The Role

As a newly qualified social worker you will have an awful lot to offer – but then so do we so why not start (and continue) your career with us?

Provide a purposeful, professional social work service to children in need

Offer families the support and intervention they need to make and sustain positive change so they can safely meet the needs of their children

Through our restorative practice approach, you will actively encourage imaginative, and family focussed interventions, and when children cannot remain with their family, that they have timely plans of permanency.

If this sounds like an opportunity you’d like to know more about, we’d love to hear from you. For an informal chat, please contact our Principal Social Worker Emma Coxon on 07385 361886 or email emma.coxon@bolton.gov.uk

About You

We want you to inspire us and have a real impact on the way we work. In return you will gain the opportunity to develop your professional skills and your career in a challenging but supportive environment.

You will be motivated and enthusiastic, with excellent communication skills enabling you to build professional relationships with children and their families to ensure their engagement.

You will have good knowledge and experience in safeguarding children, as well as being able to produce high quality, timely assessments and understand the current changes within children’s social work.

You will act as a champion for service development and improvement within Safeguarding and Early Help, role modelling Research in Practice and undertaking high quality assessments.

About Us

Having successfully supported last year’s cohort of newly qualified social workers through the first year in their career, Bolton Social Care and Early Help Department are looking to recruit this year’s intake for the ASYE programme.

It is our ambition to make Bolton your employer of choice for the long-term and not just for the first year in your career. As a result, we will invest heavily in you to ensure that you continue to grow and develop as a social worker and become our experienced, competent, confident and content social workers of the future.

Operating under the Bolton Family Framework, which is a Restorative Practice Model, relationship building is at the heart of what we do. We have a culture of providing a safe place to practice with support, training and development and where you feel valued for what you bring to the team. Here at Bolton, we believe in nurturing our Newly Qualified Social Workers to get the best out of you.

Following our recent Ofsted focussed visit, which confirmed how great our staff and our services are, Ofsted said:

‘Social workers feel supported and safe working in Bolton.’

‘Social workers receive regular supervision, and this is effective in supporting them to reflect on their practice.’

‘Social workers talk passionately about ‘their children’. They establish strong relationships with children and know them well. Social workers enjoy working in Bolton.’

Our offer to you

Being a Social Worker is not easy, but it is rewarding.  You will have access to a wide range of benefits to support you to be the best you can be, including:

• You will be surrounded by a strong, supportive network of experienced Social Workers and Managers who will provide you with a comprehensive induction, training, help and advice to enable you to reach your full potential.

• Working within a culture that focusses on achieving the best outcomes for the children and families of Bolton above all other considerations.

• Guaranteed reduced caseloads when you start that will only increase as your confidence and abilities grow.

• Manageable caseloads even after your first year in employment.

• An ASYE workshop led by our Principal Social Worker that meets monthly, this provides group supervision as well as professional development.

• Regular support sessions and additional training around your portfolio from our Learning Lead.

• An identified mentor in your team to provide on hand support and guidance, they will offer regular reflective supervision in addition to your management supervision.

• A well-established and comprehensive training programme to ensure your ongoing development.

• A co-located service so that all of your colleagues from partner services as well as your Heads of Service and Assistant Director are visible, approachable and accessible.

• A clear and defined social work career path that will be laid out for you from the start of your career towards Senior Social Worker status, Advanced Social Work Practitioner and beyond. 

Even more reasons to join us at Bolton:

• Agile & flexible working options, ensuring you achieve a good work life balance.

• Involved in a programme of thought-provoking and relevant staff engagement events, led by visible leaders and managers.

• Up to date technology.

• Up to £3,000 Relocation Package

• Health & wellbeing support

• Excellent pension scheme

• Generous annual leave – a minimum of 28 days, rising to 31 days after 5 years’ service.

• Essential car user allowance on top of your salary

• Access to a range of staff benefits including gym membership, Cycle to Work and car lease schemes.

• Employee Assistance Programme

For more information about working for Bolton Council, please see the Work with Us page on greater.jobs

Staff Benefits at Bolton Council

 Our Values are really important to us, read all about them here:

Values Framework

 For further details of the role and how we use your data, please see:

Job Description

To apply please click the Apply Now link below.