Qualified Social Worker – Children’s – Post SGO Support

QUALIFIED SOCIAL WORKER - CHILDREN’S – SPECIAL GUARDIANSHIP SUPPORT

FOSTERING SERVICE

£41,138 - £51,857pa (includes £5k market supplement)

Hybrid, flexible working with maximum 2 days at Newham Dockside, E16 2QU

Closing date: 20/09/2023 at 23:59

Job Description

We Are Newham. 

We’re a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich London Borough with a young population and bags of potential. We’re a challenging yet rewarding place to practise social work, with the support networks in place to enable you to be the best social worker you can be and make a real difference to our children and their families. Our social care services were rated to be GOOD overall by Ofsted, with leadership rated as OUTSTANDING, but we have not stopped striving to be better.

We’ve been working tirelessly to establish a Centre of Excellence for Children’s Services; through investment, co-production and by continuously developing our 'Circles of Support' practice model; centring on systemic and restorative practice and a specialist support offer for our practitioners. 

Ofsted described Newham as having a positive culture of learning and development and we always try to develop talent internally. We’ve promoted 40 internal social work colleagues during the past two years, and have put 46 practitioners through their systemic higher education since 2020. We value your development and at Newham career progression is real. We also understand how tough social work can be – so most of our QSW posts involve only 1 day per week in the office alongside flexible working, to maximise your wellbeing and make life easier. 

Find out more about working for us by watching our recruitment video.

ABOUT THE JOB

The post is that of Post Order Special Guardianship Support Social Worker within Fostering and SGO Services. We are looking for an experienced social worker to support and advise Special Guardian families assessing need for support, to undertake direct work and where necessary  signposting and liaising with other agencies; co-ordinating a multi-agency approach where pertinent.  Assist and enable contact, both direct and indirect and provide mediation as and when required. 

This role will manage a caseload as well as supporting and advising colleagues and carers.  To actively promote and provide training and development for carers.  Carers will have access to support and training from Newham Clinical Practice Team which encourages and embeds clinical systemic therapeutic thinking.

If you have any questions relating to the role please contact: Kuldip.Kaur@newham.gov.uk.

ABOUT YOU

You are a qualified social worker who has completed their ASYE, and are registered with Social Work England.

We are looking for a social worker with experience and skills to provide specialist post-order special guardianship support. Experience in this area is essential for this role.

We’re looking for social workers who have a genuine interest in a restorative, relationship based practice model drawing on systemic thinking to inform your approach to building effective relationships with children, young people and their families. 

WHY WORK WITH US?

We’ve been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise social work.

• We’re a GOOD local authority and have established a centre of excellence for Children’s Services.
• Ofsted reported that we have OUTSTANDING senior leadership.
• Stability: 100% of our Service Managers and 71% of Team Managers are permanent.
• Our firmly established practice model, Circles of Support, was recently nominated for the prestigious MJ Award for Innovation in Children’s Services and allows systemic, restorative practice to flourish.
• We offer genuine flexible working, with only 1 day in the office per week (off duty)
• Career progression; we’ve promoted 38 internal colleagues in the past 2 years.
• Social Care Academy – 47 social workers have studied for systemic higher education with us since 2020.
• A competitive package of up to £51,857 (includes market supplement).
• Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
• Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits (Council scheme).
• Travel season ticket loan, cycle scheme, Local Authority pension.

TO APPLY

To apply please submit your CV and a supporting statement through our recruitment portal. The supporting statement should demonstrate how you meet the relevant requirements listed in the person specification in the job description. Please specify in the statement which team/service you wish to join.

Shortlisting decisions will be based on candidates' relevant experience and on candidates' suitability for the role in line with the person specification, as described in their supporting statement and CV.

Closing date: 20/09/2023 at 23:59

If you have any questions about the recruitment process or want to discuss being a Social Worker at Newham with one of our managers, please contact childrenssocialworkerrecruitment@newham.gov.uk.  

Additional Information

We are committed to creating an inclusive, anti-racist environment for all. When you apply for a job at Newham, your application is considered on its merits regardless of your age, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender identity or sexual orientation. If you share our vision and values, and you bring the experience and skills we need, that’s all that matters to us.

The London Borough of Newham has important responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. If you are appointed to a job that involves working with these groups, you may be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Please attach your supporting statement, explaining in no more than x2 A4 sides why and how you meet the criteria for this role.

We practice anonymised recruitment. Please ensure that you remove all personal information from any documents that you upload.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.