Job title: Social Worker/ Advanced Social Worker; MASH
Department: Children’s Services
Location: Croydon Council (CR0)
Grade / Salary: Grade 11 - 14; £41,793 - £49,890 + £5,000 welcome payment + £2,500 retention payment
Hours of work: 36 per week / Monday – Friday
Contract type: Permanent
At Croydon Council, we are proud to announce we have a range of new opportunities for qualified Social Workers to take the next step in their career – could this opportunity be the next move for you?
Our service
We are seeking social work qualified and experienced social workers to join Croydon’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).
Croydon’s MASH is the ‘front door’ for all new referrals for children who may need early help support or children’s social care intervention, making important decisions about which services children need.
Following on from the positive Ofsted inspection in 2020 and Focused Visit in 2021, we are looking to continue to strengthen and transform our ‘front door’. We are committed to delivering excellent social work practice and services to our children and families. Our goal is to make the right decisions, at the right time and so help set a positive journey for all children.
As a MASH Social Worker, you will work within a structure of 3 MASH teams, aligned to 3 Team Managers. You will also work alongside a newly formed Early Help Triage Team, comprising of Senior Early Help Navigators, a Substance Misuse Worker, and a domestic abuse IIDVA.
As a MASH social worker, you will be responsible for a daily allocation of MASH referrals, where you will speak to parents, carers and young people and gather information from partner agencies towards analysing risk and need and helping identify the right service the child needs. You will have opportunities to provide consultation advice to professional referrers, as well as participating in multi-agency risk management forums.
Candidates will need to have significant post qualifying experience, including in a statutory child care setting. Prior MASH experience is useful but not essential.
Candidates will need to be able to demonstrate good experience, knowledge and skills of ability to work in front line setting; being able to work with a complex and diverse range of needs and risks; and making effective and timely decisions involving child protection, child in need and Early Help interventions.
Candidates will need to have had working positively with partner agencies and ability to develop collaborative working relationships with children and their families.
Candidates will need to have good knowledge and understanding of legislative framework, relevant research and national developments, and policies relating to children’s social
As a MASH social worker, you will be line managed by a Team Manger.
Benefits of Working With Us
Highly competitive salary & retention payment of £2,500 giving up to £52,390pa
Welcome Payment of £5,000
A pension scheme with an average employer contribution of 20%
31 days annual leave in addition to Bank Holidays
Accredited Systemic Practice training
A range of CPD opportunities
Manageable caseloads
Investment into your staff well-being
Good management support for practitioners, regular supervision, group supervision led by systemic therapists and access to a clinical therapist to support your work directly.
Hybrid working policy enabling work from home and flexible working approaches to support your work-life balance.
The council promotes a hybrid working where the role allows
Qualified Social Workers who are Social Work England registered
Working knowledge of national policy, strategy and developments regarding children’s social care, and areas that impact on children’s social care.
Managing a daily allocation of MASH referrals within required time frames
Ability to manage competing priorities
Ability to engage positively and collaboratively with parents/carers towards discussing referrals, understanding the needs/risks to the child and identifying the right services to meet the child’s needs
Engage effectively with multi-agency partners and being able to gather good quality information to assist with decision making
Good analytical skills
Demonstrate good written skills, so MASH activity is clearly recorded, up to date and analysis of risk and need and recommendations are clear
Good threshold decision making
Ability to work as part of a team and contribute to team and service development
The role will involve you using a range of systemic ideas in your work, including promoting a practice philosophy which seeks to empower service users, build on individual strengths, and develop strategies which support them to understand, manage and respond to risk.
You will be required to be office-based a minimum of 3-days per week and at other times according to service needs.
Home to 94,000 children, Croydon is a truly unique place to practice social work. We are a borough with big ambition, grit, and determination. Children's social care was judged ‘good’ in our last Ofsted inspection.
Our systemic practice framework places emphasis on relationships as key to supporting change for families. We make sense of the world through relationships, focusing on the whole family system and thinking about our own part in that too – what we bring, our own family stories and beliefs, how we use ourselves in the work that we do. Our practice model is all about collaboration - with our families, networks and partners; being open to challenge and ensuring our practitioners are highly trained in a variety of intervention approaches. Our established clinical service will support you to grow your own systemic practice within the service, providing accredited training, co-working and direct work with families.
For an informal chat about working in Croydon, contact Agata Stolowska at agata.stolowska@croydon.gov.uk