Salary range: Grade 11 - 14 (£48,519 - £57,150 p.a.)
Contract: Permanent
Hours of work: 36 hours per week
Location: Croydon
SOCIAL WORKER / ADVANCED SOCIAL WORKER - CHILDREN IN CARE (UNDER 16) TEAM
We are seeking an enthusiastic, compassionate, and child-focused Social Worker to join our Children in Care 0-16 Service.
This is an exciting opportunity to become part of a dynamic and dedicated team committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for children in our care. We pride ourselves on providing high-quality support to children and families while creating a positive and supportive environment for our staff.
With an average caseload of just 16 children, a highly supportive management team, and a well-established Systemic Practice model at the heart of our work, the Children in Care 0-16 Service offers a rewarding and nurturing place to develop your career. We foster a culture of collaboration, learning, and professional growth, ensuring practitioners feel valued, supported, and empowered to make a real difference in the lives of children and young people.
Join us and be part of a service where relationships matter, practice is valued, and children remain at the centre of everything we do.
Qualified Social Worker and up to date registered with Social Work England
Preferably having completed ASYE
Knowledge of national policy, strategy and developments regarding children’s social care, and areas that impact on children’s social care.
Experience of working with children in care and those who arrived unaccompanied in the UK is desirable.
Knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance, standards and procedures.
Able to maintain records that evidence our engagement with children and families, informs the quality assurance framework e.g., quantitative, qualitative and outcome information for the children and families, the views and experiences of children and families
Prior experience of working with children looked after is useful but not essential. You will however, be committed to high quality relational practice and have a natural ability in creating trusting relationships with children.
Candidates will need to be able to demonstrate good experience, knowledge and skills of ability to work in front line settings; being able to work with a complex and diverse range of needs and risks; and making effective and timely decisions including those in contextual safeguarding.
Candidates will need to demonstrate their ability to working positively with partner agencies and 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 work and relevant to the role.
To view the Social Worker role profile please click here.
To view the Advanced Social Worker role profile click here
The Council balances its books, listens to residents, and delivers good sustainable services
Key business plan outcomes:
Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Subject to business needs, we will be pleased to consider applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements and support hybrid working, whereby staff attend the workplace for part of their working week and work from home, or elsewhere, remotely for the rest of the time.
As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the advertised role.
Croydon council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment.
The Successful candidate will be subject to a DBS check, if the role requires one.
We provide a large number of services for local people, businesses and visitors to the borough, including services for children and adults, and environmental, cultural, sports, housing, planning and benefits services.
The borough is split into 24 electoral wards, and local elections are held every four years.
With a workforce of approximately 3,300 staff, including teachers in schools, Croydon Council is the largest employer in the borough. Spending over £900 million per year, the council makes a significant contribution to the local economy.
The council comprises three main political functions, the Executive (Leader and Cabinet), Committees, and Scrutiny.
The Leader and Cabinet are responsible and accountable for shaping policies and plans and recommending them to the council for approval. Cabinet also gives direction to departmental directors on the way services are managed and the budgets allocated to them.
Six non-executive committees take decisions relating to planning, licensing, standards of behaviour and conduct for members and officers, staffing issues, tenders, property transactions, liaison with local utility companies and internal audit.
Scrutiny holds the council executive functions to account. Examining aspects of council performance, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee also increasingly involves other local agencies which contribute to the economic, social and environmental well-being of the local population.
