Senior Social Worker - Children's Services
- Employer
- Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
- Location
- Various locations in Children's Services
- Salary
- £44,539 - £46,549 per annum. Pay award pending. Incremental progression is subject to performance.
- Closing date
- 15 Dec 2023
- Reference
- SOL000005667
View more
- Sector
- Local Councils
- Job Type
- Social work; Children - Qualified
- Contract Type
- Full time permanent
- Working Pattern
- Flexible hours
- Hours
- Full-Time
Job Details
Salary up to £46,549 per year (pay award pending)
Interview date: Rolling dates across November 2023
Permanent full-time, Monday to Friday with flexible working
Hours: 37.0 Hours per Week
For more information, or to apply, please click here.
About the Role
At Solihull Council we are on a transformational journey committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for our children, young people and their families across our local area. We’ve increased investment in our people and services, as well as introducing additional resources that allow us to deliver more positive changes to the borough.
We are looking for Senior Social Workers to provide a social work service to vulnerable children, young people and their families that positively promotes their welfare and life changes.
As part of the Senior Social Worker role, they will also manage complex caseloads, provide coaching, mentoring, and support to Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSW), as well as experienced workers.
We're looking for Senior Social Workers within the following teams:
- Integrated Front Door
- Safeguarding and Family Support
- Care Leavers/Child Asylum
- Children With Disability Team
- Childrens Assessment Team.
As part of this role, you will:
- Be committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for children, young people and their families across the local area.
- Make timely and appropriate responses to and manage assigned work in accordance with Directorate policies and procedures, budgets and relevant legislation.
- Manage a complex caseload that includes: Child in Need, Child Protection and Children Looked After.
- Provide expertise and professional excellence in a specialist field acting as a resource to the team and department to develop practice, engage in research and evaluation of practice.
- Undertake specific service improvement work in other parts of the service as and when required, bringing expertise and innovation to tackle areas of poor performance.
- Provide expertise and professional excellence in a specialist field acting as a resource to the team and department to develop practice, engage in research and evaluation of practice.
- Undertake specific service improvement work in other parts of the service as and when required, bringing expertise and innovation to tackle areas of poor performance.
- To provide detailed reports for statutory reviews, child protection conferences, panels and courts as required.
- Share information, support and develop effective working relationships with team members, professionals in other agencies and other colleagues in the Directorate.
- Promote integrated working, ensuring a need led response that improves the outcomes for children and their families.
- Undertake assessments in line with the “Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families”.
- Carry out regular reviews of individual plans, record outcomes and formulate plans based on those reviews.
- Establish and implement action plans based on the assessed needs of the children, young people and their families, the child/young person in conjunction with their family and other agencies using Signs of Safety.
- Promote partnership and participation with children and their families.
- To actively participate in supervision, performance management and target setting.
- To participate in the Council’s Emergency Plan when required.
Our Offer to You
- Earn one of highest salaries in the region. In a recent independent analysis of pay data across the West Midlands comparing our maximum grade salaries to 13 other local authorities we were proud to learn that our offering is in the top three for both Social Worker and Senior Social worker. Earn up to £46,549 pa as a Senior Social worker.
- Local government pension with 6.8% (subject to annual review/change) section contribution.
- 25 days annual leave rising to 30 days after 5 years of service. We also offer the opportunity to buy up to 10 days of additional leave per year.
- Hybrid working approach across the borough of Solihull, including council buildings and other localities.
- Flexible working hours.
- Our Children's Social Care Academy provides training and coaching for practitioners, with year-round training to progress in your career. Working in partnership with Bournemouth University, we deliver academic programs in-house to help you attain the Practice Education Award at either Honours or Masters level.
- Manageable workloads - our Social Workers have an average of 17 children, giving you the time to give dedicated support where it is needed.
- Cycle to work scheme.
About You
You will be a Professional Social Worker, holding a Qualification and Social Work England registration or pending registration. Evidence of CPD and studying towards a post professional qualification. You will be looking for a new challenge in a caring forward-thinking organisation.
You will be able to apply understanding of all relevant laws and practices. Be a solution-focused and capable worker, with a sound knowledge of current national and regional social work policies/practices. Knowledge of relevant childcare legislation, including a clear understanding of ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’.
Experience of undertaking high quality, analytical and timely assessments to inform the delivery of a range of interventions to promote change. Significant experience of writing outcome focused plans based on identified needs.
Hold a driving licence and own your own vehicle as this is an essential car user post due to the demands of the job.
For disabled applicants, reasonable adjustments will be made where required.
Delivering a high-quality transparent service and committed to ensuring the wellbeing of children, young people and their families.
About Us
We place children and young people at the heart of all we do to enable them to achieve their potential and lead fulfilling lives. This means our workforce needs to be effectively led, supported, and well trained. It’s our aim to offer high-quality supervision and guidance to all team members. This includes supporting you, as you support others in the team.
We pride ourselves on a strong culture of child-focused practice. This means transparency, cooperation, and a real commitment to the young people we will care for.
For more information about this fabulous opportunity to join our team, or to apply, please click here.
These posts involve working with children and therefore if successful you will be required to apply for a disclosure of criminal records check at an enhanced level. Further information about the Disclosure Scheme can be found here: www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check
Supporting documents
Job Description & Person Specification
Company
About Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Solihull is regarded as a popular and vibrant place to live in the UK. As one of the most prosperous towns in the Midlands, almost two thirds of our borough is designated as green belt. We have over 1,500 acres of parks across the borough, with 16 Green Flag Awards. Solihull is very well connected, with great transport links such as the M40, M42 and M6 all close by, and an excellent rail network, plus, of course, an international airport. We are home to the award-winning Touchwood Shopping Centre, National Exhibition Centre, Resorts World Birmingham, and the Resorts World Arena.
It is an exciting time for Solihull, although we are a relatively small local authority (c. 6000 employees), we still have ambitious plans including the development of UK Central and HS2.
Here at Solihull Council, we want to ensure that all our citizens have an equal chance to share in Solihull’s success. We do this by putting our customers at the heart of everything we do.
We recognise that our employees are the key factor in achieving our vision and as such, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals, who want to make a real positive difference to people’s lives and can help us to continue building on our success.
Both Smarter Ways of Working and Employee Wellbeing are key Council Priorities.
The transition to Smarter Ways of Working has presented us with the opportunity to re-think how and where we work. With the option to access portable technology, dependent upon the requirements of the role, a lot of our people are not bound to a single workplace or traditional ways of working, with many choosing to spend a good proportion of their week working from home.
Our people told us that they value flexibility, and that choice enables them to have a better work-life balance, manage family responsibilities, enhance their personal wellbeing, and continue to deliver excellent outcomes for the residents of Solihull.
Our people are our number one asset, and our aim is to have a healthy, happy engaged and thriving workforce.
Wellbeing is at the heart of our employee offer and we are a bronze accredited West Midlands Combined Authority Thrive at Work employer. This recognises our commitment and action in support of employee wellbeing; we are currently working towards silver accreditation.
Unpaid carers carry out a key role within our community and know that this can be challenging when combined with employment. Our Carer’s Policy and the ongoing support we give to our employees has resulted in us winning Employer of the Year 2022 at the Carer Friendly Awards.
We will offer you:
- A friendly, supportive and inclusive working environment;
- Competitive salaries including, for those at the top of their scale, the opportunity to receive a non-consolidated lump sum;
- A range of flexible working options;
- Annual leave starting at 25 days and rising to 30 days after 5 years' service in addition to public holidays with an opportunity to purchase up to 10 additional days' holiday per year;
- A generous flexitime scheme (available for most roles);
- Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme;
- A wide range of learning and development opportunities;
- A range of family friendly policies;
- Employee benefits including subsidised travel passes, Cycle 2 Work Scheme, confidential Employee Assistance Programme and staff discounts.
Solihull Council is proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees – a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit.
As users of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who demonstrate they meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.
Solihull Council has a responsibility for, and is committed to, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
For roles eligible for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check this will be indicated in the advert and supporting recruitment documents. Where the post involves working with children, other vulnerable groups or in a position of trust it is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Further guidance is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945449/rehabilitation-of-offenders-guidance.pdf
Please note, where sufficient numbers of applications are received, we reserve the right to close a vacancy before the advertised closing date. We therefore advise that you submit your application as soon as possible.
- Website
- http://www.solihull.gov.uk/
- Telephone
- 0121 704 6000
- Location
-
Council House
Manor Square
Solihull
West Midlands
B91 3QB
United Kingdom
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