Start for Life and Family Hub Early Intervention Support Worker
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
About this job
To provide a welcoming, warm and safe environment across the Best Start Family Hubs for young children and their families.
To plan, organise and deliver high quality, evidence-based early intervention, and prevention services for children aged birth to 2 years in accordance with the Early Years Foundation Stage framework to improve outcomes for children and families and reduce the need for more targeted or specialist interventions
To work in partnership with parents/carers and other professionals to promote wellbeing and support children develop to their full potential.
This job is linked to grant funding and will end when the funding finishes on 31 March 2026.
Special requirements for this post
Essential Qualifications & Training
- Level 3 qualification in child development or equivalent experience.
- Willingness to become accredited in Peeple and Solihull parenting programmes within the first three months.
Knowledge & Experience
- Experience delivering early intervention or community programmes, including with vulnerable families and children with SEND.
- Understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and how to support early learning.
- Understanding of the impact of poverty, cultural difference and isolation on families with 0–5 year olds.
- Experience working with internal and external partners (health, education, VCS).
Skills & Abilities
- Ability to engage families, including those who speak English as a second language and harder to reach groups.
- Ability to plan and deliver creative, evidence based group sessions for children and parents.
- Ability to identify children not meeting developmental milestones and support families to access targeted services.
- Strong communication and relationship building skills with families and professionals. • Computer literacy including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook; willingness to learn systems like Synergy database.
- Understanding of GDPR, data-sharing protocols and accurate information recording.
Practical Requirements
- Ability to travel across Barking and Dagenham to deliver sessions and outreach.
- Ability to work primarily face-to-face with minimal homeworking.
Values & Behaviours (DRIVE)
- Deliver: Commitment to consistent, reliable service for families.
- Inspire: Motivation for continuous learning and reducing isolation.
- Engage: Ability to engage families and multiple stakeholders across the borough.
About you
We want someone warm, approachable and committed to giving babies and young children the best start in life. They’ll be confident working face‑to‑face with families, engaging parents from all backgrounds—including those facing poverty, language barriers or isolation—and creating a welcoming, playful learning environment.
They should be creative in planning early years activities, able to build trust quickly, and comfortable identifying developmental concerns and signposting families to support. They’ll work well with partners like health visitors and Family Navigators, be organised with good digital skills, and committed to learning, including completing Peeple and Solihull training. Above all, they will be reliable, enthusiastic and driven to help families thrive.
About us
The Best Start Family Hub programme in Barking and Dagenham provides a single, accessible place for families to get support from pregnancy through to age 19 (or 25 for young people with SEND). The hubs bring together services across health, early years, education, and community support, offering a warm, welcoming space where families can find guidance, activities and practical help at every stage of their child’s development. The programme is designed to make it easier for families to navigate services, strengthen children’s development, improve parenting confidence, and reduce inequalities across the borough.
What We’re Building Together We’re creating a system that’s:
- Seamless – where families experience joined-up support across services.
- Welcoming – with Family Hubs that feel like a home from home.
- Accessible – providing the right information at the right time.
- Empowered – with a confident, skilled Start for Life workforce.
- Evolving – always learning, improving, and innovating.
- Visionary – with strong leadership driving meaningful change.
Our Four Key Workstreams: 1. Infant Feeding – supporting healthy starts and confident parenting. 2. Perinatal Mental Health & Parent-Infant Relationships – nurturing emotional wellbeing and strong bonds. 3. Home Learning Environment – empowering parents to be their child’s first educator. 4. Parenting Support – offering practical, evidence-based guidance every step of the way.
This is more than a programme — it’s a movement. If you’re passionate about early intervention, innovation, and making a difference where it matters most, we’d love to hear from you.