities of the asylum system, addressing issues of destitution, and assisting refugees and people seeking asylum to access key services including housing, welfare benefits, health, education and employment.

Refugee Council’s Children’s Services:

The Children’s Service are responsible for delivering services to separated refugee children. The service also leads on raising the profile of their clients and advocates on their behalf. Supporting this work, the service also promotes good practice to statutory and voluntary agencies and supports the Refugee Council Advocacy and Engagement Team to influence government to improve policy decisions and policy making at a national level.

Independent Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children Support Service:

The focus of the Service is to offer advice and support to separated children, particularly around their asylum application, and to signpost and refer children to statutory and voluntary agencies, working with local authorities to ensure that appropriate services are provided. This service is contracted by the Home Office.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

The Refugee Council supports separated children across England and part of our service is a team of staff based at the port of Dover, working 24/7 to provide a temporary safeguarding service for children arriving there, ensuring that their basic needs are met while they await transfer to the care of a local authority. The unit is reactive to the needs of clients, who may arrive at any time, and staff are expected to cover a variety of shifts.

The postholder will be expected to:

•  Work in the best interests of the child.
• Assess the basic needs of newly arrived clients and provide an appropriate service, including food, clothing, and access to hygiene facilities.
• Recognise indicators of confusion or distress, and respond according to the needs of the situation.
• Ensure all safeguarding issues are responded to, reported and accurately recorded using the appropriate internal recording mechanisms.

For more information on the role, please view the job description here [DOCX]

To apply, please complete the application form found here [DOC] and email it to recruitment@refugeecouncil.org.uk