People and Place
Experienced Social Worker: Children with Disabilities
Ref: 000373
Contract Type: Permanent
Salary: £37,938 - £45,718 (Grade 7 or 8 depending on experience). Essential Car user allowance provided.
Hours: 36.66 per week
Based: Metropolitan Place, Hobson Street, Oldham OL1 1TT, with some home working. Parking available on side of building.
Closing date: Sunday, 24th November 2024
Shortlisting: week commencing 25th November 2024
Interview: TBA
Informal Enquiries: Contact Nicole Stewart, Team Manager, Martine Lewis, Head of Service
Email: Nicole.stewart@oldham.gov.uk and martine.lewis@oldham.gov.uk
Why should you work in Oldham?
Officially rated as a ‘Good’ by Ofsted, we are proud of our relentless approach in seeking the very best outcomes for our children and families, and there’s never been a better time to join the team and be part of our success story.
Oldham is a wonderful place of diversity, where people of all cultures come together. This is one our greatest strengths and our social workers enjoy using a breadth of skills and gaining a variety of experiences whilst supporting children and families from diverse backgrounds.
We use systemic practice as our chosen practice model, focusing on building relationships with children and families, understanding the context and family dynamics, and reflectively learning together. 2024 has seen the launch of our new systemic reflective hubs, as our Social Work Academy continues to offer reflective supervisions and tailored support through an innovative 2-year ASYE programme.
We have a strong ethos of ‘Growing our own’, providing a great environment to excel in your social work career.
Our Promises to you:
- A manageable and diverse caseload aligned with your experience and skills.
- A commitment to your continuing professional development through a bespoke learning and development programme
- A variety of career opportunities to progress and develop with us in Social Work
- Regular, quality, and reflective supervision and learning from practice audits with fortnightly training days in each of our services.
- Monthly Group Supervision with your team
- Weekly Learning Spaces to focus on a specific area of learning.
- A permanent and supportive Senior Leadership team
- Full corporate and service Induction
- Direct link to a Team Manager, Advanced Practitioner and Social Work Consultants from our Social Work Academy.
- The opportunity to become a Practice Educator and to develop students within our organisation.
- Dedicated support to develop you in your role and opportunities to meet your career aspirations.
- During the SSYE (second supported year in employment) you will have a consultant social worker in the CSWA who will offer reflective supervision every three months as well as meetings with your manager at 6 and 12 months to ensure that your professional development plan is being supported.
- Focus on child and family-centred outcomes across all sectors by ensuring the right intervention is identified at the right time, there by building a safe, happy, healthy, and successful future for children and young people.
You will be rewarded with great benefits:
- Competitive pay with a £2,000 retention payment. (After 2 years)
- Hybrid working giving flexibility for you to manage your diary and offer a better work/life balance.
- Free town centre parking
- Essential car user allowance of £500* and mileage expenses at 45p per mile.
- Reimbursement of Social Work England professional registration fees currently £90 per year
- Other generous benefits including:
- 25 days annual leave with the option to purchase additional days, and which increases after 5- and 10-years’ service.
- Attractive defined benefit pension scheme with a market leading AVC option for additional retirement savings
- Discounted gym membership
- Staff discount scheme for shopping, entertainment, eating-out, eating-in, travel, motoring and more.
- Salary sacrifice scheme, including Cycle to Work
- Wellbeing support, including an Employment Assistance Programme that provides 24 hours access to advice and support.
- Staff recognition and celebration events
Scroll Greater.Jobs for more information on staff benefits.
Our employees say
“One of the reasons I’ve worked here for so long is because it’s like a family and a listening organisation, where people are encouraged to participate and get involved”.
“Our Social Worker teams are friendly, approachable and professional”.
“We all want to make a difference to the families and children that we work with”.
“Oldham values the person, the families, and the inclusive culture”.
Hear more from our employees and explore our Social Work Academy offer here
Ofsted says
“Children are well supported by social workers, who ensure that their health, education and emotional needs are met”.
“Staff are tenacious”.
“Children and families in Oldham benefit from a comprehensive range of early help services”.
“There is strong partnership working”.
“Senior leaders promote the participation of cared for children and actively seek their voice in developing and shaping service delivery”.
“Relentless focus on improvement by a strong and stable leadership team, with progress made across many areas of practice,”
Read the full Ofsted report here
The Children with Additional & Complex Needs Team is looking for a qualified Grade 8 Social Worker to join our busy and dynamic team. If you have experience in safeguarding children and an understanding of children looked after processes, we’d love to hear from you.
About the Role
As part of our team, you’ll manage a variety of cases from initial assessment through to child protection, pre-proceedings, care proceedings, children looked after, and adoption. This is a great opportunity to build a well-rounded skill set in social work and develop specialized knowledge in:
- Mental Capacity Assessments and Best Interest Meetings
- Court of Protection and Inherent Jurisdiction applications
- Communicating creatively and effectively with children and young people, including those with non-verbal communication needs
- Supporting carers through assessments and providing respite and domiciliary care
- Helping young people transition from Children’s to Adult Services
This role is ideal for someone who is ready to expand their skills in a supportive and varied environment. We look forward to supporting you in your growth and impact in this rewarding field.
Our team works closely with the Short Breaks Service, which manages all short break packages for cases without identifiable welfare or safeguarding needs. These cases are transferred from the Children with Additional and Complex Needs Team, allowing us to focus our resources on children requiring ongoing support.
What we need from you:
All applicants must meet the relevant criteria, including the right to work in the UK. We do not accept applications from candidates who require sponsorship.
Oldham Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All roles require strong commitment to securing good outcomes for children, operating in a supportive environment focused on effective delivery, including identifying and responding appropriately to any safeguarding concerns, ensuring the immediate decision making reflects an analysis of risk and protective factors.
Diversity and Inclusion:
We are committed to creating a fair and inclusive workplace that is as diverse as the communities we serve. We aim to develop a culture of respect, where differences are recognised regardless of background. We aim to be an employer of choice by engaging in fair and open recruitment processes and applications are encouraged from all communities across the borough to create a workforce that represents the diversity of our population.
If you would like support with this application, an interview or interested in looking at any courses that could help with this position please get in touch with Get Oldham Working - Get Oldham Working registration form - Oldham Council
Our Behaviours
Our five behaviours support how we work at Oldham, ensuring we all:
- Work with a resident focus.
- Support our local leaders.
- Take ownership and drive change.
- Stay committed to the borough.
- Drive high performance.
To find out more, scroll Greater.Jobs
Guaranteed Assessment Scheme
Any candidate that meets the criteria of our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme and meets the essential criteria of the role, will be guaranteed the first stage of assessment (whether that is an interview or another assessment, as appropriate).
Our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme supports candidates with disabilities, carers, those who are aged 24 or under and have previously been in or currently in care, and those whose last long term substantive employer was the Armed Forces.
Data Privacy
For details of how we use your data please see our Privacy Notice
Oldham Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure from the DBS (and a Certificate of Good Conduct where you have lived abroad for 12 months or more in the last 10 years).
The successful applicant will be required to register to the DBS Update Service to enable the Council to undertake rechecks throughout your employment. The cost to register is £13 and can be claimed back upon commencement to the role but will not be refunded if you do not accept the offer of employment.
This post requires registration to Social Work England.
If you would like support with this application, an interview or interested in looking at any courses that could help with this position please get in touch with Get Oldham Working - Get Oldham Working registration form - Oldham Council
Please note that should a vacancy that has been released for internal or external recruitment be deemed suitable for an at risk employee, it can be pulled back at any point up to the post being formally offered to an external candidate or an internal candidate that is not at risk of redundancy.
Right to Work in the UK
Grade 7 Job Description and Person Specification
Grade 8 Job Description and Person Specification
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