Fostering Social Worker

Durham County Council; North East; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional local government council in North East England seeks an experienced social worker to join their Connected Carers team. This role involves assessing new carers, providing supervision, and supporting existing carers to ensure children are brought up in trusting environments. Candidates should have completed their ASYE, possess excellent communication skills, and experience with families. The council offers a competitive rewards package along with flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

27 days annual leave

Local Government Pension Scheme

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• Must have completed the ASYE and have experience working with children, young people, and families.
• Experience in analysis, assessment, and building respectful partnerships is required.
• Ability to build positive relationships with children and families.

Responsibilities

• Assess new Connected Carers and offer supervision to existing ones.
• Discuss training opportunities for Connected Carers.
• Utilize evidence-based assessment and analysis in practice.

Skills

Communication

Relationship building

Assessment and analysis

Education

Social Work Qualification

Job description

Are you an experienced social worker keen to ensure that children and young people, who, unable to live with their parents are brought up by members of their extended families, friends or other people who are connected with them?

We are looking for a social worker for our growing Connected Carers team. This might be the right role for you!

WHAT IS INVOLVED?

You will assess new Connected Carers, and offer advice and supervision to existing Connected Carers, as well as discuss potential training opportunities, ensuring they have the support they need to care for the children who live with them.

WHAT GUIDES OUR PRACTICE?

Our practice is driven by our belief that Connected Carers play a unique role in enabling children to remain with people they know and trust if they cannot, for whatever reason, live with their parents. We are supported in our work by our “how we practice in Durham guide” and the Kinship Care Statutory Guidance.

Our practice model, Signs of Safety helps us to slow down our thinking so that robust evidence-based assessment and analysis guides our practice, and Liquid Logic supports our work.

You can read more about working in children and families social work in Durham here

WHAT DO OFSTED SAY ABOUT US?

You will be joining us at a fantastic time. Inspectors have judged our Children’s Services as outstanding. You can read the full report here

WHAT WILL I NEED TO APPLY?

To apply for this role you will:

• Be a social worker who has completed the ASYE and has experience of work with children, young people and families.
• Have experience of analysis, assessment and building respectful partnerships.
• Be a wonderful communicator with experience of building positive relationships with children, young people and families.

You can read more about the experience, skills and personal qualities we are looking for in the attached person specification.

If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure.

INTERVIEWS

Interviews will be held week commencing 22nd December 2025.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked after young person, care leaver or a veteran.

OUR OFFER TO YOU

We offer a competitive rewards package that includes attractive salaries, a generous annual leave entitlement of 27 days (rising to 32 after five years’ continuous local government service), membership of the excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme, and a range of flexible working arrangements including hybrid working (home and office) where applicable. Explore the full range of rewards and benefits on our website

Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION

We are a proud equal opportunities employer and believe a diverse workforce brings fresh ideas and drives service improvement. We welcome applications from everyone and make employment decisions based on skills and ability. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled people and offer support throughout the recruitment process.

HOW TO APPLY

Please note, we do not accept CVs. All applications must be submitted online via the Northeast Jobs portal. Use the ‘Person Specification’ section of the form to clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential (and where possible, desirable) criteria. Applications that do not evidence the essential requirements will not be shortlisted.

We welcome applications from disabled people and those who are or consider themselves to be neurodivergent.

For guidance on completing your application, visit our website

If you require assistance when applying for this role, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk on 03000 26 27 27, or via email [e-mail].

All correspondence relating to your application will be sent from [e-mail]. Kindly check your spam/junk folder regularly to ensure you don’t miss any updates.

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