Social Worker Norwich, England
Job description
Temporary contract for one year | £35,411 to £37,261 per annum (Scale J) | 37 hours per week | Hellesdon Hospital
Level 1: £32,909 to £34,723 per annum (Scale I)
Level 2: £35,411 to £37,261 per annum (Scale J)
We offer a £2000 welcome payment for qualified and experienced Social Workers (grade J and above), Practice Consultants and Team Managers new to Norfolk County Council.
For experienced Social Workers new to Norfolk County Council we promise to try and match or better your existing salary, providing its in the spectrum of the grade advertised.
Who Cares? We do.
Are you an experienced or newly qualified Social Worker with a passion for mental health? We are looking to join a small and supportive team of likeminded social workers, assistant practitioners, approved mental health professionals and practice educators? If this sounds interesting, read on. Our team are co-located with mental health, offering a real multi-disciplinary working environment with our key partner agency, NSFT. Through our partnership working, you’ll get to specialise in mental health, working alongside health professionals such as doctors, nurses, psychologists and allied health professionals such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists. With specialist input feeding into our assessments, our team can formulate bespoke packages of care for people with complex mental health issues. It’s fast paced, with the primary focus of ensuring effective and safe discharges from hospital. You’ll be passionate about making a difference, and ready to embrace change. A team player, you’ll need to demonstrate an ability to work under pressure, be well organised and able to effectively prioritise and risk assess a complex caseload. You’ll have experience, knowledge and commitment to strength-based assessments.
If you’re committed to working in a person-centred way and have the skills to work in a multi-disciplinary setting and in complex situations, we would be interested in hearing from you. In return we can offer you the opportunity to work in an exciting area of Social Care, regular supervision and the support of a highly motivated team. You’ll be given lots of training and individual, peer and reflective supervision to enable you to develop in your role. At Norfolk County Council we put work life balance at the forefront and offer flexible, smarter working arrangements, all underpinned by leading edge technology. Another great bonus is Norfolk itself, where you’ll be surrounded by a unique blend of beaches, broads, countryside and culture. We might be biased, but we think it’s a great role in a great place. If you’re still reading, and you think you have what it takes, we would love to hear from you.
Who are we?
The Adult Mental Health Social Care team works with adults aged 18-65 experiencing serious mental health issues and/or autism. The service is delivered through 5 locality mental health social care teams across Norfolk, the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) team and a hospital discharge team in Norwich.
The AMHP team is led by a manager and practice consultant staff who are responsible for the daily triage of MHA assessment referrals. We share offices with our NHS colleagues, the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, to ensure the social care voice is represented in multi-disciplinary team discussions. The service has a strong and confident professional social care identify which we use to make a positive difference to the lives of people experiencing serious mental illness and to protect them from harm.
Alison Simpkin, Head of Service Says: “It’s not just about commissioning packages of care but more often about using our own social work skills to connect with a person to understand their strengths, ambitions and assets. We are passionate about applying the Living Well approach principles and the recovery model, with practitioners demonstrating a skilled approach to taking positive risks to promote a person’s independence.”
The teams highly value reflective practice, professional development and supports learning by promoting training, progression and placements for students and apprentices. We also encourage social work staff to develop their skills through additional training to become AMHP’s, best interest assessors or practice educators.
The Mental Health Social Care service also covers the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DoLS) team responsible for assessments for those who lack capacity to consent to their care and support arrangements in care homes and hospitals.
Alison Simpkin says: “The strength of Norfolk County Council’s mental health service comes from the diversity of the teams and the confidence, knowledge and skill of practitioners to apply legal frameworks in their area of work. As Head of Social Care, I am proud to lead this service and recognise the depth and breadth of expertise, commitment and passion the staff bring to their work. I have no doubt their dedication and drive make a difference to the lives of so many people in Norfolk.”
What we offer
At Norfolk County Council we are committed to our employees’ learning and development. We offer all Social Workers and Occupational Therapists a protected half day per month for continuing professional development and training.
We want our people to be inspired and motivated to work well together, make the most of our workspaces, enjoy a healthy work-life balance, and deliver excellent services to Norfolk and its people. Flexibility is built into the way we work, with hybrid working a key feature for many roles. Our technology platform and equipment are first class, enabling you to connect and collaborate remotely. We ask that you have in place good Broadband connectivity.
We operate a talent pool scheme whereby candidates who are not successful on this occasion may be considered for a period of up to 3 months for equal positions.
You can also find out about the rewards and benefits we offer as well as our other terms and conditions.
Norwich is the county capital of Norfolk, 120 miles from London and 60 miles from Cambridge. It’s on the edge of the Broads National Park, and a 40-minute drive to the seaside. Norwich is a superb city. It effortlessly mixes outstanding heritage through the ages with modern shopping centres, excellent restaurants, hundreds of cafés and pubs, a superb arts and theatre scene with huge parks and green spaces, canoeing, rowing and sailing.
By train, Norwich to London takes 90 minutes and Cambridge less than an hour. There are also direct train links to the Midlands. Norwich International Airport has regular flights to Schiphol, Amsterdam and from there on to the rest of the world, plus daily internal flights to Scotland, Manchester, Exeter and Dublin.
Your application
Please ensure you include a statement in your application to demonstrate why you feel you meet the person specification and job description for this post. CVs submitted without a supporting statement about this post will not be accepted. You need to be registered with Social Work England/or HCPC as a practising social worker.
We’re more than happy to discuss the opportunity in more details, please contact Jessica Jones (Team Manager) on 01603 217644.
Before you apply see the full job description and person specification in the below link – this will help you to shape your application to demonstrate how you meet the criteria for the role.
These are some benefits you can enjoy by working for Norfolk County Council:
- Competitive salary
- Generous holiday entitlement with the ability to buy and sell leave
- Health and Wellbeing services including fast-track physiotherapy and a free counselling service
- Flexible working opportunities including flexi-time, part time, remote and hybrid working – dependant on your job role and business need.
- Financial benefits such as:
- ‘ Norfolk Rewards’ our employee discounts programme which helps you save money on almost anything, from everyday groceries and clothes, to holidays, new technology, gym membership, trips to the cinema and days out.
- A Blue Light card for Fire Service and Social Care Workers
- Relocation expenses paid upfront (where applicable)
- An advance of your expenses if you travel for work
- Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution, life assurance, death in service payments and dependants’ pensions.
- A payment if you refer someone you know to a hard to fill job.
- Tax efficient ways of getting extra pension, new bikes and electric cars.
Before you apply, we recommend reading the full Job Description and Person Specification to help you demonstrate you meet the criteria. You can also find information on our Terms and Conditions here.
Already a Norfolk County Council employee? See and apply for internal and external vacancies in myOracle using your @norfolk.gov.uk or @nccal.ac.uk email.
We welcome internal applications for this role but would like to make you aware that priority consideration for this post may be given to current employees who are affected by restructure within the organisation or are in a redeployment position.
Closing date: 19 April 2023 at 23:59
Interviews to be held w/c: TBC
