About One Family 

One Family is Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating. We believe in an Ireland where every family and child is respected and cherished equally. We have been working with one-parent families for over 50 years. We provide a range of direct services to parents and children, along with campaigning and advocating for legislative and social change to deliver true equality for all families. 

 About the Role 

This role is part of an innovative pilot collaboration between One Family and Local Area Employment Services (LAES) to jointly support lone parents in receipt of Jobseekers Transitional payment (JST) to overcome barriers to employment education and training. The collaboration supports lone parents to identify their strengths, build employability skills, access education and training opportunities, and progress towards sustainable employment. Through a person-centred approach, participants receive practical support, guidance, and encouragement to achieve their personal, educational, and career goals. All participants have access to regular one-to-one support and wraparound supports including laptop loan scheme and parent mentoring. The New Futures programmes in this pilot project will be delivered online via facilitated workshops and self-directed eLearning. 

You can find out more about New Futures here: https://onefamily.ie/new-futures 

 Role and Responsibilities 

The New Futures support worker empowers the learner to engage.  The relationship that develops between learner and support worker is characterised by mutual acceptance, respect, trust, commitment, openness and shared responsibility. Through a needs led, flexible, individualised approach the support worker will collaborate with learners to pull together all elements of the programme and support the development of goals.  

This post will provide the right applicants with the opportunity to work as part of dynamic and exciting pilot project providing 1:1 support to lone parents detached from the labour market. The projects aim is to support people parenting alone through our programmes and assist them in accessing further education, training and employment. 

Responsibilities include: 

• Parent recruitment, promotional activities, initial contact with interested parents and all related admin including needs assessments with potential participants  
• Working on a 1:1 basis with participants, either in person or online, throughout their period of engagement with New Futures  
• Develop an individual action plan with each learner  
• Support participants as they work through their action plan and support their progression through relevant internal and external programmes and supports  
• Develop relationships with relevant external stakeholders and be responsible for supporting progression to education, training and employment   
• To provide relevant and accurate education, training and employment progression information to participants  
• Support and encourage participants with mock interview preparation  
• To maintain accurate records for all learners and assist in the development and maintenance of monitoring and evaluations procedures to track individual progress and outcomes   
• Take responsibility for the learner Laptop Loan Scheme and all related tasks  
• Attend case management meetings  
• To attend all required staff meetings, trainings and development days  
• Participate in supervision and reviews with the Programmes Manager  
• To undertake other areas of work where necessary or as requested   

Essential Experience and Skills 

• Have a third level or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline e.g. Social Care, Psychology, Education, Adult Guidance, Life/Career Coaching or similar  
• Have a minimum of 3-5 years of experience in 1:1 support work  
• Have excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills and professional boundaries  
• Active listening skills  
• Experience delivering supports both in person and online and an understanding of building rapport online  
• Have excellent IT skills   
• Have interest in and experience of working with a socially excluded group in a progression focused way  
• Have a strong person-centred perspective  
• Have knowledge of needs assessment systems   
• Knowledge of education providers in Ireland, education progression routes, the employment market and skill development opportunities.   
• Knowledge of the social welfare system, housing and childcare supports and how they pertain to one-parent families   
• Have a track record in interagency working and relationship development  
• Ability to manage sensitive information and issues including child protection and domestic violence  
• Be enthusiastic, motivated and innovative  
• Be a self-starter with the ability to work in a team  
• Be well-organised with good attention to detail  

  Ideal Experience and Skills 

• Have experience in working with one-parent families  
• Have experience of working in the Irish voluntary/community sector   
• Understand family support services in Ireland and interventions to support the well-being of families  

   Benefits  

• Flexible working options  
• Employee Assistance Programme  
• Cycle to Work scheme   
• 25 days annual leave (pro-rated accordingly for part-time staff) 
• Additional annual leave after two years in post  
• Two staff privilege days: Christmas Eve & Good Friday  
• Hybrid work  

   Employment Type 

This is a Fixed Term, Part-time, role until 30 June 2027. 

The position is 10 hours per week until 31 December 2026, consisting of two 5-hour mornings per week, with days to be agreed upon appointment. From 01 January to 30 June 2027, the hours will increase to 20 hours per week, working Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 1.30pm, including a 30-minute break. 

The full-time annual salary for this position is €40,361.31, based on a 35-hour working week. The salary for this role will be pro rata, based on the contracted hours of 10 and 20 hours per week, as applicable. 

This role will be subject to a performance review and to all the Policies and Procedures of One Family. This is a hybrid position with a requirement to attend One Family’s offices in Smithfield, Dublin 7, as required.  

Application Process: 

A cover letter and CV addressing the role and the required competencies as outlined above should be emailed to Niamh Wynne, Programmes Manager, One Family at: recruitment@onefamily.ie. 

Your application should be marked clearly: New Futures Employability Programme – Support Worker 

Closing date for applications is 5pm on Monday, 16^th November 2026. 

It is anticipated that interviews will be held shortly after the closing date. Garda Vetting and satisfactory references will be required prior to the successful candidate taking up the post.  

One Family is an equal opportunities employer. 

If you require any reasonable accommodation for interview, please advise us in advance.  

  

Funded by: