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

Responsibilities

• Act as a source of advice and support for colleagues, including joint visits and joint working on complex cases such as neglect concerns.
• 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 coordinate 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.
• An opportunity to support further integration of Family Solutions and Children Social Care as part of the Family First Partnership Programme.

Accountabilities

• Support manager and practice supervisor to undertake screenings of new contacts, understanding threshold.
• Determine direction and actions required to progress cases; recognise when key decisions need referral to Team Manager or Practice Supervisor.
• Act as a source of advice, guidance and support to colleagues on complex cases, mentoring and guiding other qualified colleagues in best practice.
• Conduct holistic assessments of family needs, create intervention plans and identify how outcomes can be achieved reflecting the family and young person’s views and aspirations, delivering interventions including group work programmes.
• Facilitate complex family meetings, manage competing views of families and professionals to find achievable solutions.
• Implement individual and group programmes of work to enable children and families to develop skills to resolve issues and problems themselves, providing information and accompanying families to access other local services.
• Provide specific practical, personal and emotional support to families in their homes or other settings as part of an agreed plan to achieve sustainable outcomes.
• Actively participate in regular supervision to review work and ensure effective interventions for families.
• Embed principles of effective practice in service delivery; work collaboratively with staff and partners to ensure effective risk management in line with thresholds of the Effective Support and Guidance document, ensuring the team follows SET child protection procedures.
• Contribute to specific individual and shared targets and objectives defined annually within the performance management framework.

Experience and Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker, registered with Social Work England, post‑ASYE.
• Recent experience in frontline children’s services, completing assessments and managing CIN and/or CP cases.
• At least three years’ experience post‑qualifying.
• Willingness to work towards Practice Educator Qualification.
• Strong commitment to uphold the standards and values of the social work profession.
• Evidence of continuing professional development with good knowledge in the relevant professional area and commitment to 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 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 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, travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and being able to do so in an emergency. Possession of a driving licence and a car, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means, is essential. Should the role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service.

Equality and Diversity

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re 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. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers who meet the minimum requirements of the role.