Social Worker - Children in Care

Cambridgeshire County Council; Ely; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council in the UK seeks a qualified Social Worker for their Children in Care Team, focusing on safeguarding children and supporting their development. The position is based in Ely and offers a range of benefits including a wellbeing package and professional development support. Applicants must have relevant qualifications and the ability to work independently. Flexible working arrangements are supported.

Benefits

Wellbeing package

6 days of protected training time

Relocation package up to £8,000

Pay progression scheme

Retention payments up to £7,900

Refer a Friend Scheme

Access to training programs

Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker with registration.
• Ability to work independently across various locations.
• Understand child protection procedures.

Responsibilities

• Act as the lead professional for safeguarding.
• Conduct assessments and develop reports.
• Engage with children and their families.

Skills

Safeguarding experience

Strong communication skills

Empathy

Ability to build relationships

Education

Qualification in Social Work

Job description

Overview

We have an exciting vacancy in the Children in Care North and South Team for a Social Worker. For more information please see the below.

Main duties of the job

We have an exciting vacancy in the Children in Care North and South Team for a Social Worker. For more details about the role please see the below.

About us

We have a wide range of great benefits if you join us as a colleague at Cambridgeshire County Council. To find out more please see below.

Job responsibilities

We are looking for passionate and enthusiastic Social Workers who have the childs voice at the heart of everything they do to join us in our Children in Care Team!

Our aim in Children in Care is to achieve permanence for children and young people who become Looked After and to ensure that they are in a home which meets their needs, reflects their right to safety and security, and encourage them to reach their full potential at every stage of their development. We encourage all Looked After children and young people to meet their full educational potential and to promote both their physical and mental health.

We have vacancies in our South Team based at Noble House in Ely, and our North Team based at Scott House in Huntingdon. Please note the Council is currently undergoing an accommodation improvement programme that will result in some office moves over the next 12-18 months, and the South Team will operate from a different location within the County. In most cases the new location will be close to the current one, but the Recruiting Manager will discuss this with you if you are selected for interview.

If this sounds like a role that suits your skillset, we would love to hear from you! For more information, call Nathalie on 01223 475920 or email [e-mail].

This is a rolling campaign and we check applications daily, dont wait to apply!

In Childrens Services we are working to reshape what we do and how we do it. Why not be part of it?

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We support flexible working requests from day one of employment and so we are open to discussing different working patterns to help you bring your best self to work.

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

Benefits

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
• A relocation package of up to £8,000 (eligibility applies)
• A pay progression scheme to enable you to accelerate through the pay grade as you gain experience and skills
• Scalable retention payments of up to £7,900 over a 3 year period, starting after your first full year of employment
• ARefer a Friend Scheme where if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we pay you an introduction fee of £350
• Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be

For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert.

Job description

What will you be doing?

• Act as the lead professional and ensure all matters in respect of safeguarding are dealt with promptly, effectively and in line with child protection procedures, escalating where necessary.
• Undertake assessments to identify and respond to needs, building on strength and ensuring that analysis is robust and leads to clear outcomes that can be met through SMART targets.
• Engage with children, young people, and their families or carers to develop effective and empowering relationships which facilitate change and improve outcomes.
• Produce reports and plans for a variety of forums, including court, which are child focussed and reflect their experience.

About you

We\'re looking for confident and dynamic individuals who enjoy making a difference in their local community, are curious and spot things that others might not see, enjoy building relationships and like to explore possibilities.

You must:

• Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration
• Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently

For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.

Please note we are not accepting applications from candidates living overseas who require sponsorship to move to the UK

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you dont meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please dont be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network IDEAL and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers

We are not accepting sponsorship applicants.

Person Specification

General Requirements

• Please refer to job description above
• Please refer to job description above

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.