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Moreways Healthcare
Premier Care
Complex Needs • Autism • Mental Health • Supported Living
Complex Care Support Worker
Provide structured, individualised support to adults with complex needs, helping people build stability, confidence and greater independence within Moreways Healthcare’s supported living and community services.
About the role
Moreways Healthcare supports adults whose needs may be more complex than can be addressed through generic support alone.
This can include autistic adults, people with learning disabilities, severe or enduring mental health needs, complex emotional needs, dual diagnosis, behavioural risks or individuals progressing from hospital or more restrictive environments into supported living.
As a Complex Care Support Worker, you will provide structured and consistent support according to each person’s individual plan. You may work with people who require enhanced staffing, more intensive engagement, detailed risk-management arrangements or a highly personalised approach to communication and daily routines.
The purpose of the role is not to take over a person’s life. It is to provide the right level of support while developing confidence, capability, communication and independence wherever possible.
Individualised
Understand the person’s communication style, strengths, routines, triggers and support needs rather than applying a generic approach.
Consistent
Follow agreed support strategies across different shifts so the person experiences predictable and coherent support.
Enabling
Build skills and confidence rather than automatically completing everyday tasks on the person’s behalf.
Risk-Aware
Recognise significant changes and follow agreed risk-management, safeguarding and escalation arrangements.
Key responsibilities
- Provide individualised support in accordance with each person’s support plan, risk assessment and agreed outcomes.
- Develop respectful, consistent and professionally boundaried relationships with the people you support.
- Understand individual communication needs and use agreed communication strategies.
- Support daily routines in a way that promotes predictability, confidence and independence.
- Support individuals with shopping, meal preparation, household routines and other independent-living tasks where these form part of their plan.
- Encourage people to make choices and participate actively in decisions about their own support.
- Support access to community activities, appointments, education, volunteering and other meaningful opportunities where appropriate.
- Support medication processes where formally authorised and only after appropriate training and competency assessment.
- Recognise changes in mental health, physical wellbeing, behaviour, communication or engagement.
- Use agreed Positive Behaviour Support, de-escalation or proactive support strategies where relevant.
- Understand known triggers, early warning signs and protective factors.
- Respond appropriately to episodes of distress, behavioural escalation or increased vulnerability.
- Follow safeguarding procedures and promptly report concerns relating to abuse, neglect or exploitation.
- Maintain clear, factual and contemporaneous support records.
- Participate in effective handovers and share relevant information with colleagues.
- Respect the person’s home, privacy, belongings and personal space.
- Work collaboratively with Service Managers, colleagues and external professionals.
- Complete required mandatory and service-specific training.
Complex support does not mean unnecessary restriction
Some people require intensive or highly structured support because of the interaction between their mental health, autism, learning disability, communication needs, behavioural presentation or identified risks.
The fact that somebody has complex needs does not mean that staff should automatically take control of decisions or restrict ordinary choices.
Moreways Healthcare expects staff to use the least restrictive approach possible while following any specific restrictions or safeguards that have been formally agreed within the individual’s support and risk-management arrangements.
You should understand why a particular strategy is in place, apply it consistently and seek review where the person’s needs or level of independence have changed.
How complex support works
Understand
Learn the person’s communication, routines, strengths, sensory needs, risks and preferences.
Anticipate
Use proactive support to reduce avoidable distress and identify changes before they become crises.
Support
Provide consistent assistance while encouraging the person to do as much as they can for themselves.
Progress
Review outcomes and support increasing independence where this can be achieved safely.
Autism and communication
Autistic people may experience communication, sensory and environmental differences that require staff to adapt their approach.
This might include using clearer language, allowing additional processing time, following predictable routines, reducing unnecessary sensory demands or using individual communication tools.
Staff should not assume that distress or behaviour has the same meaning for every person. Understanding the individual’s usual communication and presentation is essential.
Where specialist communication or behavioural strategies are in place, these should be followed consistently and reviewed through the appropriate professional channels.
Areas you may support
Positive Behaviour Support
Some individuals may require Positive Behaviour Support as part of their overall support arrangement.
The purpose of PBS is not simply to react to behaviour once it occurs. Staff should understand the factors that may contribute to distress or escalation and use proactive strategies to improve quality of life and reduce the likelihood of incidents.
This may include changes to communication, routine, environment, choice, meaningful activity or how staff respond to early indicators of distress.
Any restrictive intervention must only be used where formally authorised, properly assessed, lawful, proportionate and within the worker’s training and competence.
Mental health and complex risk
Some people supported by Moreways Healthcare may experience significant mental health needs alongside autism, learning disability or other complex needs.
Others may have forensic histories or be progressing through structured step-down arrangements, including Section 37/41 conditional discharge, Section 117 aftercare, MAPPA involvement or forensic community-team oversight.
You should understand the arrangements relevant to the individual you support and recognise changes that may indicate increased risk or deterioration.
Staff are expected to follow agreed plans accurately, document relevant information and escalate concerns through the appropriate channels rather than making clinical or legal decisions outside their role.
Supporting independence
Intensive support can unintentionally create dependency if staff routinely do more than is necessary.
You should therefore consider what the person can do independently, what they can do with prompting or guidance and what genuinely requires direct staff assistance.
Progress may involve small steps such as preparing part of a meal, making a choice independently, tolerating a change in routine, travelling with less support or communicating a need more effectively.
These everyday gains can have a significant effect on long-term independence and quality of life.
Working with the wider professional team
Complex support often requires partnership with external health and social care professionals.
Depending on the person, Moreways Healthcare may work alongside social workers, care coordinators, community mental health teams, learning disability teams, autism specialists, psychologists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, commissioners and other professionals.
Your everyday observations can contribute important information to reviews and professional decision-making.
You should therefore record information accurately, follow through agreed actions and communicate concerns through the appropriate channels.
What we are looking for
Experience and training
Previous experience supporting adults with autism, learning disabilities, complex mental health needs, behavioural risks or forensic histories would be advantageous.
Experience within supported living, Positive Behaviour Support, community mental health, learning disability services or other complex-needs environments would also be relevant.
A relevant Health and Social Care qualification is welcomed but practical experience, values, judgement and willingness to learn are also important.
You must have sufficient written and digital skills to complete electronic records and communicate relevant information accurately.
Moreways Healthcare will provide mandatory induction and training together with any additional service-specific learning required for the people you support.
Staff must not undertake medication, behavioural, moving-and-handling or other specialist interventions unless these form part of the role and the required training and competency assessment have been completed.
Why join Moreways Healthcare?
- Work within specialist supported living focused on independence rather than institutional care.
- Support adults with autism, learning disability, mental health, complex and forensic needs.
- Develop practical experience in Positive Behaviour Support, communication and complex risk management.
- Work alongside experienced support staff, managers and external multidisciplinary professionals.
- Receive role-specific induction and training appropriate to the individuals you support.
- Develop towards Senior Support Worker, Recovery Worker, Forensic Recovery Worker, PBS-focused or leadership roles as your experience grows.
Safeguarding and safer recruitment
Moreways Healthcare is committed to safeguarding adults who use our services and expects every employee to share that responsibility.
Appointment will be subject to the appropriate safer-recruitment checks for the role, which may include an Enhanced DBS check, employment history, references, identity and right-to-work verification and other required checks.
Moreways Healthcare is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from people with the skills, values and experience required to perform the role safely and effectively.
What excellent complex support looks like
Good complex support is calm, predictable and purposeful.
It means staff understand the person well enough to anticipate difficulties, adapt communication, reduce avoidable distress and recognise when something genuinely changes.
It also means never allowing the complexity of someone’s needs to obscure their abilities, preferences, rights and potential for further independence.
If you are patient, reliable and interested in supporting adults with autism and other complex needs through structured, person-centred practice, we would welcome your application to join Moreways Healthcare as a Complex Care Support Worker.
