Senior Social Work Practitioner

About Us

Working for us at West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. This is a great opportunity for you to join us as a highly experienced social worker. We're embracing a strengths based approach and working within a community-led support model that builds on the assets and strengths of people, families, and their local communities.
Together, we'll focus on prevention, enablement, reablement and safety, to promote wellbeing and independence. We'll ensure that residents, families and communities have the right support in place, and at the right time.
We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and offers the right balance between challenge and support. This provides our workforce with what they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for our residents. We work to ensure that innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do and that we maintain an environment within which our social workers can develop and progress in their careers. If you have the talent and ambition to achieve the best for the people we serve, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your social work career.

About The Job

Salary: NJC Grade 12 £46,731 to £49,764 depending on experience
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Contract Length: Permanent
Location: Glebelands, Shoreham

What you'll need to succeed in this role:
For this role you are expected to be working at Senior Social Work level or above, and demonstrate a breath of advanced Social Work theories, methods, and concepts. You will hold detailed organisational knowledge relating to the provision of a professional Social Work service dealing with very complex issues.
An advanced understanding of interventions and approaches that can be used e.g., strengths-based and solution focused practice, systemic and evidence based decision-making and an excellent understanding of organisational contexts including partner agencies such as health, housing, education, statutory, voluntary, and independent sector. You will have knowledge of management strategies required to confidently manage internal and external issues. You will model and develop in others coaching, influencing and supervisory skills to enhance best practice, standards, and better outcomes.
You will have sound and accurate IT and keyboard skills and will need to be able to work autonomously and flexibly, including some working out of normal office hours. There is a requirement to be able to travel across the county and work from various locations.

Experience and Skills

Please refer to the attached job description for full information regarding required Key Skills for this role.

Qualifications and/or experience:

* A Degree in Social Work or a recognised equivalent Social Work qualification e.g., Diploma in Social Work.
* A recognised post qualifying award in Social Work (e.g., Practice Educator, Best Interest Assessor and/or Approved Mental Health Professional) or demonstrable evidence of continuous professional development at a similar level.
* Registered with Social Work England.
* Experience of undertaking assessments in complex situations and social work intervention planning, implementation, and review by means of creative and pragmatic solutions.
* Extensive experience of working in partnership with those who access the service and maintaining a focus on the needs and strengths of the people, and the outcomes they want to achieve, whilst handling conflict and disagreement.
* Experience of managing risk within a risk enablement approach.
* Excellent, up-to-date working knowledge of relevant legislation e.g., Care Act (2014), Mental Capacity Act (2005) etc.
* Requirement for BIA qualified practitioners to contribute to BIA service delivery, AMHP qualified practitioners to contribute to AMHP service delivery.
* Valid, full driving licence. Desirable

Rewards and Benefits

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05521.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Annaliese Frost (Team Manager) at

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!