Senior Social Worker - Family Support & Protection
- Employer
- Essex County Council
- Location
- England, Essex, Basildon
- Salary
- £39168 - £47405 per annum + + Free On-Site Parking & Benefits Package
- Closing date
- 31 Mar 2021
View more categoriesView less categories
- Sector
- Health and Social Care, Children's Services, Social Care
- Job role
- Social Worker
- Contract Type
- Full time
Job Details

Senior Practitioners - Family Support & Protection
Permanent, Full Time
£39,168 to £47,405 per annum + free on-site parking
Location: Basildon
Closing Date: 29th March 2021
We are looking for an experienced, motivated and creative social worker to join our team. We are offering an opportunity for someone who is looking for career development in a supportive, stable team, who is committed to and can model relationship based social work in a Senior Practitioner position.
The post will entail managing a reduced caseload, overseeing a 'pod' of 3 - 4 social workers providing day to day consultation and support to less experienced staff.
Family Support and Protection
The Family Support and Protection (FS&P) teams work with families on Child in Need & Child Protection plans to promote sustainable change. FS&P Social Workers are responsible for building positive relationships with families using systemic and strengths based social work approaches. The work is varied and involves working with Public Law Outline (PLO), Court work including S.7 report and when necessary taking families into proceedings and some Special Guardianship Order (SGO) assessments. Through regular reflective supervision and access to CPD/Training from the Essex Social Care Academy a BASW accredited CPD provider you will be encouraged to be creative and innovative in the direct work you undertake with families. We believe that giving families a supportive environment, encouragement and insight helps them to navigate and achieve change. This means we can say goodbye to families knowing they have to tools to sustain change.
The Role
The Senior Practitioner role provides leadership in the team, providing both support and mentoring to newly qualified or less experienced staff and deputising for the Team Manager when needed. They will oversee the review of some child in need plans particularly prior to closure and will have responsibility to lead in a practice area. There will be good opportunities for their own professional development and for being part of developing our team and service. There is an ethos of openness to the development of new ideas, particularly to reinforce our relationship based focus, both with our service users and within the staff group.
The successful candidate will be expected to bring skill and high standards of social work to their own caseload as well as providing modelling, advice and support to colleagues. They will be committed to systemic, relationship based social work, providing effective, innovative interventions and with the ability to build good partnerships, both with our external partners and within the organisation.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Diploma in Social Work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent.
- Social Work England registration as a Registered Social Worker
- Evidence of continuing professional development
- IT/Word Processing Skills
- Evidence of recent practice at an experienced social worker level, supported by comprehensive working knowledge and experience within the field of practice in Children Services
- Preferably with experience of Child Protection work including section 47 investigations and assessments since the implementation of the Children's Act 1989.Considerable, recent experience of communicating with children of all ages and working in partnership with parents and/or carers.
- Experience in planning activities and programmes for children, young people and parents.
- Experience of Court work in relation to Child Care matters and have an understanding of the legal process.
- Detailed knowledge of current legislation pertinent to Child Protection (e.g. CA1989, CJA1991), Guidance and Regulations.
- Knowledge and understanding of child development, relating theory and practice.
The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wide operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.
Company
Why Essex?
Essex County Council covers 1,300 square miles from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary. From the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career.
We celebrate difference and work to ensure that no one is disadvantaged when accessing services, employment or public life in Essex. We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interviewing all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. We’re also committed to interviewing all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.
Free to deliver big
We recruit creative, ambitious, talented people, and free them up to think – and deliver – big.
We’ve made substantial changes in recent years, reorganising how we’re structured and how we work, so we can protect the most vulnerable and enable our economy to grow. Join us and you’ll be trusted to take control, manage change and make a lasting impact. You’ll be able to call upon external partners and suppliers to help you deliver. More importantly, talented, trailblazing colleagues – including many industry-leaders – will be right by your side to share ideas, knowledge and experience.
Find out how Essex County Council is changing, and how you’ll fit in.
Employee Recognition & Engagement
Here are some of the things we have in place to give our employees a sense of belonging, involvement and recognition.
Employee Networks:
- Ethnically Diverse Employee Network (EDEN)
- Carers Forum
- Christian Network
- Disabled Employees Network
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Network
- Parents Network
- Women’s Network
- Men’s Network
- Young People and Apprentice Network.
You Make The Difference’ Awards - giving employees the opportunity to nominate individuals or teams who go above and beyond for our residents.
Employee Surveys – where we listen to the voices of our people and take action on what we hear.
Employee Panels – giving you the opportunity to feed back on a range of policies and initiatives, network with colleagues and influence far-reaching changes.
Learning and Development
We have developed diverse learning opportunities to support our people to grow both personally and professionally. This includes:
- A large suite of online training and tools
- Dedicated learning events such as ‘LearnFest’ – our flagship annual celebration of learning
- Apprenticeships for both new and existing colleagues
- Financial support to achieve professional qualifications
- Support from subject matter experts
- The opportunity to share your own expertise to up-skill colleagues
- Leadership and executive coaching
- Learning on demand
- Career pathways
Rewards and Benefits
- Family Friendly flexible Working
- Generous holiday and special leave allowances (including the option to purchase extra holiday)
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Life Assurance of three times annual salary
- Volunteering leave (up to 4 days per year)
- Employee wellbeing and counselling
- Travel discounts & season ticket loans
- Learning and Development opportunities/coaching & mentoring
- Payment of professional fees for approved professions
- Eye care vouchers
- Lease car scheme (dependent on business needs)
- Up to £8,000 relocation package (subject to terms and conditions)
You’ll also have access to MyReward, a unique platform for Essex County Council employees to gain various discounts and savings.
Your Wellbeing
At Essex County Council we are committed to supporting the wellbeing of our people. We work closely with our employees to provide wellbeing support based on their needs. We strive to enable the right environment, conditions, and behaviours so individual and organisational wellbeing is embedded in everything we do.
Join us and get Inspired to do More.
- Website
- https://workingforessex.com/
- Telephone
- 0845 743 0430
- Location
-
County Hall
Market Road
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 1QH
United Kingdom
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