Social Worker

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Senior Social Worker to join the Brookside Acute Services Young People’s Home Treatment Team. You will manage a complex caseload, provide expert social care input across safeguarding, CPA and MHA processes, and support multidisciplinary colleagues in discharge planning and care coordination.

You will also supervise students, deliver social histories for admissions, and contribute to governance and service development within the forensics context.

Qualifications

• Qualified social worker with registration and authority to practice.
• Experience in safeguarding and MAPPA, and with Section 117 MHA.
• Experience in forensic settings and working with complex children and adult safeguarding cases.

Responsibilities

• Represent Social Work at managerial and clinical meetings (e.g., Bed Management, CPA, Safeguarding Governance).
• Supervise and appraise Social Work students; monitor mandatory training.
• Undertake investigations and complaints; liaise with external Mental Health Social Work Leads.
• Ensure timely completion of social histories informing admission assessments and care planning.

Skills

Social Work

AMHP

Discharge planning

Risk assessment

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Education

Social Work degree

Job description

An exciting opportunity is available for new position for those who are eager to develop their career and gain valuable experience in the Young People’s Home Treatment Team as a senior Social Worker within the Brookside Acute Services.

Carrying a caseload of complex social care cases, representing the Social Work at a range of managerial, safeguarding and clinical meetings. The post holder will also contribute to service specific and Trust wide policy development within their arears of expertise.

The post holder will provide a specialist children’s social care service to a caseload of patients and their carers in Brookside Acute services.

The Senior Practitioner will be required to work flexibly in this role according to the needs of the Service, being able to cover managerial tasks as required, as well as more complex young people casework.

The post holder will write (and present within formal settings) Admission Social History Reports, Reports for CPA Meetings, Managers Hearings and Mental Health Tribunals, and Funding Panels.

The post holder will provide advice to multidisciplinary colleagues regarding social care in the forensic setting, including advice and expertise on Child and Adult Safeguarding, Section 117 MHA, Care Act, Victim issues and MAPPA

The post holder will support social work students on placement in NELFT.

The post holder will represent Social Work at a range of managerial and clinical meetings, e.g. Bed Management meetings, CPA, Safeguarding Governance, Reducing Restrictive Practice.

Key Responsibilities

1. Represent Social Work at a range of managerial and clinical meetings, Social Work at a range of managerial and clinical meetings, e.g. Bed Management meetings, Discharge planning meetings, Safeguarding Governance, Reducing Restrictive Practice.
2. Supervise and Appraise Social Work students including monitoring compliance with mandatory training requirements
3. Undertake Complaints and other investigations
4. Liaise with external Mental Health Social Work Leads, where the Social Workers’ efforts to resolve panel discussions and S117 disputes have proved unsuccessful
5. Ensure that young people have a social history completed to inform the post admission assessment process in accordance with the post admission pathway process and within the required timescale
6. Establish the home Responsible Local Authority for inpatients on admission and elevate to Line Manager when efforts to establish the RLA prove problematic. Maintain links with the Responsible Local Authority and home Community CAMHS for each patient to ensure good liaison and care planning and timely transitions to lower secure environments and discharge from hospital
7. Gather information for needs assessment and risk analysis from young people and others such as family members and external social care and probation agencies. Use this information which is often highly complex and sensitive to provide appropriate reports within deadlines.
8. Undertake assessment and analysis of risk and vulnerability. Develop with multidisciplinary team colleagues risk management strategies and care plans for the treatment and rehabilitation of young people, taking a lead in relation to the individual social care needs
9. Actively and assertively participate in multidisciplinary team meetings, contributing a Social Work perspective, with particular emphasis on discharge pathways and on family and external community issues, planning proactively for suitable aftercare
10. Provide Social Circumstances Reports for Mental Health Tribunals, Managers Hearings, and other statutory meetings.
11. Attend Mental Health Tribunals and other formal settings to represent a Social Work perspective
12. Take a lead role within the multidisciplinary team to ensure that child and adult safeguarding is prioritised and procedures are followed
13. Take a lead role in the multidisciplinary team in enabling patients to exercise their rights.
14. Promote good practice regarding equality and diversity, specifically in relation to addressing racism and discrimination
15. Support families and carers to contribute to patients’ care and refer carers for specialist assistance where appropriate, including a Carers Assessment
16. Contribute to Ward Clinical Improvement Groups and Service Clinical Governance meetings
17. Maintain records in a timely and accurate manner in accordance with Trust policies and Social Work England expectations
18. Liaise with the RLA to ensure that they carry out their statutory functions, such as undertaking Care Act assessments, at the appropriate point
19. Undertake the role of Appropriate Adult,
20. Contribute to the development of any student social workers placed within the team
21. Where the post holder is an AMHP to a partner local authority AMHP rota, and attend appropriate training and supervision
22. To take on local lead specialist functions within the team as agreed with the Matron, including short projects and training delivery
23. Maintain a small clinical caseload of complex social care cases
24. Monitor compliance with mandatory training within the team and identify personal and professional development opportunities for staff through the appraisal process
25. Effectively manage performance within the social work team and elevate any concerns where appropriate.

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being
properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters
will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will
undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which
will include mandatory training, systems training and the
allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will
have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior
managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on
engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The
induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable
to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility
under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic
salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not
included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

For an informal chat or to arrange a visit, please contact:

Name: Emma Berry

Job title: Brookside Service Lead

Contact Number: 0300 555 1156

Email: [e-mail]