Calling all Children’s Social Workers!
Do you enjoy life in the fast lane?
Do you want to make a difference?
Do you want to be the best you can be?
Warwickshire’s Initial Response Service are looking for experienced and newly qualified Social Workers to join our buzzing, cohesive, family-focused teams, within the North (North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth), South (Warwick, Leamington and Stratford Upon Avon) and East (Rugby).
If you are committed, creative and passionate about improving outcomes for children and families then Warwickshire would like to hear from you.
About the Role
Working with partner agencies and alongside families, using a restorative practice approach you will be part of a supportive social care team ensuring that all children’s outcomes are improved and that they are safeguarded effectively. Our offer to you.
You will possess an ability to make robust, evidence-based decisions to ensure children and families are safe, along with an embedded understanding of risk and risk management. You will enjoy working with people and have a natural ability to engage with families as the first point of contact from Children’s Services. You will be calm and approachable and instil confidence in those who require a service from us. The role includes completing child and family assessments, Section 47 enquiries, Child Protection and Child in Need work on a short-term basis.
In our recent Inspection we were rated “good” by Ofsted and we would like you to join us on our journey to “outstanding”.
“Warwickshire’s Initial Response Teams complete comprehensive assessments for children, informed by research, and which consider any risks and concerns and their impact on children.
Creative and regular direct work supports children to build trusting relationships with their social workers and family support workers.
Senior leaders have developed a culture and organisational ethos that value children and families and they aspire to do the very best for them.” Ofsted, 2022.
About WCC Children and Families Service
At Warwickshire County Council (WCC) we work with children and families restoratively, building strong relationships and connections to help families find long-lasting solutions. Our work contributes to our wider County Council aim – to make Warwickshire the best it can be for everyone. It’s a big responsibility that can be challenging at times, but this is what drives our staff to succeed, develop and achieve. If you’re someone who wants to do the best job possible, who approaches everything with passion, tenacity, courage and purpose, then we want you to work with us.
Throughout 2020 we continued to look to the future and build on our programme of change and investment in the service.... Covid hasn’t stopped us!
It has helped us shape and develop a focus on wellbeing, utilising technology, opening opportunities for career development and renewed our focus on reflective and supportive leadership. These are the backbone to our offer to our workforce.
WCC invested in Microsoft technology in 2020 including the use of Surface Pros and MS365 suite which has enabled our workforce to seamlessly transition to community and homeworking. We have a whole council commitment to flexible working and employee wellbeing. We nurture, support and challenge each other to achieve the best outcomes for all our children.
WCC is an authority that engages with innovation. We are a financially secure Local Authority and want to achieve an outstanding service for children. To this end we have received £21m investment programme over four years to implement new and creative ways of working with children. This funding is from both the Council and Department for Education to strengthen relationship and evidenced based practice. We have introduced the Leeds Family Values model which includes increasing Family Group Conferences, providing more support for Special Guardians and a Caring Dads Programme. We have also begun implementing multi-Disciplinary ways of working (which is focussed on embedding adult mental health, substance misuse and domestic abuse services in our teams. We also have a new Children’s Workforce Academy to further support our staff and managers develop. All our practice is underpinned by restorative and trauma informed practice.
We want our practitioners to spend their time building relationships with families to achieve change. We provide safe and manageable caseloads and have provided substantial additional capacity to support teams with Covid pressures. We have excellent business support who minute multi agency meetings for social workers. We are also investing in technology such as automation to support practitioners to automatically upload documents to children’s electronic records.
We’re building something very special in Warwickshire. A community of practice – with diverse thought, skills and experiences. Working for every child to create a Child Friendly Warwickshire.
Find out more about Warwickshire Children & Families Service
For further details please see the Job Description and Person Specification - Children and Families Social Worker/ Senior Practitioner
For further details please see the Job Description and Person Specification - Advanced Practitioner
Additional Information:
Warwickshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure.
For more information please contact Jay Olukoya or Claire Reynolds Delivery Lead Social Work Operations – Initial Response by emailing [email protected] or [email protected]
Closing Date: 28th February 2023
Interviews: 6th March 2023
To apply for this vacancy please click on the 'Apply' button.
Our method of application is online, please note, CV’s should not been submitted unless asked to do so.
If you are unable to apply using the 'Apply' button please contact the Recruitment Centre on [email protected] including your contact details and any relevant screenshots.
You will be notified of our shortlisting decision via email, so please check your email on a regular basis after submitting your application.
As part of being a Disability Confident employer we guarantee to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post. By ‘minimum criteria’ we mean that you must provide us with evidence in your application form which demonstrates that you generally meet the level of competence required for each competence, as well as meeting any of the qualifications, skills or experience defined as essential in the person specification.
Should you require application forms in an alternative format / language or any adjustments to be made throughout the application process or upon appointment, please contact [email protected] and we will make every effort to meet your specific requirements.
Warwickshire County Council (WCC) is committed to equality of opportunity for all employees and is keen to address areas of under representation in its workforce, this is because we really understand the importance of different voices, experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds within our workforce. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups. WCC has a number of staff network groups which provide peer support and safe spaces for employees who hold these and other identities. See more.