Please note that this position is being offered on a Secondment or Fixed Term Contract basis for a period of 12 months.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Social Worker to be part of our brand-new COVID equalisation team within our Children and Families Social Care service.

The newly created concept teams will form part of Essex County Council's unique response to the additional demand, pressures and complexity, created by the on-going Covid19 pandemic.

We are Serious about Social Work and it is because of this we are investing in our workforce and have created COVID equalisations teams to take action now to relieve the pressure on our frontline teams. These teams will provide additional capacity and support within the Children's Social Care system, increasing our ability to undertake relationship-based work and achieve sustainable system change, leading to better outcomes for our children and families.

Family Centres

The Family Centres in Essex County Council provide interventions to bring about positive change within families, help adults provide positive parenting, and increase the resilience of children so that they can stay with their families where it's safe to do so. The Family Centres provide support to social workers in the court arena to strengthen the child and family assessment and where required complete court directed parenting and risk assessments. They also deliver a variety of group work sessions to vulnerable children and families.

The role

The Social Workers within the Essex Family Centre Service are responsible for managing a caseload of specific targeted intervention work, to achieve positive and improved outcomes for children. The post holder is responsible for bringing to bear the highest possible standards of practice, knowledge, and skills to work in line with policies and procedures.

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. As a Family Centre Social Worker, you will be responsible for delivering individual and group work programmes aimed to facilitate growth and change, and to complete assessments within PLO and Court proceedings as an expert witness.

What you will need to join our Social Work teams

To play a key part in transforming the lives of children and families, you will have a Diploma or Degree in Social Work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent and registration with Social Work England as a 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) and an active interest and development in trauma-informed social work.

Open to change and ready to innovate, you will be keen to join an environment where you can stretch yourself professionally, make an impact individually and deliver positive outcomes collaboratively.

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/working-here/pay-reward/

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 queries on this role or require anything further, please email or call us on 0333 013 5888. Lines are open Monday to Friday between 08:30 - 16:30.