Job Summary
Working Pattern:
Full time
Advert Start Date:
03/08/2022
Advert End Date:
Closed for applications on 21/08/2022 23:59
Salary:
Grade 9 Social Worker £29,174 - £32,798 (pre-progression)/Grade 11 Senior Social Worker £34,373 - £38,553 (post-progression)
Allowances:
£2,500 lump sum recruitment and retention allowance (reviewed annually)
Job Category:
Social Care - Children Service
Employment Location:
An approved team location. However, you may be required to work at any Durham County Council location, as required.
Further Information
Children and Young Peoples Services, Families First Service
Vacancy Reference No: CYPS/22/23L
Social Workers / Senior Social Workers posts available (ASYE completion required).
County Durham are recruiting Social Workers / Senior Social Workers who have completed their ASYE year in practice to work in our Families First Service. You will be based in a small team and will work with our most vulnerable children, young people and families drawing on strengths based, trauma informed relational practice to work with families. This is truly rewarding work and you will be well supported in your role with regular supervision, a supportive team, a really fantastic CPD offer to develop and nurture your practice and a staff wellbeing offer to ensure you thrive in practice. Your creativity and expertise will support families to help keep children safe and enable them to thrive - to make and sustain changes with the voice and lived experience of the children and their important people at its heart.
We are looking for passionate, value based social workers with excellent communication and organisation skills who can work autonomously whilst being part of a strong team culture.
There are posts available in teams across County Durham, however you may be required to work at any locality to meet service need changes. We are really proud that our practice model is Signs of Safety and we use LiquidLogic as our case recording system. We welcome discussions about flexible working arrangements so that you can balance work and home so please talk to us about this.
Our recent Ofsted inspection outcome graded us Good overall with outstanding leadership - we know ourselves well, our practice model is well embedded, we have high expectations and are committed to improving outcomes for children and families. Staff told inspectors that they enjoy working in Durham, they get lots of development opportunities, feel well supported by their team managers and this makes us an employer of choice. It is a really exciting time to join the Durham family and we would love to chat with you about opportunities.
Our Families First teams are statutory teams responsible for children and young people from the point of referral to the point of permanence. In these teams you will complete single assessments, work with children on a Child in Need basis, undertake Child Protection Work and enquiries under Section 47, as well as Public and Private Law. This work is varied and complex and offers so many development opportunities and makes a real difference to children and families every day.
The following principles will guide your work:
• Ensuring the child is central to your work (see the attached document for more about what our children and young people want).
• Providing help at the earliest opportunity.
• Supporting and promoting community resilience through the provision of locally delivered services in local communities which make sense to families.
• Delivering evidence-based interventions with a focus on safe escalation and de-escalation of cases.
In Durham you will benefit from:
• A senior leadership team that listens and cares about you and your work.
• Excellent opportunities for career progression, whether you are a newly qualified social worker completing your assessed and supported year in employment with the support of our Social Work Academy, or a more experienced social worker/senior social worker looking to broaden your experience or step into management.
• A clear professional development offer, supported by a commitment to offering you 5 days a year to spend in continuous professional development (CPD), and opportunities to access specialist training.
• A culture of high expectations, high challenge and high support.
• A culture which takes pride in, and actively celebrates social work.
You can read more about these, and other benefits of working in Durham in the attached document.
Salary:
• Grade 9 Social Worker £29,174 - £32,798 (pre-progression)
• Grade 11 Senior Social Worker £34,373 - £38,553 (post-progression)
Plus £2,500 lump sum recruitment and retention allowance (reviewed annually) in Families First Teams which is paid to Social Workers post-ASYE only.
We are happy to explore part-time hours and flexible working arrangements subject to service needs. Please note the above allowance is pro-rata for part-time working.
The base for the post will be an approved location within County Durham. However, you may be required to work at any locality as per service need.
Removal, lodging and separation expenses may be available to the successful candidate if at the time of application for appointment their place of residence is outside the administrative area of County Durham and in excess of 30 miles in a straight line from the their new administrative centre, along with a number of other criteria for eligibility.
For further information regarding the posts please contact the following Team Managers:
Jacqui Allen - jacqui.allen@durham.gov.uk
Lisa Crooks - lisa.crooks2@durham.gov.uk
Required qualifications: Degree in social work or equivalent social work qualification, e.g. Post Graduate Diploma in Social Work (PDDipSW) Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW), Diploma in Social Work (DipSW), Certificate in Social Services (CSS) & current Social Work England Registration.
The successful applicants for these posts will be required to apply for a Disclosure & Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure.
As a disability confident employer, we are committed to employing disabled people and people with health conditions making reasonable adjustments to support disabled applicants when required.
Apply on-line or for further assistance contact Payroll and Employee Services via email NEJ@durham.gov.uk or PESCYPS@durham.gov.uk.
In line with the County Council’s Recruitment & Selection Policy, please note that we are unable to accept CV’s. Any information provided on CV’s will not be considered for
short-listing purposes.
Please note that all communication regarding your application for this post will be sent to the email address that you have registered with North East Jobs, including your invite to interview if you are short-listed. Please check your email after the closing date for notification from ‘DONOTREPLY@NORTHEASTJOBS.ORG.UK’ as you will not be notified by any other means.
Please note
This job is closed for applications.