Supervising Social Worker

Leaders in Care; Stourbridge; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Leaders in Care is recruiting an experienced Supervising Social Worker to join an established fostering service in Birmingham. You will oversee a caseload of up to 10, supervising foster carers and ensuring children’s needs are safeguarded and met.

The role requires a recognised social work qualification, current registration, and at least three years’ post-qualification experience in children’s services or fostering, with strong assessment and supervision skills.

Qualifications

• Recognised social work qualification and current registration.
• Three+ years post-qualifying experience in children’s services or fostering.
• Experience assessing, training and supporting foster carers.
• Ability to manage complex cases and provide supervision.
• Knowledge of fostering legislation, safeguarding and child protection.
• Strong written and verbal communication with clear reports.

Responsibilities

• Manage up to 10 active and complex fostering cases with oversight.
• Supervise and support foster carers; complete Form F assessments for panel.
• Recruit, assess, approve and prepare prospective foster carers; training delivery.
• Carry out annual foster carer reviews; maintain up-to-date case records.
• Coordinate with local authority social workers and other stakeholders.
• Respond to safeguarding concerns and participate in out-of-hours rota.
• Support student social workers on placement where appropriate.
• Contribute as a flexible team member to service needs.

Skills

Assessment skills

Foster carer support

Documentation

Case management

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Social Work Degree

CQSW / DipSW

SW England registration

Tools

Microsoft Office

Databases

Electronic recording systems

Job description

Supervising Social Worker – Fostering

Location: Birmingham, South Midlands
Salary: £35,146 – £41,736
Hours: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week | 9-day fortnight available
Interview process: Candidates must be available to attend a face-to-face interview

Leaders in Care is recruiting an experienced and motivated Supervising Social Worker to join an established independent fostering service in Birmingham.

This is an excellent opportunity for a skilled Social Worker with fostering or children’s services experience to manage a varied caseload, support foster carers and help secure positive, stable outcomes for children and young people.

You will work as part of a collaborative, supportive team while managing your own workload with a good degree of autonomy.

The role

As a Supervising Social Worker, you will oversee a caseload of up to 10 active and complex fostering cases. You will provide high-quality supervision and support to foster carers, while ensuring that children’s needs are understood, safeguarded and effectively met.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Managing, supervising and supporting foster carers and the children and young people placed with them. Completing high-quality Form F assessments and presenting assessment reports to fostering panel.
• Supporting the recruitment, assessment, approval and preparation of prospective foster carers. Delivering and contributing to pre-approval and post-approval foster carer training.
• Completing annual foster carer reviews and maintaining accurate, up-to-date case records. Supporting the matching of emergency and planned referrals with suitable fostering resources.
• Ensuring placement administration, reports and statutory documentation are completed accurately and on time.
• Working closely with local authority social workers, commissioning professionals and other stakeholders.
• Responding promptly, appropriately and in line with procedure to safeguarding and child protection concerns. Participating in the out-of-hours telephone support rota for foster carers.
• Supporting student social workers on placement, where appropriate.
• Contributing as a flexible and positive team member to meet the needs of the service.

About you

We are looking for an enthusiastic, organised and child-focused Social Worker who can build trusted relationships with foster carers and professional partners.

To be considered, you will need:

• A recognised Social Work qualification: Social Work Degree, DipSW or CQSW.
• Current registration with Social Work England.
• At least three years’ post-qualified experience within children’s services, fostering or related care settings.
• Experience of assessing, training and supporting foster carers.
• The ability to manage complex cases and provide effective foster carer supervision.
• Strong understanding of fostering legislation, regulations, safeguarding and child protection procedures.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write clear assessment and panel reports.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage workload, priorities and deadlines independently.
• Confidence working with IT systems, Microsoft Office, databases and electronic recording systems.
• A full, clean driving licence and access to your own vehicle.
• Flexibility to take part in an out-of-hours support rota and occasional evening or weekend commitments.
• A post-qualifying award and at least two years’ experience assessing and supervising foster carers would be advantageous.

Why apply?

You will be joining a service committed to delivering safe, supportive and stable fostering placements for children and young people. The organisation values professional development, teamwork, high standards of practice and inclusive working.

If you are a compassionate and capable Supervising Social Worker looking for a new fostering opportunity in the Birmingham / South Midlands area,