Senior Social Worker - Family Support Team

Bath & North East Somerset Council; Keynsham; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

An exciting opportunity awaits for a Senior Social Work Practitioner to join a dynamic Local Authority dedicated to improving the lives of families. This role involves working collaboratively within a supportive team to deliver essential social care services, focusing on safeguarding and empowering vulnerable children and families. With a strong commitment to relationship-based practice, you will engage in assessments, interventions, and legal proceedings to ensure the best outcomes for children. The organization offers extensive training, a stable team environment, and a chance to enhance your skills while making a real difference in the community.

Benefits

Welcome Payment of 5%

Retention Payments of £2,000

Relocation Package up to £8,000

Comprehensive Induction

Regular Supervision

Extensive Training Opportunities

Paid Social Work England Membership

Flexible Working with Laptop and iPhone

Tri-annual Social Work Conferences

Excellent Administrative Support

Qualifications

• Relevant social work qualification and significant experience required.
• Strong analytical skills for assessments and care plans.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and deliver social care services to children and families.
• Manage a caseload of children with complex needs.

Skills

Social Work Qualification

Safeguarding Experience

Assessment and Reporting Skills

Organizational Skills

Knowledge of Legislative Framework

IT Skills

Education

Degree in Social Work

Tools

Standard Electronic Systems

Laptop

iPhone

Job description

At Bath & North East Somerset Council we have one overriding purpose – to improve people’s lives.

Welcome Payment of 5% of overall salary (pro-rata for part-time roles):

Retention Payments of £2,000 Payable*

Relocation Package of up to £8,000 available*

*Please enquire for more details.

If your passion is around collaborative work with families, centred on building relationships in order to help families develop resilience and make changes for their children, then we are the Local Authority for you. Working with families to keep children at home wherever possible, our dynamic teams work with families from point of contact through to long term support and intervention. Our practice model is underpinned by relationship-based, systemic approaches to facilitate change, alongside trauma informed practice.

Bath and North East Somerset Children’s Social Care are an innovative small Local Authority focused on therapeutic assessment and support. Rated Good by OFSTED, with continued vision and drive to improve further.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Social Work Practitioner (with a Social Work qualification) to join one of our Family Support Teams, within the Safeguarding Outcomes Service. We are committed to being a dynamic and creative Local Authority, working hard to think differently about how we approach our work with families. We are deeply committed to providing tailored high-quality services and well thought out interventions to families to keep children safe. Our practice is values-driven with a strong ethos of child-focused interventions.

About the role:

You will work in partnership with an enthusiastic hub consisting of a Team Manager, Deputy Team Manager, Senior Practitioners, Social Workers, Family Support Practitioners and administrative staff.

This rewarding role will see you responding to, co-ordinating and delivering a range of social care services to children, young people and families in the Bath and North East Somerset area for children subject to Child in Need Plans, Child Protection Plans, Children in Care, and children subject to legal proceedings.

The role will include undertaking single assessments and section 47 child protection investigations. You will work closely with our colleagues across the service and have established partnerships with agencies across health, education, support services and adult services to ensure we can respond as effectively as possible to the needs of children, young people, and their families. This includes working alongside our Family Support Plus team who deliver extensive Family Group Conferences to utilise resources and support within families to keep children safe, as well as tailored interventions including the New Way domestic abuse service.

The Senior Social Worker will manage their own caseload, which will include children and families with complex needs. You will be able to evidence a strong ability to analyse information and formulate outcome focused plans for children and families, as well as a commitment to driving forward care plans and legal work to protect children and promote children’s outcomes through permanency.

Applicants must be confident in writing professional assessments/reports as well as presenting their evidence verbally, including in court proceedings. Applicants need to have very strong organisational skills to manage and prioritise their work effectively and in a timely way and will be committed to working as part of a team to support colleagues in delivering optimum services to children and families.

As a Senior Practitioner, you will have an opportunity to develop your supervisory skills through supervision of a Family Support Practitioner, as well as being able to access Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) training to support a student social worker or taking on a mentoring role for newly qualified social workers on the ASYE programme from other teams.

We are seeking applications from workers who have relevant experience in safeguarding and are looking to enhance and further develop their skills and contribute to service development for vulnerable children in an exciting and dynamic service.

You can expect:

• A comprehensive induction
• Managed caseload; supporting children in need, children subject to child protection plans, and children protected through legal proceedings
• Regular supervision – at a minimum of monthly one to one
• Weekly group reflective supervision to promote thoughtful and creative practice, supported by your peers and managers
• Monthly Peer Circles to ensure strong relationships and support between Senior Practitioners across the teams
• Extensive training opportunities, which include SARI workshops around culturally sensitive practice, opportunities to join a 6-month long training in Systemic Practice delivered by the Centre for Systemic Social Work, attachment-based workshops, and trauma-informed workshops
• Excellent administrative support with 3 admin staff supporting each team
• Tri-annual Social Work Conferences with guest speakers who are experts in the field.
• Paid Social Work England membership
• Access to Research in Practice
• Laptop and iPhone to promote flexible working, to enhance your work-life balance
• Relocation Payments are available
• A stable leadership team
• A stable and committed team, with very low rates of agency workers, and low vacancy rates

To apply you will have:

• A relevant social work qualification
• Significant social work experience
• Knowledge of the legislative framework that governs children’s services
• Knowledge of theory and practice applicable to social work
• IT skills to enable operation of standard electronic systems
• Passion, commitment, and motivation to support the most vulnerable families in our area

Interested to find out more?

If you are interested in this post and require more details after reading the job description or just to chat through the role and what’s involved, please contact Dave Wells, Head of Service, Safeguarding Outcomes on 01225 396193 or email [e-mail]

Please Note this is a rolling advert – applications will be checked weekly and we will shortlist and interview on a rolling basis.