Senior Social Worker - Children\'s Specialist Safeguarding Team (plus Welcome Payment of £7,000)

Bracknell Forest's Children's Social Care team are proud to have achieved an Outstanding in all areas grading in December 2025. Not only did we maintain our Outstanding judgement, but inspectors also recognised that since the last inspection in 2022, Bracknell Forest has sustained and strengthened exceptional services for children and families. Ofsted described practitioners as effusive about working in Bracknell who value our strong child‑focused ethos, relational practice model, manageable workloads and high‑quality training and supervision. Staff shared with inspectors that they appreciate leaders’ visibility, approachability and unwavering commitment to children, all factors that underpin their decision to continue their careers in Bracknell Forest.

About you

You will need to be registered with Social Work England and have at least three years’ post‑qualifying experience in Children’s Social Care, that includes child protection, public law outline and care proceedings. You will be passionate about relational social work and dedicated to joining our embedded culture and ethos of bettering vulnerable children’s lives. You will be committed to understanding the lived experiences of children, acting as a fierce advocate on their behalf and providing the support needed to improve their childhood experiences. As a Senior Social Worker, you will role‑model and champion high‑quality practice. You will also demonstrate a strong commitment to your own continued professional development and use your knowledge and experience to support colleagues, helping to foster our inclusive and collaborative culture. Experience of working with children with disabilities and complex needs is desirable, but not essential; we will support you to develop this specialist knowledge.

The team and role

The Children’s Specialist Safeguarding Team (CSST) is a highly skilled team working with children who have disabilities and/or complex health needs. We provide a wide range of services for children with additional needs and those who may be more vulnerable. This includes delivering the council’s statutory responsibilities for disabled children in need within the community, such as care packages, practical support and access to short breaks. The team brings together an eclectic mix of expertise across different service areas, covering a broad spectrum of work with children with disabilities, occupational therapy and short breaks (including Larchwood, our dedicated short break respite unit). Social workers in CSST focus on disabled children’s lived experiences and take time to understand their specific needs. As a result, they are able to identify neglect early and use practical toolkits to support parents to make positive changes. When risks escalate, decisive action is taken, meaning you are well supported in your role to keep children safe. Children also benefit from excellent holistic support that meets their identified occupational therapy and speech and language needs, helping to ensure their overall wellbeing and developmental progress.

Key responsibilities

• To manage a caseload and deliver assessment, care planning, interventions, and family support consistent with senior practitioner expertise.
• To promote listening to children at every opportunity, ensuring their views are heard, recorded and acted upon in an appropriate and timely manner and to ensure life journey work is completed with children and young people in accordance with their age and understanding.
• To assess and identify the needs of children and families referred and negotiate delivery of services by determining how these needs can be best met in accordance with statutory responsibilities and council policies using best value principles.
• To work in partnership with voluntary and statutory agencies, within the context of children’s and families’ care plans, to ensure the delivery of appropriate and effective services.

Benefits and recruitment

Our benefits - please follow the link to the job vacancy on The Council's site for information on our benefits. Shortlisting will take place on a weekly basis and candidates who are successfully shortlisted will be offered an interview at least seven days later. Interviews will be held in person, giving you the opportunity to meet the team and get a real feel for our working environment. We will be reviewing applications regularly and may close the advert early if we identify suitable candidates. To avoid disappointment, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to a DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check as part of our pre-employment checks process. We can only accept applications from candidates currently residing in the UK. Candidates currently residing in the UK who require sponsorship to work are encouraged to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) based on the relevant criteria. Please be aware that sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis. No agencies please.