Social Worker x2 - Children's - MASH

QUALIFIED SOCIAL WORKERS – CHILDREN’S SERVICES

Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

£44,951 - £54,083pa (includes £5k market supplement)

Hybrid, Flexible Working, Newham Dockside E16 2QU

Closing date: 21/04/2024 at 23:59 – please apply ASAP as we may interview before the closing date

Job Description

WE ARE NEWHAM

We’re a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich London Borough with a young population and limitless potential. We’re a challenging yet rewarding place to practise social work, with the 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 in-house. We promoted 30 internal colleagues in 2023 alone, and have put 46 practitioners through further education since 2020. We value your development and at Newham career progression is reality for many. 

We understand that social work can be a challenging yet ultimately very rewarding profession that makes demands of you personally and professionally. In Newham we value your wellbeing and ensure that you have the support needed for a better work/life balance through a remote working offer when you are not visiting your children and families, a pleasant, modern office space for when you are in the office, a flexible working policy where all requests are considered, and a clinical offer to support you to do your best work. 

ABOUT THE JOB

Social Work in Newham is underpinned by a culture of Systemic and Restorative practice with high quality relationships at the heart of our approach. Social Workers in our MASH act quickly at the "front door" to make sure the most appropriate actions are taken to keep children and families safe. 

You will consult key partners and provide high quality, considered and informed social work decisions at the "front door" - always dealing with incoming referral information in a timely fashion and confidently prioritising your workload with a constant focus on child safety. Newham's MASH is fast paced; we have a large youth population and rank highly in terms of deprivation compared to other London Boroughs (with the expected challenges ), so resilience is essential for this post.

ABOUT YOU

You are a qualified social worker who is registered with Social Work England. 

You already have experience working at the “front door” or within a designated Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub - this is essential experience for a role within Newham's MASH, as is a clear understanding of the challenges faced by residents of inner-city local authorities.

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. 

We want to meet energetic, empathetic social workers that are keen to reach positive outcomes for children and families whilst taking full advantage of the learning, support and personal development that Newham offers. We’re big on career development and our focus on developing internal talent has made internal progression a realistic possibility for many – we promoted 30 qualified social work professionals in 2023 alone.

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 focused on reaching excellence.
• Ofsted graded our senior leadership as OUTSTANDING.
• 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/hybrid working as long as children and families are supported.
• Career progression; we promoted 30 internal colleagues in 2023.
• Social Care Academy – 47 social workers have studied for systemic higher education with us since 2020. Our Academy offer received significant praise from Ofsted.
• A competitive package for social workers of up to £54,083 (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 through our online recruitment portal. Maingrade social worker applications are CV only. Your CV must clearly show that you meet the criteria for this role in the person specification and this advert if you are to be shortlisted.

Closing date: 21/04/2023 at 23:59

Interviews: ASAP – we may interview before the closing date so please apply ASAP

If you have any questions about the recruitment process or want to discuss joining Newham Children’s Services with one of our managers, please contact our Recruitment Team.

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.