Senior Social Worker - Children's - Safeguarding and Intervention
SENIOR SOCIAL WORKERS – CHILDREN’S – SAFEGUARDING AND INTERVENTION
£54,083 - £57,116 (includes market supplement)
Newham Dockside E16 2QU – Hybrid role – working with children and families
Closing date: 07/08/2024 at 23:59 *please apply ASAP as we may shortlist and interview applicants before the closing date
Job Description
JOIN US AND BUILD A FAIRER NEWHAM
We’re a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich London Borough with a young population and limitless potential. We’re a challenging yet rewarding place for social work practise to flourish and we are steadfastly committed to our workforce being representative of the families that we work with. We are taking coordinated, meaningful and focused action to develop an inclusive culture because we believe this is at the heart of enabling diversity in all respects, including diversity of thought. We are taking positive actions to challenge all forms of discrimination and injustice to help make Newham a fairer and more equitable place for children and families to live, learn and thrive.
We’re building a fairer Newham 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 more than 47 practitioners through further education since 2020. We value your development and at Newham career progression is a reality for many of our colleagues.
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 we aim to ensure that you have a better work/life balance through a remote working offer when you are not visiting children and families, a modern office space for when you’re on site, a flexible working policy where all requests are considered, and a clinical offer to support you to do your best work.
ABOUT THE JOB
Senior Social Workers (SSWs) in Safeguarding and Intervention (S&I) support children and families from as early as the Assessment process and throughout CiN and CP plans. SSWs are caseholding, but often work alongside other specialist social workers and services until we reach a safe/positive outcome for a child and/or family. Practitioners in S&I have the rewarding opportunity to work longer term with children and families and create positive, lasting change.
Newham currently has 3 Safeguarding and Intervention services; with each service consisting of 5 teams of 4-6 social workers, and each team led by a Team Manager. Our large workforce is intended to keep caseloads manageable, allowing social workers time to work in depth and restoratively with families; average caseloads for SSWs currently sit at 18-20. Court work is now handled primarily by our Children in Care service, allowing our S&I SSWs more time to concentrate on high quality, earlier interventions – though court experience is still extremely valuable to social workers in S&I. Senior Social Workers can be required to supervise students, and are expected to provide support to colleagues at an earlier stage of their social work journey.
We value our Senior Social Workers and understand the importance of supporting your learning, development, and wellbeing. We have a bespoke support offer through our very own clinical service; and our embedded systemic family psychotherapist assists with interventions where this may benefit families. SSWs in intervention may also be assisted by Practice Development Social Workers and a contextual safeguarding service that co-work on cases at the edge of care. We’ve worked hard to provide a supportive environment where systemic, restorative practice can flourish.
ABOUT YOU
We’re looking for experienced, confident social work practitioners; you likely have at least 3 years’ post qualified experience (or more) and experience of working effectively within a diverse, urban community. You will have experience working with families at various stages of CiN and CP plans, and will be able to comfortably discuss the positive outcomes you’ve achieved for families if shortlisted for interview.
Newham is committed to our workforce being representative of the families we work with, to enhance cultural competence and adjust our practice to suit the individuals we serve. We are looking for colleagues who share our values and are passionate about tackling disproportionality wherever they find it and building a Fairer Newham. You will 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, families and communities.
You are always open to learning and to helping others learn so that children and families can benefit from our best practice. A Practice Educator qualification is an advantageous but not essential for the role.
You will be a qualified social worker who is registered with Social Work England.
WHY WORK WITH US?
We’ve been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise social work.
- A commitment to addressing disproportionality wherever we find it.
- We’re a GOOD local authority focused on reaching excellence.
- We offer genuinely flexible/hybrid working as long as children and families are supported.
- Stability: 100% of our Senior 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.
- 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 £57,116 (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 (1-2 sides of A4) through our online recruitment portal.
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: 07/08/2024 at 23:59*
Interviews: ASAP
*PLEASE APPLY ASAP AS WE MAY SHORTLIST AND INTERVIEW BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE
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 s