Consultant Social Worker (childrens)

Qualified Childrens Consultant Social Worker

Starting Salary: £46,731 per annum + £6,924 market enhanced payment, progressing to £51,802 per annum + £6,768 market enhanced payment PLUS £1k one off welcome payment*

Hours: 37

Location: Base locations in Stevenage and Apsley. Whilst you will have a base, each team has a geographic area they cover which will require regular access to a vehicle in order to travel to meetings.

Contract Type: Permanent

Directorate: Childrens Services

About the service

At Hertfordshire County Council, we believe that the children and young people in our care deserve the best. And that means ensuring the social workers who work alongside them are trained, supported, and highly motivated.

As an innovative authority, we are committed to developing motivational social work practice and you will be trained to work in this way. You will be working at the forefront of best practice to deliver first class support to vulnerable children and families which will expose you to managing complex and diverse caseloads.

By changing our approach to families, they are changing their approach to us and we are managing to keep far more children at home safely with their families.

With dedicated Diversity & Inclusion strategy and focus groups, we promote diversity and inclusion across the delivery of services and within our workforce.

We will offer a stimulating working environment, regular supervision meetings and training opportunities to help you to reach your full potential with the assistance and guidance of our specialist L&D teams.

The pandemic has brought about changes in the way we work and having learnt from this and from feedback from our staff and communities, we are embedding important principles around 'Our Way Forward’. The overarching vision for Children’s Services is that we work in a 'flexible and balanced’ way with a focus on 'continuous improvement’; this is underpinned by a 'mix and blend’ approach by adopting hybrid ways of working, balancing the need for collaborative workspaces with the right technology for staff to work from home and touchdown areas where this is right for you and for our families.

About the role

Each Team is made up of; a Team Manager, Consultant Social Worker(s), Senior Practitioners, Social Workers, Children's Practitioners and Family Practitioners.

We are looking for experienced Social Workers to join one of the following teams:

Family Safeguarding

This role will include holding a small caseload of complex work and supports development into a management role in the future.

This will include conducting supervision meetings and supporting other members of the team and providing management cover in the Team Manager’s absence.

About you

Essential:

Qualified and Social Work England Registered

Experience of staff supervision and management

Comprehensive knowledge of the challenges associate with working with Children and their Families

Thorough knowledge of care proceedings and court experience

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Knowledge of legislation, guidance, policy, and procedures

Proficient in the use of Microsoft IT package

Full UK Driving Licence Regular Access to a vehicle

In addition to the above, below outlines team specific essential criteria:

Family Safeguarding:

• The role will require you to support social workers, by assisting in court work which will include attending court, therefore a thorough knowledge of care proceedings and court experience is required.

To read more about our service and opportunities available, please click through to our full job advert and careers pages.

Recruitment timeline: we are checking applications regularly and will arrange ad hoc interviews - please check your emails for updates.

Benefits of working for us: Monthly Market Enhanced Payment, One off £1k Welcome Payment* (terms & conditions apply), Lease Car Scheme, Up to £6 relocation expenses, Hybrid working model, 5 Days additional annual leave entitlement

To Apply

To be considered, please click through to the HCC website and complete a short application form.