Social Worker - Children's Services
Job description
| Salary £32,020-£41,496 per annum | Permanent, Full Time, 37 hours per week | Children's Social Care | various teams across Lancashire
Minimum salary for experienced social workers – £33,820
Minimum salary for ASYE social workers – £32,020
We currently have Social Worker vacancies across Lancashire in the following areas:-
- Central - Preston, Chorley, Skelmersdale
- North - Lancaster, Fylde & Wyre
- East - Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale, Accrington
We have permanent full-time posts (37 hours per week), part time posts and temporary posts covering acting up arrangements and maternity leave.
As part of the interview process, all candidates will be invited to attend a Young People's Panel the evening before the panel interview (dates as below). Please note that this is a mandatory part of the interview process and scores from this will contribute towards your overall score.
Please ensure you have uploaded and attached your supporting statement to evidence how you meet the criteria for the role. The panel may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.
Lancashire County Council Children's Services is a progressive and innovative place to come and work for embracing strengths-based approaches and the Family Safeguarding model of practice. There are a range of exciting opportunities available across our social work teams as we go through positive changes and develop our service. This is a wonderful time to come and work for us!
As one of the largest local authorities with a diverse and evolving range of services there are also many opportunities for future career progression and professional development. The right support is key to effective practice and your positive experience as a Social Worker and we have a fantastic group of managers who share our values and aspirations for our service and their Social Workers to provide the support you need to thrive in your work.
In Lancashire we understand the importance of the right support, a healthy work-life balance and a manageable caseload. We are using national funding opportunities to enhance the developments in our service such as reducing caseloads, offering the best training and support, and increasing the range of services we offer to ensure our Social Workers can make a positive impact for Lancashire's children and families.
New recruits attend our established Social Work Academy an extensive induction programme followed by regular recall days and training for ASYE's to support increased knowledge and confidence in practice. The Academy is run by our team of Advanced Practitioners who provide a range of support, training and development across our service to help practice to be at the highest standards.
The Family Safeguarding model is our model of practice, and we use a strengths based approach across every team to work with children, young people and families, to offer the right support at the right time.
Working within the Duty and Assessment team
Extensive investment within the Children, Families and Wellbeing Service, as well as within the Family Safeguarding teams mean that workers within Duty and Assessment have the capacity and support to really focus on completing good quality and timely assessments. We are committed to delivering a service that enables families, children and young people to actively participate within these assessments, recognising that we are often the first point of contact during what can be a very difficult time for families. The ability to work with other agencies and professionals is essential to our work, and we support our workers to develop multi-agency plans that keep families together and achieve the best possible outcomes for children and their parents.
No two days are the same in Duty and Assessment. If you enjoy fast-paced work, relationship-based practice, and working with children and families to identify together what support they may need, then this is the team for you!
Working within the Family Safeguarding team
Family Safeguarding is a way of working to help keep families together and achieve better outcomes for children and their parents by engaging them in a more collaborative way. Our Family Safeguarding teams are multi-disciplinary with adult specialists and will hold our core Child in Need and Child Protection work taking a Motivational Interviewing approach.
Working within the Permanence team
The Permanence Service is made up of Children in Our Care teams and Leaving Care teams.
Within the Children in Our Care service we care and dare to have big goals, huge ambitions and aspirational dreams for our children and support them to achieve and believe in themselves. Our children are at the very heart of absolutely everything we do, and we include our children in every decision made, from the very small ones to the really big ones! We try not to let the sky limit us to how creative we can work together with our children.
We spend a lot of time listening to our children, and what they tell us is that they want us to organise lots of events & activities and to have fun with us – so this is what we do. We have a strong focus on celebrating our children's achievements and successes, no matter how small or big and we encourage our children to dream big for themselves, so we can dream even bigger for them
As corporate parents, we work closely with our children's schools, health practitioners, foster carers, residential staff, and all the other professionals working with our children so that we can jointly support our children to achieve in every aspect of their childhood, into their adulthood
Within the Leaving Care Service, social workers will share our values for young people with high expectations for them to be safe and achieve in all aspects of their lives. We support our young people to have a voice about how we work with them as well their views on how we develop our service. We want social workers with knowledge and/or experience of our statutory role as well as skills in working alongside young people. The role will involve carrying a complex caseload, chairing multi-agency meetings, assessments, reviews, and supporting our brilliant Personal Advisors across the service.
Working for the Lancashire Child & Youth Justice Service
Lancashire Child and Youth Justice Service works with children aged 10-18 either involved in or at risk of offending or anti-social behaviour. The service provides support to children, their families, victims and communities through enhancing the safety of children and supporting opportunities for them to achieve positive futures.
Being a Social Worker in the Child and Youth Justice Service is a challenging but rewarding role. The successful applicants will ensure children and their families/carers are supported by delivering effective assessments and interventions to achieve positive outcomes. The Child and Youth Justice Service takes a strengths-based approach when supporting children. A commitment to positive partnership working, including working with parents and carers is essential.
Social Workers in the Operations Team will deliver interventions within the community, custodial establishments and undertake work in Courts. Social Workers in Prevention and Diversion will deliver community-based services and will ensure children and their families/carers are supported by delivering effective assessments and interventions to exit the criminal justice system at the earliest opportunity.
CYJS have received a "good" HMIP Inspection judgement. We are committed to delivering a child first approach, focussing on restorative practice and developing new initiatives such as a trauma informed approach. Our staff are our key asset and CYJS social workers will benefit from having a varied workload, a chance to make a real difference to children and families by delivering direct interventions, a supportive management structure and impressive training offer.
Working in the Children with Disabilities Service
The CwD Service supports children and young people from birth to aged 18 and Care Leavers up to age 25 who have severe and profound disabilities, and their families. Working long term with our families enables us to fully embrace and be on the journey with the children and young people we support and see their achievements at different stages of their life to ensure that they have good positive outcomes and that their voices are heard. We take a strengths-based approach to supporting children and young people, to ensure we achieve the best for the children, young people and families we support. No day is the same with the Children with Disabilities Team. If you want variety, challenge and an incredibly rewarding social care role then this is the service for you.
The Children with Disabilities social work service consists of 6 Teams supporting families across the whole of Lancashire and includes Consultant Social Workers, Social Workers and Senior Social Workers, Child and Family Practitioners and Leaving Care Personal Advisors. We are a specialist social work service undertaking all aspects of social work for children and young people who meet the criteria for support from our service. This includes undertaking assessments, direct work, supporting Children in Need, Children in Our Care and Care Leavers, undertaking safeguarding and court work, complex multi-agency planning, work within the Mental Capacity Act and supporting the transition to adulthood. The service offers the opportunity for the development of a wide range of practice experience and skills and career progression within the service.
Multi-agency working is key in supporting our children, young people and their families. We work closely with multi-agency partners and other teams across children's and education services to provide joined-up support that makes a real difference and improves outcomes for the children and families we support. We recognise the importance of working creatively with our children and young people. We focus on our children and young people as individuals, getting to know them, learning to communicate with them and understand their daily experiences, supporting them to improve their daily lives and outcomes and those of their families. Working long term with the children and families enables us to keep families together, build positive relationships and prevent concerns escalating by providing individualised packages of care and support.
Our aim is to ensure children and young people with disabilities are supported to achieve their full potential, reach their goals to ensure that they lead a full and inclusive life and be given the same opportunities as their peers. Come and join us on our journey to make a difference to the children and young people we support who really are at the heart of what we do and we feel it is an honour to be part of their lives.
Working with children and young people with severe and profound disabilities and their families is both challenging and rewarding. As a member of this service you will have a real opportunity to make a significant difference to the children, young people and their families you are there to support. As part of the Children with Disabilities Service you will have a range of opportunities to gain and develop a wide range of knowledge and skill in this specialist area, learning through formal training, colleagues, multi-agency partners and children, young people and their families.
Please ensure you have uploaded and attached your supporting statement to evidence how you meet the criteria for the role. The panel may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.
The post you are applying for is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). If successful, you will be required to apply to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for a 'disclosure'. Further information can be found on the 'Our Recruitment Process' tab.
You must be registered (Social Work England) to be appointed as a Social Worker. You will be required to provide a car for use in connection with the duties of this post and must be insured for business use. However, we may consider you if you cannot drive because of a disability.
In return Lancashire County Council offers a range of benefits, which can be found on LCC Vacancies website.
Job Description & Person Specification
