Overview:

Our children in care teams work with children and young people who are in care up to the age of 18. Children in care teams provide a high-quality service to children who are unable to live at home and are placed with foster carers or live in residential homes. The work includes ensuring that all statutory requirements are met and include undertaking care proceedings, supporting children who return home, developing permanency plans which include special guardianship orders (SGO) and adoption plans. Teams are committed to high quality work and engagement with all children in care to maximise the potential of young people. They work with a range of agencies, including health and education to ensure that care plans are effective.

The Role:

The senior practitioner is responsible for the management of their own cases and support of social work staff in the management of complex child protection and child in need cases or looked after children. Whilst this will include investigation, assessment and purposeful intervention, the primary role within Children and Families is to achieve positive change within families wherever possible, with the aim of enabling children to remain within their home. This will be achieved through implementation of the child protection, child in need plan and achieving permanency through care planning for children in care.

Why work with us in Basildon?

• Free onsite parking for staff, easily accessible via A13/A127
• Great team morale, friendly, helpful, supportive colleagues
• Permanent managers in both areas who are supportive, encouraging and available
• All teams are based in the same offices which is great for collaborative working
• Great training pathways for staff, encouragement to all staff for their continual professional development
• Good working relationships with other teams and professionals. Step down processes to partner agencies embedded
• Staff are provided with monthly reflective supervision
• We are passionate about the use of systemic thinking/practice in interventions.

Required Skills and Experience:

• To play a key part in transforming the lives of children and families
• Diploma or Degree in Social Work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent and Registration with Social Work England as Registered Social Worker
• Be able to demonstrable capability of practice in accordance with current professional standards e.g. Professional Capability Framework (PCF), Knowledge & Skills Statement (KSS).

Sorry, newly qualified social workers will not be considered for this position.

Please note that Essex County Council has determined that the off-payroll working rules will apply to this assignment and where a worker elects to provide their services through an intermediary (such as a personal services company) then income tax and primary national insurance contributions will be deducted at source from any payments made to the intermediary.

As part of employment with Essex County Council should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please visit: https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. For more information please use the following link: https://www.workingforessex.com/benefits/ Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success. If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please email or call us on 0333 013 5888. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:30 - 16.30.