Home to School Passenger Assistant

Home to School Passenger Assistant Location: Wigan
Service: Local Kitchen, Transport & Road Safety (LTRS)
Reporting to: Area Supervisor
Contract: Part-time, minimum 15 hours per week
Working Pattern: Split shifts
Grade: 4

About the Role We are looking for caring, reliable and compassionate Home to School Passenger Assistants to join Team Wigan.

In this rewarding role, you will support children and young people with special educational needs, learning disabilities and physical disabilities as they travel between their homes and educational establishments.

You may work on a one-to-one basis or alongside several children and young people. Your priority will be ensuring every passenger experiences a safe, comfortable and positive journey.

Transport is provided through taxis commissioned by the Council's Integrated Transport Unit, with passengers picked up and dropped off at their home address.

Key Responsibilities

• Safely assist children and young people on and off vehicles when required.
• Ensure passengers are safely handed over to their educational establishment and safely returned home.
• Support passengers with a range of disabilities and complex needs.
• Promote a calm, safe and relaxed environment throughout each journey.
• Respond appropriately to challenging behaviour and use effective intervention techniques.
• Share successful approaches and interventions with management to support best practice.
• Complete accurate and timely incident reports where required.
• Maintain the safety, comfort and wellbeing of passengers throughout their journey.
• Build positive relationships with children, young people, families, carers, schools and transport contractors.
• Communicate effectively with the contracted taxi driver and wider LTRS team.
• Attend mandatory training, staff engagement sessions and meetings as required.
• Follow safeguarding, GDPR and information-handling requirements.
• Remain flexible when routes or arrangements need to change at short notice.

About You We are looking for someone who is:

• Caring, patient and compassionate.
• Reliable, punctual and professional.
• Confident communicating with children, young people, families and professionals.
• Able to remain calm and positive when dealing with challenging behaviour.
• Able to recognise and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns.
• Comfortable working independently and as part of a team.
• Flexible and able to respond positively to changing requirements.
• Digitally confident and able to complete electronic records and reports.
• Physically able to undertake the duties of the role, including frequent bending, stretching and lifting.
• Committed to ongoing learning and training.
• Proactive and able to use initiative when responding to problems.

Safeguarding Safeguarding is central to this role. You will be responsible for helping to create a secure and safe environment for vulnerable children and young people and must understand the importance of safeguarding procedures.

The successful candidate will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Why Join Team Wigan? This is more than simply accompanying children on a journey. You will play an important part in helping children and young people access education safely, confidently and consistently.

You will join a service committed to the Team Wigan behaviours and values and the Council's 'Progress with Unity' plan, supporting positive change across the borough.

If you're caring, dependable and want to make a genuine difference to children and young people's daily lives, we'd love to hear from you.