Role profile

Job Title:  Social Worker

Post Number: 184846 & 184857                       Grade:  PO2 - PO3

Directorate:  Children and Specialist Services

Service:  Safeguarding and Support Team     

Reports to:   Assistant Team Manager

PURPOSE OF ROLE:

·       To fulfil the duties and responsibilities of a qualified Social Work post in Hounslow’s Children’s Specialist Services.  In your team you will be working closely with children and their families.  You will manage a caseload where children or young people are in Need and subject to Child Protection Plans, LAC and/or Leaving Care.  Your role will be to deliver relevant interventions in order to safeguard children and ensure their needs are met whilst also aiming to effect long-term positive change to improve the life experiences of vulnerable children and young people. 

·       Within this role you will work to maintain high standards of professional practice, working at all times in the best interests of children and young people, ensuring that there are clear evidence-based assessments and care plans in place on all allocated cases.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Corporate:

1.      To provide a Social Work service in accordance with departmental policies and priorities and to participate in the costing, co ordination, monitoring and review in line with department procedures.

2.      To maintain awareness of current legislative requirements as relating to children and to participate in relevant training.

3.      To use regular supervision and participate in staff meetings to ensure an effective service to users and carers and further professional development.

4.      To work according to the council and Social Work England guidance regarding  professional conduct and anti-discriminatory practice.

5.      To work according to the council’s data protection and confidentiality standards.

Functional:

1.      To keep children safe and to undertake or contribute towards child protection investigations and to provide assessments and recommendations that facilitate decision-making by appropriate line managers.

2.      To undertake assessments of the needs of children and their families taking into account their views, and to ensure that a comprehensive plan is in place which has been discussed, and where possible, agreed by all parties.

3.      To undertake resource package reviews and represent relevant recommendations at a resource allocation panel on a regular basis.

4.      To work collaboratively with professionals from both within the Children’s Services Division and other multi disciplinary services to ensure that plans are implemented effectively in the best interest of children and families.

5.      To prepare court statements and give evidence in court, when required.

6.      To provide clear verbal and written reports to a high standard which may be used in a wide range of meetings and legal proceedings.

7.      To maintain accurate and full records of contact and interventions with service users in line with the department’s policies and procedures.

8.      Ensure that children experience a positive transition between services and between childhood and adulthood.

9.      To participate in duty systems as required.

Level 2: SOCIAL WORKER

1. Ability to communicate with children and undertake age appropriate direct work and to communicate with families with compassion and authority in challenging situations and with hard to reach individuals.

2. Demonstrate the ability to work within your own organisation and identify and begin to work with the relationship between the organisation, practice and wider changing contexts.

3. Ensure practice is underpinned by policy, procedures and code of conduct to promote individual’s rights to determine their own solutions, promoting problem-solving skills, whilst recognising how and when self-determination may be constrained (by the law).

4. Ability to recognise and manage conflicting values and ethical dilemmas, in practice, using supervision and team discussion, questioning and challenging others, including those from other professions.

5. Ability to provide your professional opinion and routinely explain your professional reasoning, judgements and decisions.

Level 3: SENIOR PRACTITIONER

1. Communicate skilfully and confidently in complex or high risk situations. Model and help others to develop communication skills.

2. Sustain and model engagement with people in fluctuating circumstances and capacities, including where there is hostility and risk.

3. Be able to gather information quickly and effectively so as to inform judgement for interventions including in crises, and in response to challenge, or in the absence of complete information.

4. Use assessment procedures discerningly so as to inform judgement.

5. Demonstrate skilled use of a range of frameworks for assessment and intervention.

6. Actively support and initiate community groups and networks, including professional ones.

7. Contribute to the development of the organisation’s information strategy and systems.

8. Model and help others with appropriate information sharing.

9. Model and help others to manage changing circumstances.

10. Recognise and appropriately manage the authority inherent in your position.

11. Maintain awareness of own professional limitations and knowledge gaps. Establish a network of internal and external colleagues from whom to seek advice and expertise.

These are the values that drive us:

 Lead with heart

We’re here for the people of Hounslow. We work together with them and for them with care and compassion, with patience and in partnership. We put ourselves in other’s shoes, remembering that every person is different, and every interaction is a real moment in their lives. We always feel first.

 Do new

We need to do things differently if we’re going to help Hounslow people thrive in the future. Hard work is important but it’s not enough on its own. We need to challenge ourselves to break new ground, invent new approaches, try new ideas keep moving forward and keep improving. That means being ready to stop doing things we’ve done before. It means taking on risk and backing each other when we take a leap.

 Pass on the power

The world keeps on changing and we need to change with it. We won’t be able to adapt fast enough to the future needs of our residents if we stick to old fashioned command and control. We need to hand over responsibility and give people more power to make decisions and take action themselves. It’s about being transparent and straightforward. It’s about providing tools and support. But most of all, it’s about being ready to trust each other to do the right thing.

 Harness the mix

We work together, across disciplines and roles. We talk lots, share our insights, our skills and experience. We’re not interested in siloes or defensiveness. We’re always open to different approaches, we’re flexible and ready to adapt. We break down the barriers between our parts and people to unlock the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds.

 Be a rock

There’s lots to do and people need us. It’s up to us to take the initiative. To take responsibility. To stand up and be counted. Everyday. It’s about being super focused, effective and efficient. It’s about allocating our resources smartly and with good rationale – using data to help guide our decisions. But most of all, it’s about having the strength and determination to keep on going through thick and thin.