Advertised from 3 September 2025

Role

Overview:

All roles at OPFS contribute to our mission of working with and for single parent families, providing support that enables them to achieve their potential and help create lasting solutions to the poverty and barriers facing many single parents and their children.

Main duties:

The Development Worker will play a key role in supporting single parents to access, sustain, and progress in fair and meaningful employment. The postholder will also work directly with employers to create more inclusive workplaces, ensuring policies and practices better reflect the needs of single parent families. This involves building bridges between families and employers, challenging barriers to work, and developing opportunities that lead to lasting change for both parents and children.

Supporting the work of a wider national programme, the role will include developing practical solutions that support single parents into sustainable employment, while influencing employers and policymakers to adopt family-friendly, inclusive approaches.

Equal Opportunities and Family Friendly Employment

OPFS aims to be an equal opportunity and family friendly employer. OPFS has Investors In People Gold status.

Job description

The role description is a broad picture of the post at the time of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties, and it is recognised that roles change and evolve over time.

Key tasks and responsibilities

Support Single Parents:

• Provide one-on-one support for single parents who are seeking employment or currently employed, helping them navigate challenges related to work-life balance and support them to sustain work.
• Connect single parents to relevant resources, such as childcare options, financial advice, mental health support, and other support services.
• Assist with job search strategies, application processes, and interview preparation.
• Pull together group activity to empower single parents to bring forward their ideas, personal experiences and solutions to help shape the future of employability for single parents.

Positive Workplace Development: 

• Work with employers to advocate for policies and practices that are family-friendly and inclusive of single parents.
• Help employers develop or improve their workplace practices to ensure they support single parents’ needs, including flexible work hours and hybrid working opportunities.

Develop and Deliver Training Programmes

• Organise workshops and training sessions for single parents to build key skills such as CV writing, interview techniques, time management, work life balance and stress management.
• Deliver group sessions that strengthen parents’ employability skills, confidence, and resilience.

Employer Engagement:

• Engage with employers in areas we operate to establish partnerships and ensure they understand the value of employing single parents.
• Offer advice on inclusive recruitment practices and provide support to employers on how to foster a positive, supportive environment for single parents.
• Develop opportunities with businesses and organisations to offer single parent guaranteed interviews and employability routeways.

Monitoring Impact and Success:

• Track participant progress and experiences by monitoring single parents’ development (skills, job readiness, career progression) and gather feedback on the support provided and challenges faced.
• Measure employment outcomes by collecting and analysing data on employment rates, retention, duration, and job satisfaction of participants.
• Evaluate overall programme impact and gather employer feedback and prepare regular reports analysing KPIs such as placement rates, retention, and satisfaction levels.

Marketing and Promotion

• Working alongside the OPFS Comms Team to actively promote engagement opportunities, activity and outcomes of participants through outreach activities, social media and community events.
• Raise awareness of the programme and its benefits in the community, working with relevant organisations to increase access to the programme.

Other Relevant duties

• Carrying out any other relevant duties related to the above.

Application notes

For further information and to apply, please visit our website.