Location
3-7 Arneway Street, Westminster, London, with regular outreach work across Westminster including street settings, hostels, day centres, hospitals, temporary accommodation, and partner agency locations.

Hours
37.5 hours per week

Salary
£33,840 per annum

About the Role
The Street Outreach Worker will play a key role in improving access to healthcare and support services for people sleeping rough or experiencing homelessness in Westminster. The postholder will proactively engage individuals facing barriers to healthcare and mainstream services, assisting them to access primary care, housing support, welfare benefits, immigration advice, mental health services, substance misuse services, and wider community resources. Working within a specialist homeless healthcare service, the role involves building trusting relationships with socially excluded individuals who may be reluctant to engage with services or experiencing multiple disadvantages. The focus is on reducing health inequalities, improving access to treatment, promoting wellbeing, and supporting individuals towards improved health, stability, and independence.
The Street Outreach Worker will collaborate closely with healthcare professionals, housing providers, homelessness services, hospitals, prisons, social care teams, drug and alcohol services, and voluntary sector organisations to ensure a coordinated and effective response to rough sleeping and homelessness.

Key Responsibilities
Undertake regular outreach across Westminster to identify and engage people sleeping rough. Build trusting, respectful relationships with individuals who may have experienced trauma, exclusion, or repeated service disengagement. Adopt a compassionate, person-centred, and non-judgemental approach in all interactions. Engage individuals in streets, parks, transport hubs, hostels, day centres, temporary accommodation, hospitals, and community settings. Respond to referrals from healthcare professionals, outreach teams, housing providers, prisons, hostels, and partner agencies. Maintain regular contact to support engagement and reduce disengagement from essential services. Support people to identify their own goals and encourage independence and informed decision-making.
Support individuals to register with a GP and access primary healthcare services, including physical health, mental health, substance misuse treatment, specialist clinics, and community healthcare resources. Help navigate healthcare systems and promote health improvement, wellbeing, recovery, and harm reduction. Encourage attendance at healthcare appointments and assist overcoming practical barriers. Work alongside clinical colleagues to support treatment engagement and continuity of care. Support individuals following hospital discharge, particularly where there is risk of returning to rough sleeping, and assist in re-engaging those who have disengaged from healthcare or treatment services.
Assist individuals to access housing advice, homelessness services, and accommodation pathways. Support welfare benefit applications including Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Housing Benefit, and other entitlements. Help individuals understand and manage benefit claims and obligations and access specialist welfare rights support when required. Support access to appropriate immigration advice and specialist services. Assist in obtaining identification documents and other paperwork needed to access services and entitlements. Advocate on behalf of individuals when barriers arise and provide practical assistance to engage with statutory and voluntary sector services.
Develop and maintain effective working relationships with partner organisations including housing providers, homelessness services, healthcare teams, social care, criminal justice agencies, and voluntary organisations. Participate in multi-agency meetings, case reviews, and support planning. Support appropriate information sharing in line with confidentiality and information governance. Contribute to coordinated interventions to improve health outcomes and reduce rough sleeping. Represent the service professionally with partner agencies and stakeholders.
Identify safeguarding concerns involving adults or children and take appropriate action following organisational policies. Maintain awareness of risks associated with homelessness, exploitation, abuse, self-neglect, domestic abuse, mental ill health, and substance misuse. Undertake dynamic risk assessments in community settings. Follow lone working, health and safety, and incident reporting procedures. Escalate concerns and seek support managing complex or high-risk situations. Contribute to maintaining a safe environment for service users, colleagues, and partners.
Maintain accurate, timely, and professional records of contacts, interventions, and outcomes. Record activity on relevant systems per organisational requirements. Contribute to data collection, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting. Support achievement of service objectives and key performance indicators. Maintain confidentiality and comply with information governance standards. Provide ideas and feedback to support service improvement and development. Undertake other duties commensurate with the role.
Participate in supervision, reflective practice, team meetings, and appraisal. Attend mandatory and role-specific training. Maintain knowledge of homelessness policy, welfare benefits, housing legislation, healthcare access, immigration systems, safeguarding, and related issues. Demonstrate commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion, and trauma-informed practice. Act as an ambassador for The Dr Hickey Surgery and its values.

Experience
- Experience working with people experiencing homelessness, substance use, mental health challenges, or multiple disadvantage.
- Experience supporting individuals with housing, welfare benefits, immigration matters, or access to statutory services.
- Experience of outreach or community-based support work is desirable.
- Knowledge of homelessness services, housing pathways, welfare rights, and DWP benefits is advantageous.
- Experience supporting Universal Credit, PIP, Housing Benefit, and other welfare entitlements.
- Experience within healthcare, housing, social care, homelessness, substance misuse, immigration, criminal justice, or welfare advice services.
- Experience supporting people following hospital discharge or release from prison.
- Knowledge of Westminster homelessness services and local support pathways.
- Relevant qualification in health, housing, social care, welfare rights, community development, or related field is desirable.

About You
- Excellent communication, engagement, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to build trust and motivate individuals who may be reluctant to access support.
- Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and use initiative.
- Good IT, administrative, and record-keeping skills.
- Understanding of safeguarding, confidentiality, and professional boundaries.
- Compassionate, non-judgemental, and person-centred approach.
- Commitment to reducing health inequalities and improving outcomes for vulnerable people.
- Ability to work flexibly, including occasional early morning outreach sessions.
- Willingness to work across Westminster in a variety of community settings.
- Commitment to the values and ethos of The Dr Hickey Surgery.

Qualifications
- Enhanced DBS check (including Adult Barred List) required.
- Right to work in the UK.
- Relevant qualifications in health, housing, social care, welfare rights, community development, or related fields are desirable but not essential.