Peer Support Worker Apprenticeship - Bath & North East Somerset
THE ADVOCACY PEOPLE
Hastings (TN34 1DT)
Closes in 30 days (Wednesday 9 September 2026)
Posted on 7 August 2026
Contents
Summary
The Advocacy People are looking for a new People Support Worker Apprentice. You will be studying toward your Peer Worker apprenticeship Level 3.
- Wage
-
£12,480 to £19,827.60, depending on your age
National Minimum Wage
- Training course
- Peer worker (level 3)
- Hours
-
4-days per week (TBC) - 9am - 5pm.
30 hours a week
- Start date
-
Wednesday 16 September 2026
- Duration
-
1 year 3 months
- Positions available
-
1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
The Advocacy People is looking for a compassionate and motivated Peer Worker Apprentice to join our B&NES team. To support people using The Advocacy People’s services by offering practical help, encouragement and peer support. The role uses lived experience in a thoughtful and safe way to help people feel heard, build confidence, understand their choices and work towards the things that matter to them.
As an apprentice, you will be supported to learn and develop in the role. You will work as part of a wider team, follow agreed guidance and boundaries, and build the skills and confidence needed to provide respectful, person-centred support.
Day-Day Responsibilities:
- Offer kind, respectful and practical peer support to people using our services, with guidance and supervision
- Use your lived experience carefully and safely to help people feel hopeful, listened to and more confident about their choices
- Help people think about their strengths, goals and the practical steps they may want to take
- Support people to make their own choices and stay at the centre of decisions about their support
- Help people find information, services, community activities or other support that may be useful to them
- Take part in community engagement and awareness-raising activities about advocacy, rights and support
- Keep clear, accurate and timely records using agreed systems, while following confidentiality and data protection rules
- Work positively with colleagues, volunteers, peer workers, advocates, managers and partner organisations
- Take part in regular one-to-ones, supervision, reflective practice, team meetings, learning sessions and apprenticeship reviews, using feedback and support to keep developing safely and confidently
- Complete required training, including safeguarding, health and safety, equality, diversity and inclusion, confidentiality and role-specific learning
- Share what you learn through the apprenticeship to help improve services and make support easier for people to access
Where you'll work
Rock House 49-51
Cambridge Road
Hastings
TN34 1DT
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
PARAGON EDUCATION & SKILLS LIMITED
Training course
Peer worker (level 3)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Develop and maintain mutual and reciprocal peer relationships
- Mutually establish the purpose and boundaries within the peer relationship
- Engage with and support families and carers
- Manage and prepare for the ending of the peer relationship
- Purposefully share lived experience within the context of the peer relationship
- Establish connections with the individual based on shared understanding of experiences
- Model self-help and self-management approaches for the individual they are supporting
- Support the individual to develop self-management and problem-solving skills
- Support individuals to identify opportunities and overcome setbacks and challenges when trying to achieve self-defined goals
- Support individuals to work toward self-defined goals using peer-based approaches in 1-to-1, drop-in or virtual settings
- Support individual-led activities
- Collaboratively discuss care and support options with the individual
- Actively contributes to an individual’s care and goal plans with the individual
- Sets up and work with groups to facilitate working toward individual or shared goals within the group setting
- Support individuals to safely access support for their goals through digital platforms
- Support the individual during changes in their life circumstances
- Discuss concerns with the individual and when necessary raise any issues with an appropriate colleague or supervisor
- Support the individual to self-advocate and through self-determination, make choices and control the care and support options open to them
- Signpost to advocacy services
- Support the individual to prepare for reviews and complete applications or referrals, e.g. housing, medication review, food bank, benefits
- Identify new resources or community projects that could be accessed by individuals being supported
- Raise awareness and understanding of the opportunities available to the individuals being supported
- Act as a community connector to build links with community resources
- Support individuals to navigate through systems to access support, signposting resources relevant to their circumstances and self-defined goals that they can access independently
- Support co-production and delivery of learning and development activities to raise awareness and understanding of the Peer Worker’s role and remit
- Use service development activities to tackle stigma and labelling to encourage culture change
- Give presentations and deliver training to small groups
- Promote the lived experience perspectives and concerns of the individual being supported across own workplace and other organisations and services
- Promote and embed peer-based approaches in teams and services with which they work
- Use meetings with other multi-disciplinary team members to facilitate understanding of the individual’s perspective and their rights
- Work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary team and other organisations or services
- Positively challenge low expectations and discriminatory practice to influence system change and enhance services
- Seek advice, support or assistance from the appropriate person when the limits of own responsibility and competence has been reached
- Manage own time and work priorities, using resources effectively
- Develop and maintain peer and professional networks
- Actively participate in team and peer supervision
- Reflect on and applies learning to practice
- Recognise the importance of self-care, taking appropriate action when required
- Participate in appraisal, personal development planning and continuous professional development
- Identify risks and contribute to required risk assessments
- Facilitate discussions with individuals and between the individual and the services they use on potential risks to their health and safety when working toward their self-defined goals
- Promote positive risk taking and different perspectives on risk within the team
- Take action in line with organisational policy where there are safeguarding concerns
- Recognise high-risk situations and takes action in line with organisational policy
- Adapt their communication to meet the needs of others
- Support individual's who are experiencing distress
- Provide relevant and supportive feedback to the individual in the peer relationship
- Actively seek feedback from individuals or groups on the support provided
- Maintain accurate records, ensuring where records are about the individual being supported, these are co-produced
- Follow legal and organisational requirements when dealing with confidentiality, consent and information sharing
- Develop and maintain mutual and reciprocal peer relationships
- Mutually establish the purpose and boundaries within the peer relationship
- Engage with and support families and carers
- Manage and prepare for the ending of the peer relationship
- Purposefully share lived experience within the context of the peer relationship
- Establish connections with the individual based on shared understanding of experiences
- Model self-help and self-management approaches for the individual they are supporting
- Support the individual to develop self-management and problem-solving skills
- Support individuals to identify opportunities and overcome setbacks and challenges when trying to achieve self-defined goals
- Support individuals to work toward self-defined goals using peer-based approaches in 1-to-1, drop-in or virtual settings
- Support individual-led activities
- Collaboratively discuss care and support options with the individual
- Actively contributes to an individual’s care and goal plans with the individual
- Sets up and work with groups to facilitate working toward individual or shared goals within the group setting
- Support individuals to safely access support for their goals through digital platforms
- Support the individual during changes in their life circumstances
- Discuss concerns with the individual and when necessary raise any issues with an appropriate colleague or supervisor
- Support the individual to self-advocate and through self-determination, make choices and control the care and support options open to them
- Signpost to advocacy services
- Support the individual to prepare for reviews and complete applications or referrals, e.g. housing, medication review, food bank, benefits
- Identify new resources or community projects that could be accessed by individuals being supported
- Raise awareness and understanding of the opportunities available to the individuals being supported
- Act as a community connector to build links with community resources
- Support individuals to navigate through systems to access support, signposting resources relevant to their circumstances and self-defined goals that they can access independently
- Support co-production and delivery of learning and development activities to raise awareness and understanding of the Peer Worker’s role and remit
- Use service development activities to tackle stigma and labelling to encourage culture change
- Give presentations and deliver training to small groups
- Promote the lived experience perspectives and concerns of the individual being supported across own workplace and other organisations and services
- Promote and embed peer-based approaches in teams and services with which they work
- Use meetings with other multi-disciplinary team members to facilitate understanding of the individual’s perspective and their rights
- Work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary team and other organisations or services
- Positively challenge low expectations and discriminatory practice to influence system change and enhance services
- Seek advice, support or assistance from the appropriate person when the limits of own responsibility and competence has been reached
- Manage own time and work priorities, using resources effectively
- Develop and maintain peer and professional networks
- Actively participate in team and peer supervision
- Reflect on and applies learning to practice
- Recognise the importance of self-care, taking appropriate action when required
- Participate in appraisal, personal development planning and continuous professional development
- Identify risks and contribute to required risk assessments
- Facilitate discussions with individuals and between the individual and the services they use on potential risks to their health and safety when working toward their self-defined goals
- Promote positive risk taking and different perspectives on risk within the team
- Take action in line with organisational policy where there are safeguarding concerns
- Recognise high-risk situations and takes action in line with organisational policy
- Adapt their communication to meet the needs of others
- Support individual's who are experiencing distress
- Provide relevant and supportive feedback to the individual in the peer relationship
- Actively seek feedback from individuals or groups on the support provided
- Maintain accurate records, ensuring where records are about the individual being supported, these are co-produced
- Follow legal and organisational requirements when dealing with confidentiality, consent and information sharing
Training schedule
Paragon Skills is an award-winning, Ofsted-rated ‘Good’, national apprenticeship provider inspiring over 10,000 learners annually and working with over 3000 businesses to deliver apprenticeships in a high-quality, consistent way. Our dedicated focus on the Care and Education sectors means we are deeply rooted within these sectors and have in-depth knowledge and understanding of what is required from a training perspective. Upon completion of this 15-month apprenticeship, you will have obtained your Peer Worker Level 3 Apprenticeship.
Requirements
Desirable qualifications
Other in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- Customer care skills
- Team working
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
About this employer
If you need advocacy support, we're The Advocacy People. We're here to help you understand what advocacy is and how it can help.
https://www.theadvocacypeople.org.uk/ (opens in new tab)
Disability Confident
A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.
You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.
After this apprenticeship
Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).
There is a possibility of being offered a full-time role after successful completion of the apprenticeship.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
PARAGON EDUCATION & SKILLS LIMITED
Abbi Sheppard
Abbi.Sheppard@theadvocacypeople.org.uk
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000046993.
Apply now
Closes in 30 days (Wednesday 9 September 2026)
After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.