A Guide To Finding A Housing Support Worker
Those working with vulnerable people already know: it takes a competent housing support worker to care for their clients. But in an industry notorious for staffing problems, how to get a housing support worker becomes a real issue.
The good news? The strong demand for support assistance has fuelled unique solutions that offer even more effective, reliable, and cost-efficient staffing.
In this guide, we’ll cover both the standard ways & the value adding ways of getting housing support workers in England this 2022.
1. The Standard: Using A Recruitment Agency
The number one most common way Supported Housing providers get their staff is: using recruitment agencies. A popular name for example is Reed, and what they offer are candidates for housing associations/charities. Their biggest attraction: you won’t have to spend the time/resources finding the staff yourself.
The difficulty after that, however, is in getting the right candidate. Having previous experience supporting individuals with mental health issues, health problems, and other complex needs is what translates to competence. A hired candidate with only part time retail experience, for example, simply doesn’t have the skills to provide the right care & support to vulnerable people.
2. The Aspirational: Building An In-house Team
If budgets allow, taking the time to hire staff for an in-house team is alluring for real reasons. An in-house team is more adaptable, has shared values, makes for greater teamwork, and provides a familiarity & level of attention that is particularly beneficial for social care.
However: finding the right candidate can take lots of time and is never guaranteed. And when it comes to supporting vulnerable adults & young people, the need is for immediate and continuous care. Also: with the government cutting back on spending & budgets being tight, offering attractive in-house salaries is often infeasible.
Another thing to consider is that an in-house team means support training & day to day management will be an in-house fare too. The fantastic pro of that: you’ll have the exact training you want, ensuring the most suitable support. Its con: in a sector renowned for its struggle to retain staff, it can be a big & uncertain investment.
3. The Value-adding: Hiring Fully Managed Support Services
With over 20 years of experience in providing specialist housing support workers, AGS Support is a unique company that offers a truly ultimate solution. Its fully managed, support staffing service was evolved for the supported housing industry.
Their biggest selling point: they guarantee that each & every shift, no matter the hour of day or short notice need, will be covered—100% always. And it’s not just candidates they provide. Their staff are vetted, experienced, and have undergone exclusive, specialist training to ensure they’re perfectly suited for supporting vulnerable people.
Added to all that: the logistics of staffing, extra training, and more, is entirely managed by their senior team. With their deep experience in the sector, they understand how important reliable support workers are, who work as part of a team.
Final Verdicts on Getting a Housing Support Worker
1. Using a recruitment agency
Certainly, it’s one of the most popular way to hire Housing Support staff. But getting a ‘candidate’ is no vouch for their life skills & quality in caring for tenants, residents, and customers. If they decide not to show up or take sick days off: the responsibility falls back to social services providers.
2. Building an in-house team
There’s no doubt that building a team of in-house support staff is an attractive option. But the realities of the sector show it to be extremely challenging & often infeasible. Also, just like recruitment agencies: the management of staff logistics is all up to the service provider to take care of.
3. Hiring a fully managed support service
What AGS Support doesn’t have is: the ‘familiarity’ of a recruitment agency or the laurels of an in-house team. But what it does have is a proven formula developed from over two decades of serving the sector, that offers one huge thing: complete peace of mind. While all their added value might seem made for big budgets only, their packaged & bespoke support services are in fact competitively priced with normal recruitment agencies.
For more information about AGS Support’s services or for any questions at all, they offer a no obligations, 30-minute discovery call with a member of their senior team.
Whether you’re a homelessness charity in London or helping people towards independent living in rural England, they’ll certainly be most ready to hep.