Children and Families Department
Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall Glenfield, Leicester LE3 8RA
Worker Category: Hybrid Worker involving fieldwork and you can work from home for part of your contracted hours. DPST does though spend at least one day a week in County Hall as a team, usually two.
Salary: £31,074 - £41,373 per annum (pro-rata for part-time) plus market Premium
Working Hours: 37 hours - Your line manager will arrange your working hours with you, giving consideration to operational needs. This role does require you to be able to work flexibly, and it may include some evenings and weekends, in order to meet the needs of those on your allocated case load.
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 15th April 2025
Interview Date(s): 29th April 2025
Are you looking for an exciting and interesting opportunity to work within a creative, dynamic and energetic team?
About the Role
The Specialist Foster Carers' scheme is an integral part of DPST, and the role of the SSW within the team is to support those carers. Specialist Foster Carers are the carers we recruit on the basis of them having some experience of working with children/young people in a professional or voluntary capacity, and who therefore have the knowledge, skills, and experience to meet the needs of the children who are most challenging to place. The SSW for the scheme visits monthly and needs to be able to be responsive and supportive, but there is a low case load that reflects need. You will have effective and supportive supervision and the DPST support workers will be accessed when additional support is necessary to maintain placement stability.
An enhanced DBS check is required for this post.
For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.
About You
To apply for this post, you must:
* A degree in Social Work or equivalent qualification, and evidence of continuing professional development, including self-development.
* Post qualification experience of statutory childcare social work, including safeguarding, child protection, and care proceedings. Experience of the role of a SSW would be desirable, on the basis that the role of the SSW within DPST is to work with carers that have the knowledge, skills, and experience to be specialist foster carers.
* The ability to reflect in action, as well as to be able to critically analyse information, in order to support robust decision making/care planning, and robust case recording.
* The ability to work collaboratively and in partnership with children/young people, families/carers, and other professionals, including in complex multi-agency settings where priorities can compete, in order to achieve optimum outcomes for our children in care.
* Proficiency in a strengths based approach to safety planning/risk assessment. Familiarity with, and a working experience of Signs of Safety, would be desirable.
* Time management skills which enable you to prioritise effectively across a range of competing demands, in order to meet deadlines, as well as the requirements of the service.
* The ability to communicate accurately, both orally and in writing, including with other agencies, using the skills of negotiation and persuasion, high support/high challenge, as well as being a critical friend constructively where applicable.
You must also have:
* An understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as being able to apply the principles of equal opportunities in practice, and awareness of the barriers to inclusion.
* A sound knowledge of childcare legislation and statutory guidance, as well as LSCB and LCC policies in relation to safeguarding and child protection, as well as the regulatory framework for fostering services.
* The ability to work outside normal office hours when necessary, this may include evenings or weekends.
* A current registration with Social Work England.
* A satisfactory DBS.
* A current driving licence, access to a car, and be able to travel to designated locations.
* The ability to perform all duties and tasks with reasonable adjustment, where appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.
* The ability to use information technology, including Microsoft programmes and other applications relevant to the department.
* In addition, we expect you to share our commitment to our values, and we will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them, as part of the interview process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Helen Taylor; DPST Team Manager
Telephone: 0116 305 6325 or 07534 263 752
Email: Helen.Taylor@leics.gov.uk
How to Apply
Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.
To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a supporting statement as part of your application which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. For more information, see the How to Apply section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.
By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
#J-18808-Ljbffr