Salary: £52,572 to £55,984 per annum (market supplements included)
Contract Type: Fixed term contract - up to 12 months in duration
Working Pattern: Full time - 37 hour per week
Location: Based at County Hall North, Horsham
Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.
As an Advanced social worker in the Integrated Front Door, you will be leading on assessing needs and risk for vulnerable children and families in West Sussex.
The role involves triaging referrals from many different sources to determine an appropriate course of action to support that child. This could include advice and guidance by one of our Integrated Front Door Support Officers, services from Early Help or from Social Care.
The role includes managing a group of alternatively qualified, Integrated Front Door Support Officers by providing direction and assistance with their work. The Advanced Social Worker is well supported by their Team Manager in this role.
As a fast-moving service, you will have a voice in relation to the development of the service and can make a difference to delivering the best outcomes for children and families. The Integrated Front Door also continues to develop practice and build strong relationships with a wide range of partner agencies. These include police, health, education, probation and housing professionals who are co-located and working together to ensure the best outcomes for children and young people.
We offer flexible administrative support from Coordinators embedded within the service.
We provide regular group supervision and peer learning alongside specialist roles within the team to focus on the most vulnerable children. As a Advanced Social Worker, you'll have a minimum of 5 CPD and training days per year with access to excellent learning and development provisions such as Research in Practice and Community Care Inform, Social Work England fees paid and annual leave up to 29 days, as well as the option to buy up to 3 additional days.
As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee, please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.
The Opportunity
As an Advanced Social Worker within the Integrated Front Door team, you will be working to deliver first class support to vulnerable children and young people. You will apply the highest level of expertise and be responsible for triaging referrals that are made. You will assist in improving the practice of Integrated Front Door Support Officers and other social workers in the team and lead and champion best practice and standards.
You will be able to build positive working relationships with children and young people, professionals, partner agencies and carers as well as respectfully challenging when appropriate. You will have an excellent understanding of the statutory requirements relating to keeping children safe.
You will be expected to demonstrate advanced relevant theoretical Social Work concepts and practices relating to the provision of a professional Social Work service dealing with complex issues. There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
About you
Some of the key skills and experience required for this role include:
* Analysis and interpretation of complex information and data to enable prioritisation and support in planning next steps.
* Ability to role model, promote exemplary practice and provide expertise in specialist assessment and intervention. Acting as a subject matter expert, coach and supervisor to others within the organisation, enabling social workers to develop.
* Communicate effectively to all audiences but especially the children and families you are supporting, both verbally and in written form and negotiated and persuade where necessary.
* Recognised Social Work qualification e.g. Degree in Social Work, Post Graduate Certificate in Social Work, DipSW, CQSW or equivalent as recognised by the relevant professional body.
* A recognised post qualifying award in Social Work or demonstrable evidence of continuous professional development at a similar level.
* Relevant advanced knowledge of theoretical Social Work concepts equivalent concepts and practices and detailed organisational knowledge relating to the provision of a professional Social Work service dealing with very complex issues.
* Demonstrable evidence of providing focused, timely, sound and accurate advice and guidance and working through very complex casework, including managing levels of risk within a caseload of complex safeguarding cases.
* You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available.
For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.
About us
We are committed to improving our services for the children and families we support in West Sussex. In May 2023 Ofsted Inspectors praised West Sussex County Council's Children's Services for its 'relentless approach to improving practice,' giving the service an overall rating of 'requires improvement', with 'good' judgements for children in care and leadership and management. The judgements on children needing help and protection and children leaving care are they 'require improvement to be good'.
Inspectors recognised the 'strong, determined and cohesive leadership team' who have made significant improvements since 2019 and their commitment and focus to make further improvements.
For further information about us and about working in Children's Social Care at West Sussex County Council, please visit Careers in children's social work in West Sussex .
Further information
The reference number for this role is CAFHE05494 .
To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.
Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
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