Experienced Social Workers – Fostering Service NEW Trafford Council Posted yesterday Trafford £[...]

Social Workers Fostering Service

Salary: Band 8 (Level 3), £39,513 - £41,511 per annum. To aid attraction and retention of Band 8 (Level 3) Social Workers, Trafford have in place a market factor supplement of £2,400 per annum (pro rata to hours worked) which is payable monthly and reviewed on an annual basis.

Contract: Permanent

Location: Trafford Town Hall

Here in Trafford Children’s Services our vision is that our teams are offering the right help at the right time, and that at all levels our interventions make life better for children and families. We are ambitious for our children and for our practitioners - and our core value is ‘would this be good enough for my child’? We want to have practitioners and managers who are confident and brave in their practice and are supported by strong leaders at all levels.

As a relatively small local authority, we pride ourselves on our friendly teams, manageable caseloads, creative approach and colleagues who support each other. We were pleased to see this recognised in the Ofsted report that followed our ILACS inspection in late 2022, which highlighted that “social workers in Trafford are overwhelmingly positive about both the local authority and the support they receive.”

In Trafford our approach is strengths-based, using relational and restorative practice. Our recent Ofsted report referred to our "relational model of social work practice, which is well regarded by the wider workforce, has been successfully implemented.” We believe that a culture and environment in which our managers and social workers can thrive is an essential element of improving outcomes for children and families. Our 2023 Ofsted report recognised this, noting a “cultural shift (that) has been underpinned by a strong training offer to support social workers to develop the skills they need to provide a better service to children”.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the Fostering Service that sits within Provider Services, ensuring that our cared for children have loving, stable and high-quality homes to thrive in all aspects of their lives. There are 3 distinctive teams within the Fostering Service: Recruitment and Assessment Team, Mainstream Supervising Social Worker Team and Connected Carers/SGO Support Team. There is a full time Head of Service who is responsible for the 3 FTE Practice Managers across the three teams.

We have developed a fostering modernisation plan which includes activity across all the 3 teams. This plan has been coproduced with the service and foster carers with an overall aim to modernise the service and bring back the service to growth whilst retaining our foster carer community. This is an exciting time to be joining the fostering service in Trafford.

We are collaborating with all 9 other Greater Manchester Local Authorities in delivering a Fostering Recruitment Hub, a single point of contact for all new fostering enquiries. We are one of a number of pathfinders across England to be developing this new initiative and approach to recruiting new foster carers across the region.

In Trafford we are developing our first Mockingbird Consultation to go live in early 2025, providing support to our foster carers and children in a way that is evidenced to provide placement stability for children. We recently established a Foster Carer Association (FCA), giving our foster carers a voice in improving outcomes for our children whilst supporting the fostering service to be the best it can be.

We are currently recruiting Experienced Social Workers (in line with PCF), with at least 2 years post qualifying experience to our Fostering Service and would love to hear from you. We have three vacancies in our Recruitment and Assessment Team.

The Recruitment and Assessment Team assesses prospective Mainstream Foster Carers and Connected Person Foster Carers. Recruited Foster carers who are approved to care for child(ren) who are unknown to them. These carers may also work full time/part time or have both foster carers available to undertake the fostering task. The foster carer can be a single person or a couple. These carers provide short break, short and long-term placements for children aged between 0-18 years. Connected Persons Foster Carers have a connection to a child either as a family member or a friend. These placements can be made in an emergency as an immediate placement situation under Regulation 24 prior to being fully assessed with the child(ren) in placement or are assessed and approved prior to placement.

The team undertake initial home visits, initial viability assessments, regulation 24 assessments, full mainstream and connected person’s assessments and including consideration for Special Guardianship. The team also operate a duty system and support with foster carer recruitment activity.

Our commitment to you: We know that when you come to work in Trafford, we have a responsibility to provide you with the right tools and support to flourish in your new role.

• Induction: We have recently updated our induction programme for new colleagues joining us at all levels. During your first two weeks you will have protected time to get to know your team, our systems and other parts of the service.
• Workload: We are absolutely committed to ensuring that your workload is manageable. This isn’t necessarily a specific caseload number, as we all know that numbers don’t necessarily reflect the complexity of the children and families you are working with. But we believe that manageable workloads are critical, and managers will support you and confirm priorities through discussion and supervision.
• Supervision: One of our practice-led improvements has been to refresh our supervision framework, which has been a really exciting piece of work. We commit to offering monthly formal supervision that is both reflective and supportive and provides you with clear advice, guidance and direction.
• Opportunities for progression: A number of Trafford social workers have recently had the opportunity to undertake project secondments and DfE pilot work. We’re always on the lookout for new initiatives that will benefit our service and our practitioners, and we will support you to step up and develop your skills in new ways wherever possible.

A note from Pamela Wharton, Director of Early Help and Social Care: “Thank you for showing your interest in a role here in Trafford. I hope that you find the information we have provided helpful and that you feel that Trafford is somewhere you want to come and work. Trafford is a great place to work and we are striving to make it even better. We believe the service structure we now have in place is working well and is enabling children and families to get the right help at the right time. You will find more information directly from colleagues about working at Trafford on our website. We hope you will like what you see and hear - and will be inspired to join us. I look forward to receiving your application. I firmly believe together we can truly make a difference.”

About us: Trafford Council and its partners in the public, private and third sectors have a Vision which sees us working together to close inequality gaps and maximise Trafford’s huge potential. Our vision: Trafford where all our residents, businesses and communities thrive. Trafford is a lively, prosperous place to put down roots and build a career. The council and Trafford schools employ around 8,000 people, who are central to making the area great. In return for their commitment, the council offers its employees development opportunities, as well as a fair and flexible workplace. The council is a Living Wage Employer.

About the benefits: You will be welcomed into a friendly environment where your personal and professional development will be encouraged. You will have the opportunity to work and grow in a people-centered and values-based organisation that promotes a positive permission culture. Your opinions matter so you will have the opportunity to shape how we do things here at Trafford.

Contact Details: If you want further information please contact Practice Manager, Katy Ellaway, at katy.ellaway@trafford.gov.uk or Advanced Practitioner, Joanne Glithero, at joanne.glithero@trafford.gov.uk.