Children's Qualified Social Worker - Family Safeguarding

Telford and Wrekin Council; Telford; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 51,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading local authority in Telford is seeking a qualified Social Worker for Family Safeguarding, offering competitive salaries, flexible working, and a supportive environment. The role requires engagement with children and families, focusing on safeguarding and improving outcomes. Join an outstanding team recognized by Ofsted for exceptional practices and become part of a dedicated service making a real impact in the community.

Benefits

Competitive rates of pay

Local Government Pension Scheme

Free on-site parking

Generous leave entitlement

Flexible and mobile working policy

Qualifications

• Registered Social Worker with experience in child protection.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Proficient in use of electronic assessment tools.

Responsibilities

• Deliver exceptional social work practice for children and families.
• Engage with children and their families to improve outcomes.
• Participate in multi-disciplinary team discussions and case reviews.

Skills

Understanding of child safeguarding

Strong communication skills

Ability to listen to children's views

Ability to practice care and kindness

Education

Registered with Social Work England

Relevant social work qualification

Job description

Overview

Children's Qualified Social Worker - Family Safeguarding
£42,652 - £45,271 per annum (Salaries include market factor where applicable)

Children's Experienced Social Worker - Family Safeguarding
£47,362 - £50,339 per annum (Salaries include market factor where applicable)

ASYE - SO2: £37,280 - £39,152 per annum

Full reimbursement of Social Work England registration fee

Essential Car User Allowance

Do you aspire to work for an Outstanding Local Authority?

And can you peel back the layers...?

Children and young people are at the heart of all we do. The qualities that are important to them are:

• Understanding that there are layers to a person, a practitioner’s ability to see the person as a whole
• The ability to practice care and kindness
• Being able to really listen to children and young people — what are their views, hopes, aspirations and worries
• The ability to communicate well

Our family are usually the people closest to us. Family life is not just about legal ties — it goes far deeper than that. It concerns our most important biological, social and emotional relationships. We hold the value that children and young people are best cared for by their birth families and extended networks, and this underpins our family-first ethos. When this cannot be achieved, we ensure that children and young people’s relationships are maintained in their best interests. Birth parents and extended networks are included within the decision-making processes, and we provide alternative care which is nurturing and fosters a sense of belonging.

There has never been a more exciting time to join our service. Alongside making a difference to the lives of individuals and families, we have adopted exciting new strengths-based approaches and are passionate about delivering continuous service improvement.

Here in Telford & Wrekin, we implemented a new approach to Child Protection services developed by Hertfordshire County Council, and began to deliver their innovative practice model of Family Safeguarding.

Family Safeguarding is a model of system change where specialist adult practitioners are embedded within Family Saf safeguarding teams of Social Workers. The intervention supports a whole-system change to a local authority’s child protection approach for children up to adolescence, focusing on supporting the needs of children and adults in order that children can safely remain within their families.

This involves:

• Establishing multi-disciplinary teams where specialist adult practitioners in domestic abuse, mental health and substance misuse are co-located with Social Workers under a unified management structure. This enables a multi-disciplinary whole family response through direct assessment and support from specialist adult practitioners as well as multi-professional group case discussions and sharing of knowledge and skills across disciplines.
• Use of Motivational Interviewing (MI) as a framework for practice for all staff. Staff undergo training and ongoing skills development workshops and follow a structured solution-focused intervention programme with families which aims to work collaboratively with families and increase engagement.
• Using an electronic assessment workbook which provides a single data tool for all professionals and links to the work programme. This increases ease of information sharing between professionals and reduces social worker time spent recording and sharing information.

Our brilliant practitioners are at the heart of our ambitious approach to improve outcomes for children and families in Telford and Wrekin: from tailored in-house training to the West Midlands Teaching Partnership, we ensure that our workforce have access to the best development opportunities.

Here at Telford and Wrekin Council, we have been judged to be outstanding overall in terms of effectiveness (the only Authority in the West Midlands with this judgement) for the second time! Here’s what Ofsted had to say when they visited us in April 2024:

• Children and families in Telford and Wrekin continue to experience exceptional social work practice when they are in care and as care leavers.
• Participation is a real strength and children’s and families’ involvement is threaded throughout service developments.
• Social workers know their children well and have developed effective relationships with parents.
• The virtual school is a significant strength in Telford and Wrekin.
• Care leavers benefit from an extremely comprehensive and generous local offer.
• Corporate parenting is a strength in Telford and Wrekin.
• The stability of the experienced workforce creates the perfect environment to benefit children and care leavers. As a result, social workers maintain relationships with children who know them over many years, which contributes to children’s feeling of belonging.
• Staff enjoy working in an environment where senior leaders are visible, and they feel valued.

There has never been a more exciting time to join our service after the recent publication of our Ofsted Inspection!

If you think you can meet the challenge and would like to find out more about this role, please see our recruitment web pages or contact us by emailing [e-mail] or by calling 07731 42637.

Please click on the links below to view the job description and person specification.

Posts working with children or vulnerable groups will be subject to an appropriate criminal records check. It is an offence to apply for a role that involves engaging in regulated activity with children and adults in vulnerable circumstances if you are barred from working with one or both of these groups.

A CV template is available if you do not already have a CV.

We value our employees and offer staff rewards and plenty of opportunities for personal development and career progression including:

• Competitive rates of pay
• Automatic access to a secure, flexible and tax efficient Local Government Pension Scheme
• Staff benefits and discounts including salary sacrifice schemes
• Free on-site parking
• Generous leave entitlement (24 days rising to 32 days) plus 8 bank holidays and an additional concessionary day
• Free access to our employee assistance programme and confidential counselling
• Flexible and mobile working policy - we are well adapted to a hybrid model of working which includes a combination of time spent in the office and at home
• Private lettings are available from Nuplace who give priority to social work professionals

Find out further information about working at Telford & Wrekin Council including our full list of benefits.

Please note that Telford & Wrekin Council do not hold a sponsorship licence for visas.