Social Worker / Senior Social Worker - Fostering Team

South Gloucestershire Council; Bristol; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 49,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in England is looking for a Social Worker/Senior Social Worker for the Fostering Team. This role involves providing support to fostering families and completing assessments. Candidates must have relevant qualifications and experience in children's services. The position offers a salary range of £36,363 to £48,226 and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

Generous annual leave

Employee wellbeing support

Access to staff discounts

Qualifications

• Must have relevant registration to practice with Social Work England (SWE).
• Experience in children's services role required.
• Ability to supervise or mentor social workers if seeking Senior role.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional supervision and developmental support to fostering families.
• Complete fostering assessments and make recommendations.
• Support families to help children with trauma.

Skills

Problem-solving

Decision-making

Empathy

Communication

Education

Qualified Social Worker

Job description

Overview

Social Worker / Senior Social Worker - Fostering Team

Location Badminton Road

Salary Range £36,363 - £48,226

Hours 37.00

What you’ll be doing

Our social workers make a real difference. Every day they work with families to help children and young people who have had a difficult start in life to achieve their ambitions. You will be listening to young people and putting them at the heart of all that we do and working in partnership with families, equipping them with the skills they need to ensure young people live in happy, healthy and safe homes.

We are pleased to say that we provide an Ofsted rated 'Good' service, but we are seeking additional driven professionals to help us to collectively maintain and build on this for the ongoing betterment of the children and young people of South Gloucestershire.

What you will be doing

The Fostering service includes sub-team specialisms, including Mainstream, Connected Care/Special Guardianship, Assessment and Mockingbird constellations. Although you may be more weighted towards one specialism based on your skillset and service requirements, as a 'one-service' approach you will possess the skills and capability to work within the wider disciplines of a full-service Fostering team.

• Providing professional supervision and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families, connected carers or SGO carers, and working with other professionals where appropriate.
• Completing mainstream fostering assessments or connected care/SGO assessments, making appropriate recommendations, with a view to ensure outcome focused achievements for children, young people and families.
• Supporting fostering families to look after children and young people who have experienced trauma and ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to enable them to undertake this complex task within a family home environment.
• Undertaking fostering reviews, providing high quality, analytical reports and presenting to Panel where appropriate, ensuring that children are receiving the best service possible.

What we need from you

• We require you to be a qualified Social Worker with relevant registration to practice with Social Work England (SWE).
• You will have already successfully completed your ASYE (where qualifying since 2012) and have substantial post qualifying experience in a children’s services role.
• Given the elements of this role, you will be used to solving problems, be confident about making important decisions and are passionate about working with children, young people and families to meet their goals and aspirations.
• If seeking an Advanced Social Worker position, you will be able to demonstrate specialist knowledge of the relevant services including latest service developments, legislation, regulations and codes of practice.
• Those seeking a Senior Social Worker position will, in addition to the above, have experience of supervision or mentoring of social workers or support staff and substantial first-hand experience in a relevant children’s social care team.

What you need to know

• Although this post is advertised as a full-time position, we encourage and welcome applications from experienced social workers who may be seeking part time, job share or flexible working arrangements.
• Please note that due to the nature of this role, it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained.
• You will be expected to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area so you must have a full, valid driving licence with regular access to a vehicle insured for business use or have an alternative suitable means of travel.

Interviews are expected to be held on 6th October 2025.

Benefits and team culture

How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different

As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.

We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.

We invest in the careers of our people, and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps our people make the greatest long-term difference in their work.

What’s special here is the strength of the team ethos. We are a relatively small local authority, so managers know staff well. They can plan their services to ensure teams have manageable caseloads and have effective supervision so feel supported to make decisions which are right for the children and young people they work with.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Ensuring all our staff are given right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect.

A career at South Gloucestershire is an opportunity for you to progress when you are ready.

Any post can become any social worker grade, be it at initial recruitment or through internal progression, our grades and salaries are:

• Social Worker £36,363 - £39,152
• Advanced Social Worker £40,777 - £44,075
• Senior Social Worker £45,091 - £48,226

We have a fluid career progression programme and structure; what does this mean for you?

• You no longer need to wait for a vacancy to gain promotion.
• Apply for progression assessment when you are ready, no restrictions on application windows.
• Earn a higher income for your recognised experience.
• Gain promotion without needing to change teams, managers or employer – fast track your potential.
• Senior roles leading to both managerial or practice specialist careers.
• Gain experience in other teams with secondment opportunities encouraged.

These posts attract a gross lump sum £3,000 ‘recruitment payment’ pro rata offered to enable Social Workers who have already successfully completed their ASYE to join our permanent workforce. This is payable upon successful completion of your probationary period (after approximately 3-6 months) and is subject to eligibility criteria.

These posts are currently eligible for a market factor £3,000 ‘retention payment’ pro rata, payable in November annually to those with two years’ service with the council in Children’s Social Care In an eligible post, inclusive of any ASYE period.

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.

• We\'re building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
• We’re providing essential services across our communities to ensure they are safe and well maintained.

We\'ve achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.

We’re making a difference, be part of it!

To view the full job description, please disregard this link and refer to the official role posting at the South Gloucestershire Council careers site.