Social Worker

Temporary, Full Time

£296 per day

Location: Harlow

Working Style: Community-based worker

***Please note this is a 3 month temporary role with an immediate start ***

Pay rate - £296 per day (£40 per hour)

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity and compassion; promoting development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

Family Support and Protection

The Family Support and Protection (FS&P) teams work with families that have long term complex issues, require more than three months intervention, and where children are subject to child protection or child in need plans or where children can no longer live at home and care proceedings need to be initiated. FS&P Social Workers are responsible for building on the relationships with families using systemic and strengths based social work approaches. Through this they work alongside families to achieve positive change within the context of managing risk. This work is varied and involves working with Public Law Outline (PLO), taking families into proceedings and first hearing only, Special Guardianship Order (SGO) assessments and Section 7 court reports, reviewing as well as updating assessments and plans for children subject to Children in Need (CIN), Child Protection (CP) or Looked After Children (LAC).

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Assess complex social care needs and provide support to children and families.

• Develop support plans that gain commitment to solutions that enable the child, young person and family to build resilience and look forward to a brighter future.

• Accountable for working within the statutory legal framework, policy and guidance and determining when the threshold for statutory intervention has been reached.

• Work collaboratively, building effective relationships with internal and external partnerships and stakeholders and the voluntary sector, to assist children and their families and carers in gaining support.

• Accountable for conducting assessments and plan responses to safeguard a child or young person and promote their welfare, including appropriate intervention as determined by need.

• Develop a child centred approach which enables early intervention and prevention and increases independence.

• Pro-actively influences in a range of inter-agency planning, decision making and case discussions.

• Communicate assessments and professional judgements clearly and succinctly both orally and in writing, including report writing and court statements.

• Work with families, communities and individuals to help people get the best start in life and age well, supporting strategic aims.

• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or Masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered social worker.

• Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.

• Experience within a social work setting with evidence of challenging social and family situations.

• Strong communication skills and an ability to develop a rapport and engage with diverse groups of individuals.

• Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies and the local community, to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children and families.

• Understand delivery of value for money interventions balanced against need.

• Evidence of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.

Sorry, newly qualified social workers will not be considered for this position.

To apply you should be a qualified social worker with a current Social Work England registration. You’ll bring a minimum of 2 year’s post-qualified experience, evidence of continuing professional development, and capability of practice in accordance with current professional standards. You will need strong experience with reviews and assessments and previous experience within Children & Families.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

Our client is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.