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Newly Qualified Social Workers - ASYE programme Sept/Oct 2021

Employer
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and London Borough of Wandsworth
Location
London (Greater)
Salary
£33,500 rising to £35,500 on successful completion of ASYE
Closing date
13 Jun 2021

The Role

Having expanded our programme for Newly Qualified Social Workers, led and co-ordinated by Wandsworth Children’s Social Care Academy, we are now recruiting 8 NQSWs to join our next cohort for the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme starting in September/October 2021.

We are committed to:

  • Best Practice - Improving children’s lives by supporting them to be within their families where possible and securing permanency for them where this isn’t
  • Best workforce - Having a stable, motivated & capable workforce
  • Best Partnerships - Good collaboration and good quality relationships between partners and networks

Our goals and visions

Our goals and vision are all about keeping families together where it is safe to do so. We work with family’s strengths to help them meet the challenges they face alongside supporting our social workers to do transformational work needed to reduce or prevent the need for children to be taken into care and support the safe return of children home from care.

About the service

At Wandsworth, we believe that if we invest in new ways of thinking and working, you'll have everything you need to do the job you trained for. In turn, that means we're able to deliver the best possible support for children and young people. We have improved how we support our NQSWs. We have developed our Social Care Academy programme which focusses on a strong and positive induction into statutory children’s social work.

We believe that relationships are at the heart of how we work with our children and families and they are the means in which change can take place. This helps us understand how change happens and gives tools to assist in the process of change as well as giving our social workers the opportunity to think about how to create a context for change with families. Across our practice system we have invested in embedding systemic ideas and practises into our work with children and families through systemic training and practice spaces to embed this thinking.

This year we are introducing Family Safeguarding which will change how we work with children & families and embed specialist adult practitioners within our safeguarding social work teams.  This will support a whole system change to our child protection approach up to adolescence, focusing on supporting the needs of children and their parents in order that children can safely remain within their families. Motivational interviewing is key to this approach and all of our social workers will be trained this year. We are the first London authority to be implementing Family Safeguarding.

It is a very exciting time to join Wandsworth!

About the role

We want our NQSWs to become excellent social work practitioners who are able to build positive relationships with children and their families to achieve positive outcomes. We will do this through high levels of support coupled with high expectations and challenge.

If you are successful in joining our programme, we can provide you with high quality induction and incremental learning opportunities. Our approach to your learning will afford you high levels of supervision as well as an excellent support programme in your ASYE. This will include action learning sets and bespoke training workshops.

We have 8 vacancies to recruit to as part of a cohort starting in September 2021. This comprises those who have come into the profession from various routes including the traditional university route and Frontline.

Support is strengthened through our link with the South West London and Surrey Social Work Teaching Partnership promoting links between theory, research and practice.

About you

In return you will be responsible for delivering a high-quality and responsive social work service. You will work across a range of cases with a progressively increasing caseload. During your ASYE you will have the opportunity to co-work and lead on child protection cases with support, as well as working with children in need and looked after children.

You will work collaboratively with experienced social workers, allied health and social care practitioners, bringing together and coordinating the team around the child to ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to safeguarding, as well as Assessment, Planning, Implementation and Review (APIR).

We are looking for people who are passionate about becoming excellent social workers so they can make a real difference in the lives of children and young people. We want our social workers to spend every day at work knowing that they've made a positive difference in helping keep families together in Wandsworth.  

You will need a relevant social work qualification and SWE registration, good communication skills and excellent written skills.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about this opportunity, please contact Louise Jones, Head of Children's Social Care Academy louise.jones@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk or Tina Baker, Training and Development Manager Children's Social Care, tina.baker@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home, compressed or part-time hours, term time only, job shares and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 39 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities. In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

  • Closing date: 11:59pm on Sunday 13th June 2021
  • Shortlisting date: Week starting 14th June 2021
  • Interview dates:  Week starting 5th July 2021

Useful Information

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible. Your health and wellbeing is our top priority. Should you become unwell due to Covid-19 during the recruitment process we would very much appreciate receiving an update from you as soon as possible.

Equality Statement

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are pleased to be Disability Confident employer.

Important Information

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

How to apply?

To be considered for interview your CV and supporting statement must address the requirements listed in the attached Job Profile located at the bottom of the advert.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils

Attached documents

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