Advanced Social Worker - Children's (Lichfield)

Our Social Workers make a huge difference to the lives of people across our county, and we remain passionate about investing in retaining our own and developing practice and this an exciting opportunity which offers just that.

If you are looking for more responsibility, a supportive role with your colleagues whilst continuing to support and safeguard some of our most vulnerable/high risk children and young people, then this could be just for you.

We also have a career progression framework in place to support you which also includes:

• Practice Educator Programme
• Aspiring Senior Practice Lead and Aspiring Team Manager programme

We are ambitious in our learning and development programme with strong links within the West Midlands and our teaching partnership.

You will be based within Lichfield Assessment & Staying Together Team (Child Protection and Court proceedings).

As an advanced social worker you will:

• work in our Child in Care Team and support children to maintain relationships with their families, reunification and permanence. be supporting families facing challenging situations, and managing complex issues.
• offer informal and formal mentoring to less experienced social workers, and use your practice wisdom to champion specific areas of practice.
• work within the framework of legislation, agreed council policies and procedures to work with or on behalf of children, young people and their families, to improve their well-being, and promote their independence.
• the key job role will be within the Assessment & Staying Together Team currently covering child in need and child protection, Public Law Outline and Care Proceedings, whilst supporting those less experienced within the team.

As an experience social worker to apply for this role you must have:

• A social work degree and be Social Work England (SWE) registered
• Post qualifying experience in social work
• Knowledge of legislation and guidance underpinning delivery of children’s social care e.g. Childrens Act, Working Together, Adoption Act, Every Child Matters
• Full UK Driving Licence
• Knowledge and skills in supporting assessment and formulating plans for children and young people
• Experience in mentoring
• Demonstrated ability in improving outcomes for children and young people
• Examples of creative social work practice to keep children and young people within their families where safe to do so.

Interviews will take place on: week commencing 11th November 2024

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Lisa Leech (Team Manager). Lisa.leech1@staffordshire.gov.uk or telephone 01543 510 100

“We’re happy to talk flexible working”

To find out more about working here take a look at our careers website page for Children and Families here.

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.