Description Organisation : London Borough of Waltham Forest Salary: PO1 - PO4 £38,364 - £49,083 dependent on experience Retention Bonus : £2000 pa Contract Type: Full-time - Permanent Working hours per week: 36 Application Deadline: 14/11/2024 Proposed Interview Date(s): Nov/Dec 2024 Reference: 1511 About Us: Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment. The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitmentwalthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method. Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice. About the role: The post is that of Fostering social worker within Children and Families Services and is responsible for all aspects of recruitment, assessment, support and supervision to approved foster carers, connected carers and private foster carers. The team is a busy one which is fast paced. The fostering service in Waltham Forest has re-shaped, bringing together its assessment and support service to provide consistency in support that we provide to foster carers. Social workers working in this service will be committed to establishing trusting relationships with their carers during the assessment stage, building on this further post approval and supporting them during their first placements when they are at their most vulnerable. Applicants will report to the Advanced Practitioner as well as supporting the Deputy and Team Managers. Applicants will have a working knowledge of relevant legislation and experience of working in children’s services as well as familiarisation, knowledge and understanding of the Mockingbird programme as you will be expected to be a liaison worker; training and support will be given. You will participate in the duty and out of hours system. Applicants would need to be enthusiastic and highly committed to providing high support and high challenge to our foster carers to ensure that the children of Waltham Forest receive quality care in a warm family environment. >> Click here to download the Role Profile Knowledge, Skills and Experience (PO1 – PO3) Relevant professional qualification and Social Work England (SWE) registration Knowledge of relevant national and local policy, NMS, statutory guidance and legislation in relation to the provision of social work services Understanding of the principles of confidentiality and information governance and how these apply to social care Understanding of diversity and how it affects practice Ability to communicate appropriately and in a timely way with individuals, carers families, other professionals and team members which is clear, fluent, concise and jargon free and in a courteous calm and professional manner. This includes both verbal and written communication. Ability to effectively engage with people in complex situations both short-term and building professional relationships over time Ability to engage in difficult conversations in challenging situations and achieve positive outcomes Ability to routinely explain professional reasoning, judgements and decisions made and record these in a clear concise way Ability to make skilled professional judgement for interventions including in crises and in response to challenge Ability to develop partnership relationships to work effectively in a multi-agency environment, demonstrating mutual professional regard and a collaborative approach to person centred working Competent in the use of ICT skills Competent use of basic numeracy skills and the ability to contribute to monitoring discussions regarding the use of budgets and resources Knowledge, Skills and Experience (PO4) Any other, additional PQ qualification related to social work Significant post qualification professional experience (minimum of 2 years) working in a social work setting, as a qualified social worker Advanced and expert level of the relevant legislation, NMS, statutory guidance etc in the area of social work practice Ability to offer expert opinion in the team, and to other professionals and organisations Ability to chair meetings, deputise when required and offer expert support at case meetings Advanced ICT skills Ability to understand and take account of differentials in power, and use authority appropriately Experience of undertaking the relevant assessments, developing support plans etc Experience of providing support and guidance to other social work professionals Strong engagement in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Indicative Qualifications Educated to degree standard or equivalent Relevant professional qualification and registration with Social Work England (SWE) Continuing professional development Terms and conditions: The below terms and conditions apply to this role: Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks; Satisfactory declaration of interest; This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/or vulnerable adults; Satisfactory enhanced DBS check; Continued professional body registration; Suitable driver’s license; As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English. How to Apply: Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. 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. Equal Opportunity Employer: Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy. 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 or feel free to discuss this during your interview. For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us. Contact Information: If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Ms Marilyn St Ange at marilyn.stangewalthamforest.gov.uk or 07968957410 If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitmentwalthamforest.gov.uk .