Chaplain & Keyworker (Community and Acute)
At a glance
- Band
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Full-time, Job share, Flexible working, Compressed hours
- Posted
- 20/08/2026
- Closes
- 06/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This role is for a chaplain of any faith or belief, focusing on supporting families of children who are palliative or have been bereaved. The post holder will provide holistic emotional, pastoral, spiritual, and religious care, helping families find meaning and navigate difficult situations. They will also act as a keyworker for the child death review process and support staff with training and wellbeing. The role involves building community links and participating in an out-of-hours on-call rota.
Essential criteria
- Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent work or life experience) with demonstrable learning in a relevant field such as counselling, pastoral care, psychology, psychotherapy, religious studies or theology.
- Endorsement to practice as a healthcare chaplain by a recognized/established sponsoring faith community or belief group.
- Evidence of annual continued professional development relevant to healthcare chaplaincy to Council of Professional Chaplains & Pastoral Carers (formerly UKBHC) standards.
Desirable criteria
- Post-graduate qualification (or equivalent life or work experience or working towards) with demonstrable outcomes of learning relevant to healthcare chaplaincy
- Registration, or ability to be registered with the UKBHC
- Qualification (or working towards) in pastoral supervision (such as those recommended by APSE), coaching, management or leadership
- At least 2 years full time experience, or equivalent, of working as a designated healthcare chaplain
- Experience of supervising volunteers
- Demonstrable knowledge of tenets of own faith/belief tradition
- Knowledge of and engagement with faith/belief traditions beyond own
- Evidence of proactive practice of CPD
- Knowledge of current research in healthcare chaplaincy
- Evidence of offering spiritual care beyond own faith/belief boundaries with evidence of commitment to an inclusive approach to chaplaincy
- Evidence of reflecting critically on the practice and experience of providing pastoral care, and on finding/searching for meaning through exploration of spiritual issues encountered in sickness, mental health, dying, death and bereavement
- Evidence of the ability to manage time prioritizing workload including a commitment to continuity of service provision
- Engagement with safeguarding, information governance, audit, service evaluation or research
- Training in research, audit and service evaluation
- Ability to deliver training at a variety of levels
- Ability to adapt ritual (which can come from a variety of sources) in an appropriate style to context in clinical environments
- Cultural competence and religious literacy in diverse religious, spiritual and pastoral traditions
- Ability to lead reflective practice
- Act as an informed theological/philosophical and ethical resource in complex pastoral and clinical situations
- Evidence of self-care to enhance resilience or manage stress - e.g. meditation, prayer, exercise, journalling, reflective supervision
- Evidence of working collaboratively, contributing to team and sustaining positive working relationships with colleagues
- Evidence of establishing and sustaining relationships in pastorally complex and challenging environments, demonstrating empathy and compassion while taking personal responsibility and initiative
- Evidence of fluent and effective communication in speech and writing
- Evidence of practising professionally within recognised boundaries in \pastorally diverse settings (as set out in the Code of Conduct)\
- Ability to create and lead ritual or other spiritual process in a way that is sensitive to the pastoral context and faith/belief traditions of those present\
- Possession of a professional chaplaincy identity rooted in ones one religious/spiritual/pastoral heritage that integrates professional values and behaviours, skills and specialist knowledge\
- Emotional availability, cultural humility, and a positive use of power and authority, within clear and responsible boundaries\
- A high degree of personal stability and resilience to cope with significant stress on a sustained basis\
- Ability to apply theoretical knowledge or ethical issues relating to health care\
- Commitment to work within UKBHC Code of Conduct\
- \
- Other\
- \
- Essential\
- \
- Access to own transport\
- Ability to attend an urgent on-call referral, out of hours, within 60 minutes\
- \
- Person Specification\
- \
- \
- Qualifications\
- \
- Essential\
- \
- Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent work or life experience) with demonstrable learning in a relevant field such as counselling, pastoral care, psychology, psychotherapy, religious studies or theology.\
- Endorsement to practice as a healthcare chaplain by a recognized/established sponsoring faith community or belief group.\
- Evidence of annual continued professional development relevant to healthcare chaplaincy to Council of Professional Chaplains & Pastoral Carers (formerly UKBHC) standards.\
- \
- Desirable\
- \
- Post-graduate qualification (or equivalent life or work experi
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 6 at £37,338 – £44,962 a year, across England.
This advert: £39,959 – £48,117 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 10d ago · Closes in 8d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
Job summary
_We hope to appoint a chaplain of any faith or belief to join our team. This post will have particular responsibility for supporting families of children who are palliative or who have been bereaved. The post will be based in the SWFT chaplaincy team but will work closely with the community children's nursing team and will be part of their MDT. They will also work closely with the acute paediatric nursing team, based in the hospital._
_They will provide holistic, emotional, pastoral, spiritual and sometimes religious care to families who are dealing with intense challenge and distress. They will help families to find meaning in what is happening for them and their children and ensure parents have a voice in decision-making about their child's care. They will support staff who care for very sick and dying children, and provide training for bereavement support, compassionate conversations, and staff wellbeing. They will help staff in the identification of spiritual and religious need._
_They will build links with local charities and with faith communities and will signpost families to relevant support. They will help families to make meaningful rituals before or after their child's death. They will support with funeral planning, and with memorials._
_For children who die in the care of the CCNT, they will act as keyworker for the child death review process, whereb
Join the community to read the full pack, responsibilities and person-specification in one place.
Your seat is reserved — activate it
CareerHive is included with your CareerHive Skool community membership. If you haven't claimed your account yet, join the community (or sign in with the same email you joined with) to unlock the full advert, the apply link, HiveMind AI interview & application suite, your private vault, and daily sponsorship alerts.