Social Work with Families - Social Workers

Job title:              Social Worker; Social Work with Families

Department:      Children’s Services

Location:             Croydon Council (CR0)

Grade / Salary:  Grade 12; £44,814 - £46,857 + £5,000 welcome payment + £2,500 retention payment

Hours of work:  36 per week / Monday – Friday

Contract type:   Permanent

“Have you got the passion and drive to make positive changes in the lives of children and young people?”

The Opportunity

We expect children and families in Croydon to receive outstanding services from our social work staff. We want our staff to have high expectations and high challenge of their practice and each other. We are seeking Social Workers to join us to strengthen our service of putting children at the centre of everything we do.

Social Work with Families brings together services for children subject to child protection plans, children in need and Children Looked After who may be in the Public Law Outline process or in Court proceedings. Working in a Locality service, with your Team Manager and colleagues you will be using your skills and knowledge to create the best possible outcomes for children and families in Croydon.

The London Borough of Croydon is a thriving cultural hub. It’s a truly unique place to practice social work – Croydon is one of the fastest growing populations in the UK and is home to 94,000 children. It’s an exciting time to be joining us; our destination is embedding systemic practice and the investment that we have received is enabling Social Work with Families to have a manageable caseload, business support integrated in our structure and Practitioners supporting child in need direct work.

For you, this investment means you will have the opportunity to grow your skills and develop your career as well as make your mark by helping to shape the way we support children and families.

Benefits of Working With Us

• Highly competitive salary up to £47,314 plus a welcome payment of £5,000
• A pension scheme with an average employer contribution of 20%
• 31 days annual leave in addition to Bank Holidays
• Accredited Systemic Practice training
• A range of CPD opportunities
• Investment into your staff well-being
• Good management support for practitioners, regular supervision, group supervision led by systemic therapists and access to a clinical therapist to support your work directly.
• Hybrid working policy enabling work from home and flexible working approaches to support your work-life balance where the role allows plus a high-quality office base from where direct work is delivered from.

Why Join Us

In Croydon, our Children's Services has an established Systemic Practice model, experienced leaders, and high support for practitioners.  Croydon people and staff are diverse, and we celebrate difference through focus on anti-racist and anti-discriminatory practice. We are committed to delivering excellent social work practice and services to our children and families.

As well as this we also offer the following:

• Our teams consist of experienced Social Workers at various levels
• Join a highly diverse workforce
• Reflective supervision is actively promoted and supported.
• The ethos at Croydon is very much about working together to make positive change
• Caseloads of Social Workers are very manageable enabling managers to know children well & ensure high standards of practice
• You will join an established team who can help you settle in and offer their expertise

About You

We are looking for confident social workers, who are also:

• Qualified and registered Social Workers / Advanced Social Workers who are Social Work England registered, and have completed your AYSE 
• Experienced in making assessments, implementing plans and delivering interventions
• Skilled in managing complex cases and competent in presenting cases in court with demonstrable professionalism and empathy
• Your experience of working in a statutory setting is desirable however not essential

To view the Social Worker role profile click here

Recruitment and Selection Timeline

The closing date for applications is 23:59 on 16^th April 2023

Shortlisting will take place WC 17^th April 2023

Interviews will take place WC 24^th April 2023

Equal Opportunities and Safeguarding Statement

Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.  Subject to business needs, we will be pleased to consider applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements and support hybrid working, whereby staff attend the workplace for part of their working week and work from home, or elsewhere, remotely for the rest of the time.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the advertised role.

Croydon council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. The Successful candidate will be subject to an Enhanced Childrens DBS check