Social Care Assessor

We Manage Jobs(WMJobs); Stafford; Hybrid; GBP 34,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council is seeking a qualified assessor for care act duties, delivering strength-based, outcome-focused assessments. The role involves hybrid working with two days in the office, onboarding in office, and potential weekend work in the future.

You will build collaborative relationships with adults, carers and professionals, maintain accurate records, and contribute to ongoing service improvement while upholding safeguarding commitments.

Qualifications

• Understanding of the Care Act context and policy.
• Understanding of disability, older persons, carers and young carers and the impact on individuals and families.
• Knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act.

Responsibilities

• Take responsibility for Care Act assessments and statutory functions.
• Develop collaborative relationships to promote independence.
• Undertake purposeful interactions to understand needs and strengths.
• Analyse information to assess risks and develop risk-management strategies.
• Negotiate outcomes with individuals and families.
• Collaborate with professionals to support needs and independence.
• Maintain professional records in line with policies and procedures.
• Use research findings to inform professional practice.
• Contribute to shaping and promoting Adult Social Care.
• Participate in supervision and continuing professional development.
• Facilitate involvement of colleagues when needed.
• Flexible working and weekend work as required.

Skills

Care Act knowledge

Disability & carers

Mental Capacity Act

IT literacy

Collaborative relationships

Communication skills

Equal opportunities

Tools

Office software

Job description

The First Contact Team, engages with citizens of Staffordshire, carrying out strengths based, outcome focused assessments via the telephone and some in person assessment work across the county for carers and young carers. The Care Act 2014 compliant assessments determine citizens assessed eligible needs while promoting their assets and facilitating their independence. The team is part of the wider Adult Social Care Team within the council. All that we do focuses on how we will develop the right culture, support and skills to keep making a difference for Staffordshire’s communities.

The role is a hybrid / remote working role requiring a minimum of two days per week in the office, full time office attendance is required during onboarding.

At present there is no requirement to participate in a weekend rota, however, should weekend working be required in the future, participation in this rota would be required.

Main Responsibilities

1. Take responsibility for the provision of assessments under the Care Act inclusive of all statutory functions

2. Develop a collaborative relationship with adults and their circles of support in order to promote positive expectations of what they can achieve, understanding their talents, wishes and feelings.

3. As part of the assessment process, undertake purposeful interaction with individuals, families and other professionals to understand the needs and strengths of the individual, their network of relationships and their capacity to consent.

4. Analyse information to understand risks and develop strategies to explain, avoid or manage risk appropriately.

5. Negotiate and agree appropriate, tangible and realistic outcomes with individuals and families.

6. Collaborate with other professionals, within Adult Social Care or other organisations, in order to fully understand need and enable individuals to achieve their outcomes and to be as independent as possible.

7. Maintain appropriate professional records of all key discussions, findings, assessments, opinions (including factual basis) and decisions, including electronic client records and necessary performance data, in line with policies and procedures.

8. Use research findings, service principles and case discussion with peers to inform and develop your professional practice.

9. Contribute to the shaping, continual improvement and promotion of Adult Social Care.

10. Actively participate in peer and reflective supervision, analysis of performance data, learning from complaints and compliments, personal development and continuing professional development.

11. Through regular case reviews with social workers and other specialists in the team, identify when these colleagues need to be involved and facilitate their introduction to the individual and their family, as soon as possible.

12. Flexible working in response to business demand and the ability to work weekends.

13. Undertake any other duties required by Management which are commensurate with the grading of the post.

The Ideal Candidate

For the purpose of shortlisting, the minimum criteria for this role are:

• Understanding of the legislative and policy context of services for adults (Care Act), and findings from enquiries.
• Understanding of disability, older persons, carers and young carers and the impact, for and the impact, for individuals, their families and society
• Knowledge and some experience of applying the Mental Capacity Act.
• Experience of using Information Technology to create documents, data records, diary records, communication and reports.
• Able to develop collaborative relationships with adults with a learning and or physical disability, older adults, carers and young carers and their families relationships with adults with a learning disability and their families, to enable choice and independence.
• Able to promote effective verbal and non-verbal communication with individuals and their family to determine needs, challenge assumptions and enable informed choice
• Clear understanding of and commitment to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice

Please note: The minimum criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes, detailed below.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as yourapplication meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.