Social Workers - Children's Social Care
Job Summary
Working Pattern:
Full time
Advert Start Date:
07/02/2023
Advert End Date:
Closed for applications on 05/03/2023 23:59
Salary:
£30,151 - £42,503
Allowances:
15% Market Forces Supplement
Job Category:
Social Care - Children Service
Employment Location:
Stockton-on-Tees
Further Information
Stockton Council are investing in children’s social work so that we can offer the very best service to children and families in our Borough. We want experienced social workers to come and join us on this journey as we create more and smaller teams.
We understand that experienced Social Workers have a lot of choice in where they go to work and we would like you to take a closer look at what we have to offer and what we want to achieve.
Stockton on Tees Borough Council is a finalist in the category of ‘Supportive Social Work Employer’ in the Social Worker of the Year Awards 2022.
We are looking for social workers with experience in statutory children’s social work to join either a Through Care Team working with children in our care or a Children and Families Social Care Team working with children who have either a child in need plan or a child protection plan including those who may be involved in Court proceedings.
To help us recruit the best social workers we are currently offering a 15% supplement to social work salaries for social workers in these teams who are appointed at Grades K-M on a monthly basis until August 2023.
i.e. Grade K band full time salary of £33,820 - £36,298 + 15% market forces supplement = £38,893 - £41,743
Grade M band full time salary of £40,478 - £42,503 + 15% market forces supplement = £46,550 - £48,878
We understand that money is not everything and social workers want time to spend with the children and families they work with. To help achieve this, we’ve made our Children and Families Social Care Teams smaller with six social workers in each but we’re also creating more teams. The aim is to have manageable workloads and when we recruit to all of our new posts, this would currently be an average of 17 children for each social worker.
We also understand that low caseloads are not everything so we are also working to streamline procedures and paperwork so that our social workers spend less time in front of their computers and have more time to spend with children. Our social workers are helping with this through their involvement with our Quality and Practice Advisory Group which enables them to influence and give their voice to improvements that impact across the service.
Stockton also has a great Help and Support offer with close links between social work teams, family work teams and the youth service. We have a well regarded Family Group Conference team, family workers with expertise in parenting assessments, Graded Care Profile and PAMS as well as a partnership with Family Action who supervise family time.
We are embedding relationship-based practice as the bedrock of our practice model. Our social workers have told us that this is how they want to practice and it is a model that is informing the work of the whole of Children’s Services with relationships at the heart of everything we do.
Given the importance of relationships, it is vital that social workers feel supported and safe in the incredibly challenging job that they do. We have excellent team managers who bring a wealth of experience and knowledge and offer regular high quality reflective supervision and a safe space for discussion.
In December 2021 this is what Social Workers told OFSTED:
‘Social workers report that training informs and improves the quality of their practice. Social workers feel that their caseloads are mostly manageable and that available and accessible managers are responsive when they feel under pressure, providing strategies to reduce their workload. Social workers describe very supportive and visible senior leaders and managers. They thoroughly enjoy working in Stockton-on-Tees and feel valued and report very high morale’
This is what OFSTED said about us:
‘A stable and focused leadership team is driving progress in areas of permanence for children. Children's services are well supported by strong corporate and political backing.
Social workers know their children extremely well. Competent social workers recognise and respond well to children’s needs arising from diversity. They develop meaningful relationships with children through frequent and purposeful visits to them. The timing of these visits is led by children’s needs, wishes and feelings. Direct work is undertaken with children using a variety of tools. This means that children are assisted to understand and contribute to their plans, are helped to prepare for future care’
We’ll support you to flourish and be the best you can, delivering high-quality services and working closely with professionals from a range of agencies to improve the lived experience of children.
If you would like an informal chat about these opportunities please contact Jon Doyle, Service Lead Children and Families Social Care on 01642 524592 or jon.doyle@stockton.gov.uk.
In addition to excellent career progression opportunities, with a clear and supported development path, we also offer agile working, with flexible and family friendly policies, that have a work/life balance at their core, plus lots, lots more…as you can see below.
It’s rewarding
• Competitive salary to match your expertise (pay award pending)
• 26-31 days of annual leave (depending on length of service), plus an annual leave purchase scheme
• Excellent local government pension scheme
• Your SWE Registration paid for
• Free car parking in the locations where our Children and Families Social Care and Through Care Teams are currently based.
And we’ll support you
• Great tech to keep you connected
• Family friendly policies
• Access to free health and wellbeing services
• Leisure discounts
• Bus and train discounts, cycle to work scheme
• Supportive management and leadership
• A wide range of learning and development opportunities
• . …And much much more!
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’. All communication will also appear in the ‘My Messages’ section of your North East Jobs account.
Please note
This job is closed for applications.