Social worker - Kinship Assessment

Sefton; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 43,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£2,000 market supplement

Job summary

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council is seeking social workers for its Kinship Assessment team within the fostering service. The role covers viability assessments of family and friends, Regulation 24 assessments for temporary foster care, full Kinship/SGO assessments and occasional step-parent adoption assessments.

We value candidates with court-related experience, strong child and family assessments, and the ability to meet deadlines while working collaboratively.

Qualifications

• Qualified and registered Social Worker with SWE and post-qualifying safeguarding experience.
• Experience of undertaking court related work and handling child and family assessments.
• Able to meet deadlines and manage competing workloads.
• Open and transparent with families; good team player.

Responsibilities

• Undertake viability assessments of family and friends for Kinship arrangements.
• Carry out Regulation 24 assessments to assess suitability for temporary foster care.
• Conduct Kinship/SGO assessments and occasional step-parent adoption assessments.
• Work to court deadlines and maintain high quality safeguarding practice.

Skills

Court experience

Child and family assessments

Time management

Team player

Deadline oriented

Education

SWE registered Social Worker

Job description

• Employer: Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
• Salary: Grade I SCP 31-35, £43,149 to £47,665 per annum
• Contract: Permanent
• Working Pattern: Full Time
• Hours: 36 hours per week.
• Closing Date: 22/11/2026 at 23:59
• Reference: CSC/26/349786

About the Role

This is a well-established team, which sits within the fostering service. The Service has a settled and stable management team. The work of the team was acknowledged in the Ofsted ILACS inspection in 2025 and contributed to Services for Cared For children being rated as Good.

We are recruiting social workers to work in our Kinship Assessment team. The team undertakes viability assessments of family and friends, Regulation 24 assessments to assess suitability to become a temporary foster carer for immediate and emergency placements, full Kinship assessments/SGO assessments and occasional step-parent adoption assessments.

This is a fast-paced team with many of the deadlines being Court ordered and in recognition of this, successful applicants will receive a £2000 per annum market supplement on top of their salary (subject to review).

We are seeking experienced social workers who can hit the ground running, with experience of undertaking court related work, good quality child and family assessments, working to deadlines, being open and transparent with families, able to manage their time and workloads effectively and a good team player.

Previous experience in a fostering environment is desirable but not essential as your attitude, motivation, and transferable skills is what interests us.

Please note that in order to apply for this postyou must be qualified and registered as a Social Worker with SWE and have post qualifying experience in safeguarding children.

Due to the nature of the role, working arrangements are fairly flexible.

The closing date for this vacancy is Sunday 22 nd November 2026 (or earlier in the event of high volume of applications being received).

Provisional interview dates are Tuesday 1 st December 2026.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

Sefton Council strives to ensure that our workforce is inclusive and representative of our communities. A diverse workforce is important to us, our staff bring with them a wide range of experiences, views, ideas, and innovations, and we are committed to providing an environment that recognises, respects, and values everybody’s identity, where individual differences are strengths and where everyone can thrive and maximise their potential.We are always open to learning and growing as an organisation, and we welcome new ideas and initiatives that promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

We are an Equal Opportunities Employer; all candidates will receive equal treatment. Our decision to appoint will be based upon whether an individual’s skills, experience, qualifications, and abilities make them the most suitable candidate for the role.

Please note that all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for these jobs (as given in the Person Specification) and who want to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme will be invited to interview.

If you are currently in care or have previously been in care, we provide a guaranteed interview scheme for care experienced people if you meet the essential requirements for the role.

Sefton Council values authentic applications that reflect your own experiences, skills and motivations and that sound like you.

AI tools can be used to support your application, such as helping you structure your answers or as a reasonable adjustment. However, your application should remain your own work and accurately represent your own experience and abilities.

To ensure a fair and consistent recruitment process for all candidates, applications that appear to rely excessively on AI-generated content may not be shortlisted.