Social Worker

Posted 16th Jan, 2025
Location
Brent
Salary/rate
£40,755 – £49,551
Hours
Full-time
Working arrangements
Blended
Contract type
Permanent
Closing date
9th Feb, 2025
About the role

Come and Grow your Social Work Career in Brent 

We are an Ofsted rated “Good” authority in all areas.
 
Looked After Children Teams work with children aged 0-18 throughout their care journey. As a social worker in one of these teams you would hold a mixed case load which could include care proceedings, long term foster care, Special Guardianship, adoption, and occasionally some Child in Need or Child Protection work.
 
The Kinship Care team is a fast-paced team within the LAC and Permanency Service that assess the family and friends of a child with a view to securing a child’s permanency within their network, if they are unable to be cared by their birth parents. 
 
This role involves:
•    Completing assessments of family members or friends as potential carers for children known to them e.g., Viability Assessments, Connected Persons Fostering assessments, Special Guardianship assessments.
•    Supervising Connected Person/Regulation 24 fostering placements whilst assessments are in progress.
•    Share expertise and work in partnership with colleagues across other children’s teams and agencies.
•    Participate in a duty rota.

We are a team that is passionate about the work we undertake with a clear focus on partnership working with carers, children, and their families and with the professional network. 
We are looking for an enthusiastic and a self-motivated social worker who is passionate about working with our kinship carers and providing them support and guidance.

Some of our benefits package for staff:
•    A £5000 ‘golden hello’ payment.
•    Retention payments of £2,500 or £4,500 per year depending on team. 
•    A framework that informs and supports your professional growth.
•    Minimum of 10 days of training per year. Our learning opportunities are designed to enhance direct social work practice using the Signs of Safety model.
•    A career progression framework that maps out how you will grow your career in Brent – from ASYE to Team Manager and beyond.
For more information, please visit: www.brent.gov.uk/socialworkbrent.

Closing Date: 09 February 2025 (23:00)

If you require further information or would like an informal discussion, please contact: Head of LACP Kelli Eboji - kelli.eboji@brent.gov.uk 

If you are interested in applying for this job, please start by clicking the "Apply Now" button below. You must provide a supporting statement as part of your application that clearly shows how you meet the criteria on the Person Specification. We will accept a CV in support of your application, however, you should still provide a supporting statement.

Brent Council values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this and therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community. We positively encourage all applicants to self-identify their characteristics in the diversity survey section in the application.

We are committed to safer recruitment and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants should be aware that posts working with children, young people and vulnerable adults are subject to an Enhanced DBS check as well as other employment clearances.
 
Brent has a positive approach to flexible working.
 
As a disability confident employer Brent welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including “non-visible” disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the essential criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please contact us on  recruitment@brent.gov.uk 
About you

Candidate must have 3 years post qualifying experience of working as a Social Worker in a statutory, with excellent verbal and written communications skills, good assessment skills, good understanding and working knowledge of the relevant legislation, have good IT skills and an ability to adapt to changing situations.

About Brent

Brent is a tremendously vibrant London borough where the iconic arch of Wembley Stadium dominates the skyline. Spanning both inner and outer London, it is a borough of huge contrasts in terms of its economic, environmental, ethnic and social make up. Learn more about Brent and our communities by watching this video:

Brent Children and Young People Services boasts a bright and buzzy atmosphere where colleagues are friendly, supportive and get stuck in. Brent is the 2020 London Borough of Culture(s) where people are proud of their culture and background – and we are proud of our diverse workforce. Working in a well-connected borough, in state-of-the-art buildings, you’ll be surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops and facilities if you to choose to work in Brent.

We have a great rewards packages for social workers up to senior team managers. We provide a welcome and retention payment when you join, which includes: 

  • Key worker rental housing in Wembley for permanent social workers (subject to availability)

  • Golden hello and relocation packages (for hard to recruit to roles)

  • Annual retention payment for all social work qualified staff. 

You will also receive:

  • A commitment to manageable caseloads across all teams.

  • The Social Work progression framework, enabling you to move to senior social worker and beyond when you’re ready. We are committed to retaining the best staff and providing you with the support and opportunities to achieve that.

  • Group and 1-2-1 supervision.

  • A small team model, supported by practice consultants with training in systemic and reflective practice.

  • A culture of highly effective flexible working, supported with some of the best IT in local government.

  • A very generous Local Government Pension Scheme.

  • A host of other rewards and benefits such as reduced cost gym membership, London Designer Outlet privilege card, Wembley Boxpark privilege card plus many more. 

If you’d like to know more about Brent and working in children and young people’s services, please visit our website. If you are interested in having an informal discussion about working in children's social care in Brent please contact: