Social Worker - Fostering in Gateshead, North East

Location: Gateshead

Locality: North England

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: 37

Closing Date: 9 June 2026

Interview Date: TBC

Join Barnardo's North England Fostering Service as a Supervising Social Worker. Barnardo's is one of the UK's leading children's charities, and our North England Fostering Service has recently been rated 'Good' by Ofsted. We are committed to providing safe, nurturing, and supportive homes for children and young people. We are now looking for a passionate and skilled Supervising Social Worker to join our committed team. Our North England service covers Yorkshire, Humber, and the North East of England.

About the Role

This exciting opportunity has arisen following an internal promotion. As a Supervising Social Worker, you will play a vital role in supporting foster carers to deliver high-quality care. Key responsibilities include:

• Managing a protected caseload with access to innovative social work training
• Supervising, supporting, and developing foster carers
• Undertaking assessments of prospective foster carers
• Contributing to the matching process and foster home stability
• Working collaboratively with children, families, carers and professionals
• Maintaining accurate and timely records in line with regulatory standards
• Delivering training to foster carers
• Following Induction period participating in the out-of-hours rota (with additional payment)

What We're Looking For

We're seeking an individual who is:

• A qualified Social Worker (DipSW, CQSW or equivalent)
• Registered with Social Work England
• Experienced in fostering or children's social care
• Skilled in building strong, supportive relationships
• Committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children

Why Join Barnardo's?

A supportive and inclusive working environment. Access to high-quality training and development, including DDP and trauma-informed approaches. Generous annual leave and pension scheme. Opportunities to develop your career within a well-respected national charity.

Additional Information

A recognised Social Work qualification and SWE registration are essential. Experience in Family Placement, Child Protection, or Looked After Children services is required. A full UK driving licence, access to a car, and business-use insurance are essential due to the nature of the role.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band; this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits Workplace Offer:

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role. Barnardo's require colleagues to be UK residents, based in the UK and to complete their roles from within the UK (with the exception of colleagues providing Barnardo's services in Jersey and colleagues who live in the Republic of Ireland providing services in Northern Ireland). Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.

Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata. The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme. A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity, Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options. Service related sick pay from day 1. Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution. Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension. Cycle2work scheme. Interest free season ticket loans. Discounts and cashback from high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal. 20% discount at Barnardo's stores. Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc. Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support. Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer. *T&C's apply based on contract.