Looked After Children's Senior Social Worker. Job in Knaphill Education & Training Jobs

Surrey County Council; Knaphill; Hybrid; GBP 47,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority in England is seeking a Senior Social Worker to join their Children Looked After Team. This role involves supporting children living in various family settings and assessing safety for their return to birth families. The position offers flexible home and office working arrangements and a competitive salary of £47,884 - £51,175 per annum. You will be responsible for building relationships with children, planning their care, and ensuring their safety. Additional benefits include extensive leave and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

Social Worker England Registration fee paid

Bespoke learning programmes

28 days annual leave (31 after 5 years)

Option to buy up to 10 additional days leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Carer's leave

Paternity and adoption leave

Local government salary-related pension

Lifestyle discounts

Paid volunteering days

Learning and development resources

Qualifications

• Must have a Qualified Social Work degree and SWE Registration.
• ASYE completed, within two years of qualifying.
• Must have UK social work experience.
• Car driver with a valid UK license.

Responsibilities

• Support children living with relatives, friends or foster families.
• Assess safety for children to return to their birth families.
• Build sustainable relationships and plan for children's permanence.
• Prepare reports and attend court when required.

Skills

Qualified Social Work degree

SWE Registration

UK social work experience

Driving license

Education

Qualified Social Work degree

Job description

We have a great opportunity for a Senior Social Worker to join our Children Looked After Team based in Woking, on a 12 month fixed term contract basis.

When not working with our residents in the community, we are keen to support agile working with a combination of home and office working. We are keen to get the balance right of providing flexibility but ensuring you feel connected to your team and the service.

The salary range for Senior Social Workers is 47,884 - 51,175 per annum.

Our Offer to You

• We pay your Social Worker England Registration fee
• Access to bespoke learning programmes via our dedicated Children's Services Academy to empower and enrich your practice
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 31 days after 5 years' service (plus bank holidays)
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Refer a friend payment of 1,000 as a thank you for finding the right Social Worker

Our Progress

We are proud of our recent Good Ofsted judgement, which marks a significant milestone for Surrey. The report highlights that "Children in care have trusting and positive relationships with their Social Workers. Social Workers use creative life-story work to help children understand the reasons why they are in care." And "Staff are well-trained and committed, feel highly valued and are proud to work in Surrey." You can read the full report HERE.

If you are considering your next professional opportunity and looking for an ambitious and highly motivated employer who is continuously striving for better services for children and young people, then our Surrey Children's Services would love to hear from you.

About working with Children Looked After

As a member in the Children Looked After Team, your aim and role will be to support children living with relatives, friends or foster families and perspective adopters or older children living in children's homes and semi-independent units in addition to assessing whether it is safe for our children to return to live with birth families. You will build sustainable relationships with them and plan for their permanence. You will be responsible for ensuring their safety and support them towards independence.

Through regular visits, assessments and reviewing their Care Plan, you will nurture and develop meaningful relationships with these children; understand and interpret their wishes; and champion and support them to reach their full potential. Occasionally, you will be required to prepare reports and attend court. You will be supported in this challenging role with regular supervision and consultations with our Mental Health Focussed Social Worker. You will also find support by working alongside other social workers, family support workers, our stable management team and partnership organisations such as: Health Services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (New Leaf), Independent Reviewing officers and carers. You will also be supported in your career development by your management team and also by the Surrey Academy.

One Voice

In Surrey, you will have a sense of belonging within your individual team but also the wider service areas and directorate. You will receive high quality supervision, as there is a firm commitment towards dedicating time that focusses on the work you do with children and families, to enable you to work creatively and holistically in providing support and protection to children whilst also paying attention to your wellbeing and career development.

Your Application, Our Inclusive Approach

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills and align with our behaviours:

• Qualified Social Work degree and SWE Registration
• Car driver with a valid UK license
• ASYE completed, within two years of qualifying
• UK social work experience

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and Social Workers will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

To apply you will need to upload your CV and answer 3 application questions (no more than 200 words per question):

1. Please tell us what has motivated you to apply for this role?
2. Please tell us about the key skills and experience you will be able to bring to this role.
3. Please tell us about an example that demonstrates how you have built long lasting relationships with children.

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description and Our Life at Surrey handbook to get an insight into working at Surrey.

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to a short virtual call to explore your answers to the application questions (lasting approx. 15- 20 mins) If successful following this, you will be invited for an in-person interview, allowing you to meet the team, check out your potential office and get a feel for what your journey might look like.

We are committed to inclusive recruitment. That's why, if you're invited to a face-to-face interview, we'll share the themes of the questions with you in advance.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on the 01.01.2026.

Contact Us

Our friendly teams could talk your socks off when it comes to all things Social Work. We'd love to hear from you and find out more about what you're looking for so if you'd like to talk to us please just drop a quick message to and we'll get a call arranged.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.