• Vacancy ID:
    788
  • Closing Date: Closing Date:
    12 April 2026
  • All LocationsAll Locations:
    Birmingham, West Midlands
  • All TeamsAll Teams:
    SISS
  • Advertising SalarySalary
    £24,500 per annum (effective 01/04). The salary once qualified is £34,805.
  • Contract TypeContract Type:
    Permanent
  • Directorate:
    Operations
  • Hours Per WeekHours Per Week:
    35
  • About The Role

  • Location & travel requirements

    This is an office‑based home‑start role working 9am–5pm, Monday to Friday. Daily travel across Birmingham, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire is required, so a full UK driving licence or Access to Work support for travel is essential.

     

    We’re here to support people with sight loss, starting right from their early years. As the largest single employer of Habilitation Specialists in the UK, we work with hundreds of children and young people, with vision impairment, every year - helping them build their skills and confidence to explore the world.

    You could change lives by supporting children and young people with a vision impairment to develop their mobility, orientation and independent life skills.

    What is a Habilitation Specialist?

    A Habilitation Specialist supports children and young people, aged from birth up to 25 years, to become as independent as possible in their day-to-day lives.   

    This involves teaching them how to move around safely and confidently, as well as independent living skills to use at home, school or in the wider world. This ranges from supporting physical development in their early years to navigating streets safely, preparing food, handling money, using technology and managing their self-care routines as they grow older. 

    Meet Kim 

    Meet Kim, who’s in her dream job as a Habilitation Specialist. Kim adapts her lessons so they're fun and engaging for children at different ages and stages. 

    Unable to show this video due to your cookie preferences
     

    As a Trainee Habilitation Specialist, you will be joining one of our well-established Habilitation teams who support children and young people with a vision impairment in a wide range of settings. This will provide you with the opportunity to observe, practice and start to develop your own understanding, knowledge, and skills.  

    In addition to the practical elements, you will also be studying for professionally recognised qualifications at Birmingham City University 

    Traineeship and Role Requirements 

    Qualifications

    • GCSE at grade 4 or above at English Language (or equivalent e.g. GCSE grade C, key skills level 2, adult literacy level 2 or CSE grade 1 will be accepted).

    Plus one of the following:

    • Level 3 NVQ/SVQ 6 or Diploma or equivalent (full award)
    • 2 or more A-Levels/Highers (DD/48 UCAS tariff points) or a BTEC ordinary National Diploma
    • Level 2 NVQ/SVQ 5 or Diploma (full award) plus a written paper (details of content will be provided by the admissions tutor post application)
    • 5 GCSE/Standard /Grade/National 5 passes at grade 4 (grade C) or above plus a written paper (details of content will be provided by the admissions tutor post application).

    The candidate pack contains more information about this role, the recruitment process and more detail relating to the learning elements of this role at Guide Dogs.

    For the complete list of essential and desirable criteria necessary to be successful in this role please see the Person Specification within the Job Description. 

    Information Session

    Guide Dogs Trainee Habilitation Specialist Recruitment Information Session – Monday 23rd March at 6.30pm.

    We’d love for you to join us for an information session all about the role of a Trainee Habilitation Specialist vacancies.  It will provide an opportunity for you to find out more about the role and the training pathway to qualification.  

    Register for the session by following this link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d8773279-5b07-4077-a5f0-93647b0f1539@cb3bcfb5-16c9-4fd2-851a-82287749c564 

    Assessment dates

    Should you be shortlisted you will be invited to an in-person Assessment Day which will take place during week commencing the 9th June 2026.

    Start date

    If you are successful, the role is scheduled to start on 16th August 2026.
  • About Us

  • How to apply 

    Further details on the full role are attached below. When you are ready to apply, submit an online application form via this page.

     

    If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, or require any accessibility support to apply, our friendly recruitment team is ready and waiting to help. Call them on 0118 3540345 or drop an email to [email protected].

     

    As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description. You will also be asked to complete a few job-specific questions as part of this application process, so please be prepared to write your answers to these questions.

     

    If you want to know more about the teams who work at Guide Dogs, you can find it on our Careers Page

     

    Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

     

    Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. 

     

    As a Disability Confident Employer, we are proud, whenever possible, to offer an interview to all candidates that meet our selection criteria, and who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident interview commitment. For more details, visit our careers site.

     

    If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier; in addition, we cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.

     

    Every day is different at Guide Dogs. And no person with sight loss is the same. We work side by side, on our sites and in the community, in schools and on our streets, supporting people to live the life they choose. Our staff therefore also work in different ways to support the delivery of our life changing work.

    Safeguarding

    Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

    At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually, taking into account the nature of the offense, its relevance to the role, and the time that has passed since the incident. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.

     

    Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.

     

    For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

     

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