Hours: 36.25 hours per week worked over five days, between the hours of 8am–6pm
Contract length: 12 months fixed term contract with the possibility of extension depending on funding
Salary: £26,000
Location: To cover the Thames Valley area – candidates must live in the Thames Valley area.
Working pattern: Remote working with frequent travel required. You will deliver a face-to-face service to clients in their own home or safe meeting place within the region
Reporting to: Regional case manager (South)
Application deadline: Friday 23 May 2025
Interviews conducted: Early June
Start date in role: Late June / Early July
About Brake
Brake is the national, acclaimed road safety charity which provides the National Road Victim Service. We have been supporting victims of the carnage on our roads since 1995. We also campaign for positive change to prevent future collisions and save lives.
The National Road Victim Service is a specialist, accredited, UK-wide national service for road victims, delivering day-one onwards case-managed care for anyone who has been bereaved or seriously injured in a road crash or who is supporting a road crash victim.
Our values are:
- Professionalism
- Collaboration
- Integrity
- Compassion
- Inclusion
- Courage
About the role
Every 20 minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured on our roads. The impact of that on individuals and their wider families is profound and far reaching and it can happen to any of us, at any time.
As a member of the caseworker team, you are responsible for the provision of support to families and others affected who have experienced a sudden loss and/or suffered a serious or life-changing injury following a road traffic collision in your region.
Working with families, you will provide a systemic and trauma-informed approach to care, undertake a comprehensive needs assessment from which a bespoke support plan will be agreed with the person and/or families. The caseworker will manage a caseload of complex cases, completing actions agreed following the SENSE model framework and review this on a regular basis.
The caseworker will advocate on behalf of the person or families including collaboration with Family Liaison Officers, other police personnel, statutory services, GPs, mental health services, the coroners service, children’s services, and any other services required.
The caseworker will be the main contact for the family, following the initial risk assessment conducted by the triage caseworker. The caseworker will build working relationships with services across their regions with a range of stakeholders, and support services, whilst always maintaining client confidentiality.
What we offer
- 35 days of annual leave (including bank holidays and 3-day shutdown period between Christmas and New Year, pro-rata for part-time working patterns)
- Birthday day off
- Enhanced sick pay and compassionate leave
- Death in service benefit
- Pension
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Flexible working
- Be part of a skilled, friendly team with an engaged Board of Trustees
About you
We welcome applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds
Experience gained in the following kinds of roles tends to transfer particularly well to the role of caseworker at Brake: police force, roles within the criminal justice system, family liaison officer, counsellor, experience in health and social care or previous caseworker experience in any area.
We are seeking candidates with:
Essential:
- A full, clean UK driving licence, with access to your own transport and are willing to use it for work purposes (we reimburse travelling expenses)
- Resident in the Thames Valley area
- Frontline support service experience
- Experience supporting people who have suffered sudden bereavement or working with those with heightened vulnerabilities.
- Research and advocacy skills – you will reach out to other organisations to support your cases where required
- Competent IT skills to work remotely
Desirable:
- Synergy with Brake's cause
- Comprehensive understanding of the processes involved in the criminal justice system and coronial process
Ideal qualities:
- Self-starter
- Energised
- Compassionate
- Passionate about helping others
- Resilient
- Creative in adapting your approach
Key responsibilities
Service delivery
- Responsible for providing direct support to road victims and others affected in their designated region in line with our model of trauma-informed care.
- The caseworker will provide support using a variety of support methodologies including emotional support, practical support and advocacy utilising high-level diplomacy skills.
Key tasks
- Manage a complex caseload of service users following the NRVS policies and procedures.
- Undertaking the process of needs assessment and risk management, following the SENSE model framework
- Support service users with their immediate wellbeing needs and address any safeguarding issues.
- Escalate any identified vulnerabilities or safeguarding needs to the Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Escalate any information relating to multiple fatality incidents in their region to the designated co-ordinator, in line with the NRVS procedure.
- Provide trauma-informed support through a range of contact methodologies including and not limited to in-person, and remotely in accordance with the persons’ wishes.
- Create a safe and confidential environment to explore feelings and emotions.
- Support service users through the criminal justice system or coronial process.
- Develop a user-centred support plan, to help the service user cope with their emotional and physical symptoms, alongside any practical issues and concerns.
- Develop and agree, with consent, a safe exit strategy via a continued pathway of further support that the service user accesses, if appropriate.
- Develop and maintain strong working relationships with other local specialist support services in the region both statutory and non-statutory.
- Ensure timely, accurate and complete records are maintained following any service user contact and recorded onto the CRM system. This must be in accordance with the Data Protection policy.
- Participate in regular case management reviews with the Regional Manager.
- Ensure duties are carried out in line with and in a manner that promotes Brake’s Equality and Diversity policy, promoting a trauma-informed response to care.
- Build and maintain personal resilience and care by engaging in external clinical supervision.
- Participate additionally in team training, supervisory and development sessions, contributing to the professional development of yourself and the service.
- Deliver external presentations in agreement with your line manager.
- Any other tasks outside of the above identified by the line manager to support the NRVS, colleagues and service users.
Learning and development
- Mandatory completion of the gold, silver, and bronze trauma-informed practice training.
- Completion of induction training on entry into the NRVS.
- Safeguarding training annually.
- Any other identified training needs to advance the caseworker role and competencies.
Equity, diversity & inclusion
Brake is passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We welcome your application whatever your background or situation. We particularly welcome applications from those who are part of the global majority, the LGBTQIA+ community or disabled. We are proud to be a disability confident employer. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it. So, if you have a passion for making a difference and share in our vision for a world where no one is killed on our roads, we would love to hear from you.
How to apply
If you are seeking out a new challenge and think you have the skills, passion, and commitment that we are looking for, we would be interested in hearing from you.
Submit your CV and a covering letter which clearly demonstrate you have what it takes to perform this challenging and rewarding role to recruitment@brake.org.uk.
We want to get to know you and we welcome cover letters in alternative formats, for example you could send a short video cover letter instead of a traditional written one.
Important information
- The successful candidate will be required to go through an enhanced DBS vetting process due to the sensitive nature of the service delivered.
- Please note we do not accept applications from serious traffic offenders due to the nature of our work. Employees are subject to driver licence checks.