Social Worker - Leaving Care and Children Looked After

About the Borough

In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.

Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We’ve set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.

About the Service and Team

The Leaving Care and Children Looked After Service is dedicated to providing exceptional support and care for children in the local authority's guardianship. Our focus is on ensuring the safety, well-being, and developmental needs of each child are met through personalised care plans and stable placements. We are committed to creating nurturing environments that address each child’s unique needs and ensure their voices are heard in all decisions affecting their lives.

We are growing a diverse and inclusive environment for staff to learn, develop and grow their career. We provide specialist support on challenging cases, regular structured supervision, and an environment that encourages all those to take part and ensure their voices are heard. We understand the value that our staff bring to our service, and the needs of the residents in our community.

In addition:

• Sutton works with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP) to provide staff with a wide range of pre- and post-qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development.
• Staff are given the opportunity to attend conferences, and workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.
• We encourage staff to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).
• Sutton Council also has a number of staff network groups such as the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic +A Network, LGBTQ +A Network and Women’s +A Network to ensure staff have a voice to drive positive change in the organisation.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Join Children Social Care as a Social Worker on a starting salary of £40,833 and receive a Golden Hello and a Recruitment and Retention Bonus as follows:

• £1000 paid in your first month’s salary
• £1000 paid for your first completed year in service
• £2000 paid for your second completed year in service
• £3000 paid for your third completed year in service and every year thereafter

We’ve got an exciting opportunity for you to work as a Social Worker within our Leaving Care and Children Looked After Service within Children’s Social Care. Our mission is to empower children to live independently as possible and provide the necessary support in safeguarding their well-being. We need your expertise to make it happen.

In this role, your responsibility will include:

• Assess the needs and situations of children in care to develop specialised individual care plans that address their well-being and development.
• Advocate for children and young people in care, making sure their voices are heard and their rights are protected in meetings, court hearings, and other discussions.
• Collaborate with professionals like teachers, healthcare providers, and community groups to provide coordinated support and review the well-being of children in care.

As a Social Worker, your role is vital to promoting stability, supporting transitions to independence, and working towards long-term, positive outcomes for each child. Your knowledge and expertise will help to provide a stable and safe environment, advocating for children’s voices to be heard and ensuring their rights are upheld in all aspects of their care. You will collaborate with foster carers, families, and a range of professionals to provide consistent and effective support. If you are an experienced social worker, empowered by making a meaningful impact on the lives of children and young people, we would like to hear from you. We are dedicated to ensuring the safety, well-being, and development of children in care.

This position offers an excellent opportunity for individuals with outstanding communication skills and a compassionate manner capable of effectively managing high levels of emotional distress. We encourage applications from candidates with experience in childcare and those passionate about delivering person-centred care. You’ll join a welcoming, supportive, and energetic team dedicated to providing first class supervision and ongoing professional development opportunities.

In addition, we would expect the following from all suitable candidates:

• To be registered with Social Work England and hold a degree in Social Care or similar.
• Have experience of working in a multidisciplinary team setting.
• Have sound knowledge and ability to deliver social work support to service users and their families.
• Ability to communicate complex social issues clearly to both patients and professionals.
• Ability to plan and coordinate social care plans and aspects of patient discharge.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• General Council Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Public Health Service Localised Flexi-time Scheme - accrual of up to 5 days per year
• Three volunteering days per year in Sutton
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Additional Information

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance. Please note that if you are NOT a passport holder of the country for the vacancy you might need a work permit.

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