Designated Social Care Officer (DSCO- SEND and Children’s Social Care)

About the Team and the Role:

The post of Designated Social Care Officer (DSCO) will be based within the Children With Disabilities Team but will provide advice, guidance and support for children, families and professionals across all areas and levels of Children’s Social Care. This post is an exciting new opportunity aimed at strengthening collaborative working between Education, Health and Social care.

The role of the DSCO is to ensure high quality social care input and engagement with the Education, Health and Care needs assessment and planning process with a particular focus on how different roles are supporting coordination of social care input into Education, Health and Care Plans.

Social care is a complex system and Children and Young People with SEND may have many different assessments or plans at any one time, such as:

• Early help
• Child in need
• Child protection
• Children Looked After
• Pathway plans, PEPs and others
• Transition Assessment and Progression to Adulthood

Now is an exciting time to be a part of our team as Warwickshire has been chosen as one of the seven areas to deliver the Families First for Children Pathfinder Programme.  Join us to help shape and influence the future of children's social care together. Find out why we are good Ofsted.

If you want to build strong relationships and connections with families, join Warwickshire’s Children and Families service. Click here to find out more about Warwickshire County Council’s Children and Families Service.

Our Offer to you includes:

• Supportive managers who provide recognition and a robust supervision policy focussed on wellbeing and workload.
• Full reimbursement of Social Work England annual fee.
• A Volunteering & Wellbeing Day in addition to generous annual leave and an additional day at Christmas
• We also offer a Refer a Friend package if you're talking about a return to us with an ex colleague/friend.

If this is an area of work that is of interest to you we would love to hear from you.

Key Requirements:

We are looking for a practitioner that:

• Is able to nurture a culture of relational and restorative practice throughout all their work.
• Is passionate about making a positive difference to the lives of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
• Has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of both social care and SEND legislation.
• Is confident and competent to negotiate with and influence others, build and nurture effective partnerships, working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders across the Local Authority, community, parent and voluntary organisations, promoting opportunities for co-production.
• Can offer training, advice and guidance to staff throughout the organisation and to partner agencies as the social care lead.
• Has experience of using quality assurance frameworks and systems to monitor and review the effectiveness of services.
• Is able to identify areas of the EHCP processes which require practice improvement and be able to present solutions.
• Is able to demonstrate excellent organisational, planning and administrative skills to a high standard, alongside being able to plan your workload in order to meet strict deadlines and work collaboratively with team members.
• Has effective leadership and negotiation skills and experience of working collaboratively with Senior Managers to drive organisational developments and changes.
• Is self-motivated and has excellent verbal and written communication skills to a high standard and is IT literate.
• Has initiative and problem-solving skills.
• Has a positive, energetic and enthusiastic outlook.
• Has a degree in Social Work, Dip SW, CQSW or equivalent/relevant qualification with a minimum of 2 years post qualification experience.

Working for Warwickshire – This is the difference you make:

Warwickshire County Council is a place where everyone feels valued, included, safe, supported, and welcome. Our people are at the heart of this vision, could you be one of them! 

At Warwickshire County Council we are committed to ensuring Warwickshire’s economy is vibrant and supported by the right jobs, training, skills and infrastructure.  Our people vision for Warwickshire County Council is a great place to work where diverse and talented people are enabled to be their best.

Your future matters to us, we provide a generous pension scheme which includes an employer contribution rate of typically around 19 percent per month, to help support your financial security during retirement. The scheme also offers a valuable package of benefits for members and their dependants. To find out more please visit: Warwickshire Pension Fund homepage – Warwickshire Pension Fund. 

The benefits we offer include agile working, a valuable part of the pay and reward package for employees working in local government, generous annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays and an additional day at Christmas, and access to Vivup benefits and discounts platform.

Click here to view the benefits at Warwickshire County Council.

Additional Information:

Warwickshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Please be advised successful applicants will be subject to a range of pre-engagement checks, including a relevant Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In accordance with the DBS code of practice and our own policy, should an individual have a declared criminal offence an individual assessment will be completed. Warwickshire County Council adheres to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

To discuss the role further please contact Sarah Beerling, Service Manager (sarahbeerling@warwickshire.gov.uk) or Marina Kitchen, Head Of Service (marinakitchen@warwickshire.gov.uk).

Closing Date: 12^th September 2024
Interview Date: W/C 23^rd September 2024

Should you require application forms in an alternative format / language or any adjustments to be made throughout the application process or upon appointment, please contact hrandpayroll@warwickshire.gov.uk and we will make every effort to meet your specific requirements.

Warwickshire County Council is committed to equality of opportunity for all employees and is keen to address areas of under representation in its workforce. See?more