Home: Explore careers
Community development worker

Community development worker

Community development workers help people to improve the quality of life in their local area.

Average salary (a year)

£16,000 Starter

£36,000 Experienced

Typical hours (a week)

37 to 39 a week

You could work

evenings / weekends flexibly

How to become a Community development worker

You can get into this job through:

a university course
a college course
volunteering

University

You could start by taking a foundation degree or degree in community development, community studies, youth work or social sciences.

Most courses include work placements to help you build up your experience.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

at least 1 A level for a foundation degree
2 to 3 A levels for a degree

More information

College

You could take a college course, which may be useful when applying for a trainee development worker job. Courses include:

Level 2 and 3 Certificate in Community Development
Level 4 Higher National Certificate in Social and Community Work

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

More information

Volunteering and experience

A common way in to this job is to volunteer for local projects. You'll usually receive some training on the job. You may also get the chance to take an introductory part-time college course in community work.

You'll need practical experience of working in the community. You can get this by:

volunteering with a local community group, tenants' association or charity
working in a related career like housing, regeneration, social work or youth work

Your experience and training as a volunteer could help you to find paid work.

You can find local opportunities through Do-it and My Community.

More information

Further information

You can get more details about working in community development from your local council and locality.

What it takes

Skills and knowledge

You'll need:

customer service skills
knowledge of psychology
counselling skills including active listening and a non-judgemental approach
sensitivity and understanding
the ability to work well with others
leadership skills
the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
knowledge of English language
being able to use a computer terminal or hand-held device may be beneficial for this job.

Restrictions and requirements

You'll need to:

pass enhanced background checks

What you'll do

Day-to-day tasks

Your day-to-day duties might include:

finding out about the community's needs, problems and barriers
making sure local people take action and have their say
developing new opportunities and monitoring existing projects
helping to raise public awareness about community issues
building links with other groups and agencies
raising funds
recruiting and training staff and volunteers
planning meetings and events
managing budgets
helping groups to settle differences of opinion on local issues
doing administrative work

Working environment

You could work in the community or in an office.

Career path and progression

You could specialise in a particular issue or broaden your experience and work with different issues or groups.

You could move into management, policy making, or work as a freelance trainer or consultant.

Training opportunities

Apprenticeships In England

We can't find any apprenticeship vacancies in England for a Community development worker right now.

The Find an apprenticeship service can help you with your search, send alerts when new apprenticeships become available and has advice on how to apply.

Courses In England

Youth Work and Community Development Postgraduate Diploma (endorsed)

Provider: Bradford College
Start date: 02 September 2019
Location: Bradford