I enjoyed working for lookahead and would recommend them to others. Their pay is slightly above average. Issues after I left with them Messing up my pay but that's a head office issue rather than a front line matter

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Not great

Children's Support Worker (Former Employee) - London - 5 May 2022

Wouldn’t recommend due to own experiences, I didn’t feel supported. My first manager was amazing however we got a new one and I didn’t feel genuine support. Some of the people higher up seem to not care about what happens to you if they mess up and some can be quite disrespectful.

Pros

I had a great team next to me, not including management

Cons

Management

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Insights into Look Ahead Care And Support

Based on 11 survey responses

Areas for improvement

Trust in colleagues
Sense of belonging
Fair pay for job

Terrible place to work, awful boss

Support Worker (Former Employee) - Cannon Street road - 20 April 2022

Really not a good experience, staff are nice but everything else is horrendous. So disorganised, terrible management. Really not understanding. Place is falling apart, all the staff are leaving

Pros

None

Cons

Everything

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Too much work, never ends, too demanding

Income & Housing Officer (Former Employee) - London - 8 March 2022

Underpaid and overworked. Too much responsibility! There's always something to do next and they don't have proper systems in place. Everything is very lousy and you always have to do things that are not in your job role.

Pros

Flexibility

Cons

Too much responsibility

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Very professional and teamwork is at its best

Personal Support Assistant (Current Employee) - Redbourn - 6 September 2021

My working experience with Look Ahead has been the best compared to other companies I have worked for. Staff are treated equally, lots of training and management courses offered from a low grade. Lots of rewards awarded both to staff and customers.

Pros

PPE always available

Cons

Lots of overtime, can be PSA to work in other projects

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Great organisation, with opportunity for movement and growth internally.

Manager (Former Employee) - Anerley - 26 August 2021

Lots of available in and external. Opportunity for growth and development. 1-1 supervision regually. Opportunity for movement within the organisation.

Pros

Opportunity to move up the ladder with internal movement

Cons

Sometimes bad management collusion.

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I loved working with lookahead

Support Worker (Former Employee) - Westminster, Greater London - 21 August 2021

I learned alot and gained alot of experience. I enjoyed working with the customers and the staff and felt that I made a difference I feel that they took a chance on me and it helped me with my career in this sector.

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Busy and fun at times

Support Worker (Current Employee) - London - 6 June 2021

It is alright place to work, this usually depends on the service. There are challenges like sometimes been under staffed which makes the job that much harder. The pay is very poor compare to the workload and the kind of client group we have to deal with.

Pros

Free food

Cons

poor management

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Team and clients are what makes it count

Manager (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 28 January 2021

Staff work really hard- sadly it's not reflect in their salary.Burn out and turnover is extremely high in this organization.The company very much runs like a business, and the people at the top don't seem to understand the challenges most services face- they try to make changes but without understanding the support workers roles and the needs of clients- their changes are half-hearted, impulsive temporary attempts to fix. A real shame, the organization seemed to start to only acknowledge a tiny bit staff's work on the front line when the pandemic started. The organization could learn a lot from it's competitors including managing COVID-19 in services. Heavy reliance based on managers of services to know what to do during the pandemic.

Pros

the team and the clients we support

Cons

Lack of staff development and essential training opportunities for their roles

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Terrible

Contract Manager at Look Ahead Care and Support (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 27 November 2020

Filled with management that are egocentric and only out for themselves. They don't appreciate hard work of their staff and practice a massive blame culture rather than learning from their mistakes instead take people down the capabilities/disciplinary process, taking no responsibility for what part they played in the situation. Some people are lovely and supportive. The customers are often forgotten and its all about money and keeping commissioners happy.

Pros

Progression

Cons

Management, Head Office and money orientated

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Jobs at Look Ahead Care And Support

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Islington MHAP - Support Workers

A disorganised circus

Housing Support Officer (Former Employee) - Whitechapel, Greater London - 1 October 2020

Housing, support and care. None of the hats fit that your expected to wear on a daily basis. Rat infestation was constant. Abuse from customers constant because of poor management. No staff provision whatsoever. No incentive for doing 15 lots of medication on your own. PSAs were useless and avoided all responsibility. Utter chaos and a buck passing mentality throughout all management and most of the staff. With shifts going to family members.

Pros

None

Cons

Unsocial hours. Unpaid responsibility. Terrible management.

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Working at Look Ahead

Assessment Support Worker (Current Employee) - London - 2 September 2020

Training is provided but knowledge of the job was mostly from other staff who also hard very little experience as well. Sometimes training can be discussed but it never actually happens .

Pros

Free food staff outings manager sometimes buys staff lunvh

Cons

Alot of the time you get yelled at or insulted for things that have nothing to do with yiu

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Company with Politics & Hostile work place

Specialist Support Worker (Former Employee) - Elephant & Castle, Greater London - 15 August 2020

So much politics, lack of career progression, over worked, lack of flexibility, immature managers and much more where I've witnessed bullying. This company's high turnover of staff is shocking.

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Great for career progression

Manager (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 20 July 2020

I worked for LACS for a total of 8 years and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I started as a support worker, then specialist, then team leader and then manager in a variety of different services across London. I had some fantastic colleagues and some staff who went over and beyond, who really did work exceptionally hard, while I inherited some poor staff. A big issue is that you end up stuck with poor performers because the HR process was so difficult to get rid of them.

Pros

‘Some’ wonderful staff

Cons

Working 60+ hours due to complexes of service.

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Very disappointed

Support Worker (Former Employee) - Tower Hamlets, Greater London - 8 March 2020

Been with this company for many years and IM very disheartened over the years and have had some very supportive managers, however, am disgusted with new management who were unsupportive , unprofessional bullies who treated staff like rubbish, if anything goes wrong, staff are always blamed and they’re quick to put you on capability or disciplinary!! Pay is disgusting considering they work you so hard!!

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Productive but stressful environment

Team Leader (Current Employee) - London - 2 March 2020

Look Ahead is a very good company when promoting people. However, the pay is low for what you are expected to do. It is a good charity that cares a lot about its workers. However, there are areas of improvement which is why the turnover for staff is extremely high leaving services understaffed

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5 out of 5

Specialist Support Worker (Former Employee) - London - 1 March 2020

During my employ the whole process was Very good including My induction..which included thorough DBS checks..and Screening...Excellent training in all areas..of support for vulnerable persons..with the emphasis on a personal care approach (PCA) Peer support and advocacy in a Sometimes forensic setting toenable

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Supportive management

Support Worker (Former Employee) - East London, Greater London - 14 January 2020

My team and the management were extremely supportive, however, some colleagues were successfully avoiding doing their job. The safety of the staff and the residents was very well maintained and all the procedures were clear, all the accidents/incidents were properly dealt with and recorded without hiding anything. The clients were verbally abusive time to time, do not expect gratitude, the support is taken as granted. I did not enjoy the work pattern as almost every day I worked different shifts (there were MANY possible shifts). You never feel bored as there is no the same day. I enjoyed the job, thought I felt hopeless to change the situation of the clients as their problems were too complex.... The training opportunities were great and the staff was encouraged to take it. The staff were listened and their opinion was important, however, it may differ from the current situation and my review is only about the project I worked for. P.S. the communication with HR was horrible, they did not reply to some my emails, were rude over the phone. I had to contact them as they supposed to order my DBS. It took them over one month and the whole employment process took over 2 months.

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stressful but productive.

Specialise Support Worker (Current Employee) - London - 2 December 2019

As I am working with young at risk adults, who have either been in care or been declared homeless, it can be stressful when supporting them in finding accommodation, employment or education. I have developed my skills in finding the appropriate benefits available to my customer's and I have been successful in helping some of them find the own accommodation and employment. Also within 6 months of being employed i have been promoted to a Specialist Support Worker.

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I’m not happy in my work currently

Specialist Support Worker (Current Employee) - Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire - 23 November 2019

I’ve had a £300 pay rise since starting, contracts manager is not supportive to staff. The work life balance is not very good, we work 6 and 7 straight shifts in a week as part of the rolling rota.

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An environment with loads of opportunity

Service Manager (Current Employee) - East London, Greater London - 10 October 2019

Great work environment, there is a lot to do but it helps prepare staff for better opportunity. There is a lot to learn in short space of time. There is also training opportunity to develop