Social Workers - Children with Disabilities team

Newham Council; London; Hybrid; GBP 44,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a vibrant and culturally rich London Borough as a social worker, where you'll make a meaningful impact on children's lives. This role offers the chance to work with diverse families, providing essential support and advocacy. With a commitment to building a fairer community, you'll be part of a dynamic team that values your well-being and work-life balance. Enjoy flexible hybrid working arrangements and a supportive environment that encourages professional growth. If you're passionate about social work and want to contribute to positive change, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Wellbeing service

Oyster card/parking permit

Travel season ticket loan

Cycle scheme

Local Authority pension

Career progression opportunities

Social Care Academy for education

Qualifications

• Qualified social worker registered with Social Work England.
• Experience in statutory children's social work, especially with disabilities.

Responsibilities

• Provide statutory services to children and families with disabilities.
• Manage a varied caseload including new referrals and long-term cases.

Skills

Social Work

Systemic Practice

Restorative Practice

Advocacy

Emotional Resilience

Education

Qualified Social Worker

ASYE Completed

Job description

Want to find out more about practising with Newham? Join us at our Online Recruitment event for qualified social workers:

SIGN UP TO JOIN US AT OUR ONLINE RECRUITMENT EVENT (22/01/2025) HERE

SOCIAL WORKERS – CHILDREN’S

FAMILY SUPPORT AND SAFEGUARDING SERVICE

£44,855 - £55,574 (includes market supplement)

Hybrid role – Newham Dockside E16 2QU

Closing date: 27/01/2025 at 23:59*

*Please apply ASAP as we may interview shortlistable candidates before the closing date

Job Description – SOCIAL WORKER

JOIN US AND HELP BUILD A FAIRER NEWHAM

We’re a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich London Borough with a young population and limitless potential. We’re a challenging yet rewarding place for social work practice to flourish and we are steadfastly committed to our workforce being representative of the families that we work with. We are taking coordinated, meaningful and focused action to develop an inclusive culture because we believe this is at the heart of enabling diversity in all respects, including diversity of thought. We are taking positive actions to challenge all forms of discrimination and injustice to help make Newham a fairer and more equitable place for children and families to live, learn and thrive.

As part of our commitment to building a Fairer Newham we are reimagining the way that we serve the families that we support. We are realising positive change by combining our Assessment and Intervention social work services into our new Family Support and Safeguarding Service. We’re currently looking for practitioners to join our team.

We understand that social work can be a challenging yet ultimately very rewarding profession that makes demands of you personally and professionally. In Newham we value your wellbeing and we aim to ensure that you have a better work/life balance through a remote working offer when you are not visiting children and families, a modern office space for when you’re on site, a flexible working policy where all requests are considered, and a clinical offer to support you to do your best work.

ABOUT THE JOB

Social Work in Newham is underpinned by a culture of Systemic and Restorative practice with high quality relationships at the heart of our approach. Our CwD teams provide statutory services to children and families who live with disability. You will work a varied caseload, including but not restricted to new referrals, CiN, CP, and looked after cases. This is often long term, rewarding work; focusing on sustaining an improved quality of life for the young people and families you work with.

“Our social workers deal with interesting and unique cases, building specialist knowledge which will be invaluable for their futures. Working in CwD is about being an advocate; it’s about giving a voice to those who need it most. We enable families to learn and grow together, improving quality of life for children and young people who might otherwise be left behind.”

• Service Manager Helen Cusick said of working in DCYPS

You get involved in all of the different aspects of social work. I have completed Assessments, worked on CP and CiN cases, gained experience of court work and can be involved in the looked after process. CwD is unique in this respect. It’s also really busy, but in a good way!”

• Sandra B, DCYPS Social Worker

ABOUT YOU

You are a qualified social worker registered with Social Work England and will have completed your ASYE and have subsequent statutory children’s social work experience, including experience supporting children living with disability. We are happy to consider social workers with extensive experience in other statutory social work teams but firm understanding of how SEND can affect families and the processes around children and young people with disabilities is essential.

“Patience and tolerance are key, and you need to be able to be a calming influence on families. You need to be able to connect and build a trust with the families, and have them trust you to be able to find strategies to support them.

You have to be passionate, trustworthy, and empathetic; with a genuine love and passion for helping children and their families, and being that advocate for them.

Finally, you need strong emotional strength and resilience. That is what makes a social worker- that resilience within yourself. It comes from my heart the work that we do.”

• Juliet Y, DCYPS Senior Social Worker.

WHY WORK WITH US?

We’ve been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise social work.

• A commitment to addressing disproportionality wherever we find it.
• We’re a GOOD local authority focused on reaching excellence.
• We offer genuinely flexible/hybrid working as long as children and families are supported.
• Stability: 100% of senior management and 80% of Team Managers are now permanent.
• Our firmly established practice model, Circles of Support, was recently nominated for the prestigious MJ Award for Innovation in Children’s Services and allows systemic, restorative practice to flourish.
• Career progression is possible with Newham; within Children’s social work we promoted 30 internal colleagues in 2023 and 38 colleagues so far in 2024.
• Social Care Academy – our academy received significant praise from Ofsted and 50+ social workers have studied for systemic higher education with us since 2020.
• A competitive salary package that rivals capped agency pay.
• Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
• Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits.
• Travel season ticket loan, cycle scheme, Local Authority pension.

TO APPLY

To apply please submit your CV through our online recruitment portal.

Our social worker roles are CV only application to make things easier for applicants; but please ensure your CV is up to date and lists relevant experience in line with the service you’re applying for to increase your chances of being shortlisted.

Closing date: 27/01/2025 at 23:59*

*Please apply ASAP as we may shortlist and interview candidates before this closing date*

Interviews: ASAP from early January

If you have any questions about the recruitment process or want to discuss joining Newham Children’s Services with one of our managers, please contact our Recruitment Team.

Additional Information

We are committed to creating an inclusive, anti-racist environment for all. When you apply for a job at Newham, your application is considered on its merits regardless of your age, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender identity or sexual orientation. If you share our vision and values, and you bring the experience and skills we need, that’s all that matters to us.

The London Borough of Newham has important responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. If you are appointed to a job that involves working with these groups, you may be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Please attach your supporting statement, explaining in no more than x2 A4 sides why and how you meet the criteria for this role.

We practice anonymised recruitment. Please ensure that you remove all personal information from any documents that you upload.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.