15 Oct
Lancashire County Council
Morecambe
Salary £43,421-£48,474 Per annum | Permanent, Full Time, 37 hours per week | Family Safeguarding | Lancaster and Fylde & Wyre
Pay Award Pending
We have two exciting opportunities for experienced Consultant Social Workers to join our Family Safeguarding Team based in the North of the county. One based in Lancaster and one based in Fylde and Wyre.
The role would suit an experienced social worker, who is looking for the next step into Management, but still enjoys case work. You will be expected to support less experienced social workers to develop their social work practice, manage a reduced case load and support the team in the absence of the Team Manager, whilst achieving positive outcomes for children and their families.
In Family Safeguarding, we have been able to reduce the number of children coming into care, by offering direct work, not only provided by social workers, but by our adult social workers, who specialise in domestic abuse, substance/alcohol misuse and mental health issues.
Family Safeguarding is a strengths-based model of social work and we have implemented it in Lancashire as part of the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children Innovation Programme, with support from Hertfordshire. We seek to keep children at home with their families where it is safe to do so, the work covers children in need, child protection, pre-proceedings, Court work and adoption, and we are looking for someone who is experienced and confident in these areas. Consultant Social Workers play a vital role in supporting a multi-agency team alongside the Team Manager and also have a caseload of their own, allowing you to remain involved in social work on the ground.
It's All about You;
- You are strength's based - you are able to work alongside families to identify what makes them strong and resilient and to help them to address areas of need and risk.
- You're passionate about making a difference to children, young people and families – we're after caring, passionate and dedicated social workers that want to make a difference to the families we work with and we've made recent significant investments to support you doing this
- You want flexibility and trust from your organisation – we have high expectations and delivering successful outcomes is more important to us than watching the clock so you can work from home whenever possible and flex your job/hours/location around your life
- You want to challenge and develop your team and yourself – we're looking for someone who can support their Team Manager to drive and deliver the changes that we're making whilst showing the team how to deliver excellent social work through work on their own caseload.
Reporting to and working alongside the Family Safeguarding Team Manager, the Consultant Social Worker will support a team of Children's Services professionals and practitioners, to ensure the development, delivery and continuous improvement of specialist services for children, young people and their families and carers in Lancashire.
The Consultant Social Worker will hold a small, complex caseload equating to approximately 60% of a full caseload and support the co-work of cases which require an advanced degree of professional expertise.
The Consultant Social Worker will support the upskilling of workers and developing group supervision, use of the LCS workbook and the embedding of motivational interviewing skills.
The Consultant Social Worker will support the co-ordination and integration of team learning activities.
The Consultant Social Worker will hold oversight responsibility for up to two Specialist Adult Workers and a Child and Family Practitioner, and other areas of specified responsibility as outlined above.
The post holder will deputise for the Team Manager when required as appropriate.
The post holder may required to work evenings, weekends and occasional public holidays, in order to meet service requirements in respect of service user needs.
The Consultant Social Worker will support the delivery of effective support and services to children, young people and families in line with the vision for Children and Families in Lancashire developed by the Children, Young People and Families Partnership Board which states; Children, young people and their families are safe, healthy and achieve their full potential
To deliver this vision we have agreed some key outcomes:
Five Outcomes
1. Vulnerable children and young people are safe from harm and build resilience.
2. Children and young people achieve their full potential in education, learning and future employment.
3. Children and young people enjoy heathy lifestyles and know how to help others.
4. Children, young people and families have a voice in shaping the support they receive.
5. Children and young people live in Lancashire where they can enjoy a good quality of life, be happy and want to stay.
For an informal discussion, please contact Graham Brown at ************@lancashire.gov.uk
Please ensure you have uploaded and attached your supporting statement to evidence how you meet the criteria for the role. The panel may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.
You must be registered (SWE) to be appointed as a Social Worker or have applied to register with the Social Care Council.
You will be required to provide a car for use in connection with the duties of this post and must be insured for business use. However, we may consider you if you cannot drive because of a disability.
The post you are applying for is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). If successful you will be required to apply to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for a 'disclosure'. Further information can be found on the 'Our Recruitment Process' tab.
In return Lancashire County Council offers a range of benefits, which can be found on LCC Vacancies website.
We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.
Job Description & Person Specification