Joining the Unaccompanied Minors and Independence Support Team (UMIST), a team of eight social workers, three personal advisers, a clinician and housing and benefits workers, you will be supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UAS Children) in local authority care and young people who are care experienced (both former UAS Children and those from the indigenous population).
You will manage a group of practitioners who provide a statutory service to looked after children and young people who are care experienced under the Children Act (1989), Children (Leaving Care) Act (2000) and the Children and Social Work Act (2017). The team is responsible for the local authority’s obligations to looked after children who are UAS Children.
As a Practice Manager you will support, supervise, and lead social workers and other practitioners to ensure that an effective, robust service is offered to ‘looked after’ UAS Children and young people who are care experienced from diverse backgrounds with a focus on good outcomes for all. You will supervise up to six practitioners, mostly social workers with a case load of around 15 to 18 and have access to regular supervision, a strong leadership team and excellent resources. Along with the other managers in the team, you will manage the duty system. You will have responsibility for leading on age assessments or our evolving programme of independent living skills.
We’re looking for someone with sensitivity and passion in this area of work, excellent decision-making and communication skills to support our strong leadership team. A qualified and registered social worker, you’ll have demonstrable supervisory experience and a track-record of working with looked after children and/or young people with care experience. You’ll lead by example, putting integrity, partnership and respect at the heart of all you do.
This role requires you to be in the office at least four days a week.
In return, you can look forward to a package that includes a competitive salary, a high-quality pension scheme and generous annual leave plus bank holidays.
As a social worker, Kensington and Chelsea presents a unique and rewarding work environment. The borough is home to a diverse community and the demographic make up of our staff reflects this.
We are committed to promoting equality and celebrating the benefits of diversity. We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.
The borough’s commitment to social care is reflected in its innovative approach to service delivery. For example, the Council has established a Bi-Borough partnership with neighbouring borough Westminster, which allows for the sharing of resources and expertise. The partnership has resulted in improved service delivery and better outcomes for vulnerable residents, which was recognised in our last ILACS inspection which found Kensington and Chelsea to be Outstanding in all judgement areas.
“Children in care and care leavers receive an outstanding service from workers who know them exceptionally well and are caring and ambitious for them. There is strong corporate support from the wider council to provide high-quality social work services for children, including significant financial investment so that the conditions are in place for excellent social work practice to flourish.”
Ofsted
Social workers in Kensington and Chelsea can look forward to a package that includes a competitive salary and child protection payment of £2,500 for social worker positions, membership of the Local Government pension scheme, Travel allowance scheme for zones 1 and 2, cycle scheme, reimbursement of Social Work England fees, generous annual leave plus bank holidays and discounts for many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments. Employees also benefit from an extensive training package, with access to the West London Alliance essential training and to years 1 and 2 of Systemic Practice.
In addition, we offer an annual leave purchase scheme where you can purchase up to 5 days annual leave per annum at 90 per cent of the actual cost. The Council has a staff contributory private healthcare scheme, open to all staff and offers a Dental Insurance Plan.