Advanced Social Worker / Senior Social Worker - Children in Care

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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 l istening to young people and putting them at the heart of all that we do and w orking in partnership with families, equipping them with the skills they need to ensure young people live in happy, healthy and safe homes.

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.

What will you be doing?

The Children in Care service includes sub specialisms, with social workers allocated to a full range of children in care, Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), Early Permanence and Care Leavers. Your role will be more weighted towards one specialism based on your skillset, however as a 'one-service' approach, you will have opportunities to develop skills and experience within the wider disciplines within the service; and may be required to support areas outside of your primary specialism.

• We have a strong culture of giving staff the time, freedom and support to explore new and better ways of doing things, so we're looking for individuals keen to use their creativity to deliver high quality, child-centred practices, which ensure the best outcomes for children and families.
• As a case holding social worker you will have the opportunity to travel as some children and young people are placed are out of the local area. Common work will include completing regular visits and assessments, gaining the views and wishes of children and young people and incorporating their views into your daily work. You may also be working with children and young people who are in Private Fostering settings, placed with Kinship Carers and Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers.

What we need from you

• A qualified social worker with relevant registration to practice and a good understanding of asset and strengths based approaches to social work
• Aproblem solver, confident about making important decisions, underpinned by a genuine passion to work collaboratively with children, young people and families to meet their goals and aspirations
• Innovation, positivity and dedication. You'll welcome challenge and embrace change.
• You will demonstrate specialist knowledge of the relevant services, including latest service developments, legislation, regulations and codes of practice.

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 for this post .

You will be required to travel widely to a range of locations within the Authority so you must have a current driving licence and access to a suitable vehicle insured for business use.

How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different

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.

Tim is one of our Team Managers within Children in Care and has progressed his career in South Gloucestershire.

"Working at a smaller authority, you might think that there are fewer opportunities to develop and progress, but I think the opposite is true. We're a relatively small authority and we have strong connections with services managers and heads of service.

We have strong links between teams and there are good opportunities to experience different parts of the service, which is something which I've definitely benefited from."

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 £33,945 - £36,648
• Advanced Social Worker £38,223 - £41,418
• Senior Social Worker £42,403 - £45,441

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.

We also provide up to £8,000 relocation package, flexible working and a suite of employee benefits including a generous annual leave entitlement, pension and Social Work England registration fees reimbursement.

We know our team work best when they have balance in their lives and we offer genuine flexibility to help them achieve that work/life balance.

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.

Please state any preferred working patterns in your covering statement / application if you are seeking part time or reduced hours.

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