Social Worker (Family Worker, Link Role) – Family Solutions, Colchester

Permanent, Full Time £38,487 to £51,834 per annum

Location: Colchester

Working Style: Community-based worker

We have an exciting opportunity to join our high-performing Family Solutions team based in Colchester, North Essex. This is a fantastic opportunity to work within a service described by Ofsted as "exceptional", delivering early help to families facing multiple and complex challenges. Family Solutions is part of Essex’s Children & Families service, working holistically with disadvantaged families to help them make meaningful and lasting changes. You’ll be part of a supportive, multi-disciplinary team that values collaboration, innovation, and professional growth.

The Opportunity

• Act as a source of advice and support for colleagues, including joint visits and joint working on complex cases for example those which would benefit from social worker expertise such as concerns around neglect.
• Support the team to build positive and constructive working relationships with colleagues in statutory children’s services.
• Manage your own caseload and assess safeguarding risks.
• Work in partnership with the team manager and practice supervisor to review referrals and support threshold decisions as required by the team.
• Build strong, trusting relationships with families to promote positive change.
• Provide practical and specialist advice.
• Facilitate complex family meetings and coordinating additional support services.
• Offer emotional and practical support in homes and community settings.
• Work closely with your manager or senior social worker through regular supervision.
• Opportunity to support the further integration of Family Solutions and Children Social Care as part of the Family First Partnership Programme.

Accountabilities

• Responsible for supporting manager and practice supervisor to undertake screenings of new contacts, understanding threshold.
• Responsible for determining the direction and actions required in order to progress cases forward on a day-to-day basis; recognising when key decisions regarding risks/concerns need to be referred to the Team Manager or Practice Supervisor.
• Responsible for acting as a source of advice, guidance and support to colleagues in relation to complex cases which would benefit from social work expertise, mentoring and guiding alternatively qualified colleagues in best practice.
• Responsible for undertaking holistic assessments of family needs to help create intervention plans and identify how outcomes can be achieved that fully reflect the family and young person’s views and aspirations, delivering interventions, including group work programmes, to support families to make change.
• Responsible for facilitating complex family meetings, managing the potentially competing views of families and professionals, in order to find achievable solutions.
• Responsible for undertaking individual and group programmes of work to enable children and families to develop their skills to resolve issues and problems themselves; providing information and accompanying families to help access other local services.
• Responsible for providing specific practical, personal and emotional support to families in their homes or other settings as part of an agreed plan in order to achieve agreed and sustainable family outcomes.
• Responsible for actively participating in regular supervision in order to review work and ensure effective interventions for families.
• Responsible for ensuring that the principles of effective practice are fully embedded in service delivery; working collaboratively with staff and partners to ensure effective risk management in line with the thresholds of the Effective Support and Guidance document to ensure that the Family Solutions team understands and follows the SET child protection procedures.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Qualified Social Worker, registered with Social Work England, and post-ASYE.
• Recent experience in frontline children’s services, experience of completing assessment and managing CIN and or CP Cases.
• At least three years’ experience post qualifying.
• Hold or willing to work towards Practice Educator Qualification.
• A strong commitment to uphold the standards and values of the social work profession.
• Evidence of continuing professional development with good knowledge in relevant professional area and commitment to the principles of evidence-based practice.
• Significant practical experience of working with families with multiple and complex needs.
• Effective communication skills, good problem solving and assessment skills with a demonstrable track record of building and sustaining positive professional relationships with individuals and families with multiple and complex needs.
• Experience of applying a solution focused approach and providing practical advice and support to families to enable them to achieve positive and sustainable outcomes.
• Ability to work in partnership with others to maximise outcomes for families in line with the Family Solutions operating principles.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team and to use supervision appropriately.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

We’re also committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.