Children's Social Worker - Children Looked After

Children's Social Worker - Children Looked After

Posted 28th Oct, 2026

Location

Wandsworth

Working pattern

Full-time - 36 hours per week

Working arrangements

Blended

8th Nov, 2026

Incentives

Payment of Social Work England registration fee

About the role

Join a team where your creativity, compassion and confidence are not only valued - they are essential. Every day in Wandsworth, Social Workers are helping families write new chapters in their lives, empowering children and their families to overcome challenges, build resilience and thrive.

As a Social Worker in one of our three Children Looked After Teams, you will be supporting children who are living with relatives, friends, foster families, prospective adopters, or in children's homes and semi-independent settings. Your primary responsibility will be to build sustainable relationships with these children and plan for their permanence, ensuring their safety and supporting them in taking the necessary steps towards independence. Key responsibilities include:

• Conducting regular visits, assessments and reviewing Care Plans
• Building and nurturing meaningful relationships with children and young people
• Understanding and interpreting their wishes to champion and support them in reaching their full potential
• Preparing reports and attending court hearings when required
• Working alongside other social workers, placement support officers, and partnership organisations

You will be part of a small team of five Social Workers with manageable caseloads, supported by dedicated business support staff to reduce admin and free up your time. Our training offer is second to none: Systemic Psychotherapy (Levels 1, 2 and 3), Practice Educator training, Motivational Interviewing, Trauma-Informed Practice, Leadership Development and much more.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Eric Mensah, Service Manager - Children Looked After and Fostering at eric.mensah@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk. If you are ready to make a real difference in the lives of children and families and want to do it in a place that values your passion, your practice and your purpose - Wandsworth is where your next chapter begins.

About you

We welcome motivated Social Workers who are ready to bring their heart, skill and vision to a place where their work truly matters. We are looking for a natural collaborator and communicator who brings compassion, creativity and clarity to their work. The ideal candidate will:

• Be a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England, with successful completion of your ASYE
• Have previous experience of working with Looked After Children
• Be confident in your knowledge and practice, with experience across voluntary and statutory settings
• Be a champion for children and families, with a belief in their potential and a commitment to their rights

Richmond and Wandsworth Better Service Partnership is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Our social workers are at the heart of our success, and we're looking for Social Workers who share and are excited by our vision. Come and be part of our success.

All children and families deserve an outstanding level of practice, let's work together to provide them with the very best.

Our shared vision and values to improve outcomes for children and families will drive practice. Our outstanding practice framework will support us collectively to do that. We want to apply solutions to complex problems in the simplest way. Having a robust practice framework will enable a shared language, understanding and value base from which we can all work creatively with children and families to achieve the best outcomes for them.

We know that to recruit passionate, dedicated social workers - where there's simply more demand than the available resource - we must show our appreciation in more tangible ways. That's why we have put together an attractive package for all our social workers.

In return for your skills, knowledge and experience, you will receive an appropriate starting salary and a friendly, kind, positive and supportive working culture.

We also offer:

• Performance related salary progression scheme
• 32 days annual leave to all employees plus bank holidays
• Relocation package for experienced social workers moving to London
• Manageable caseloads
• Agile and flexible working arrangements
• Professional development and CPD opportunities
• Regular reflective supervision and peer group supervision
• Refer a friend scheme
• Welcome payments and retention bonuses for harder to recruit to areas of our services

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone.We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know.

We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

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