Social Worker / Advanced Social Worker - Children in Care (Under 16) Team

Social Worker / Advanced Social Worker - Children in Care (Under 16) Team

Croydon Council is seeking an enthusiastic, compassionate, and child-focused Social Worker to join the Children in Care 0-16 Service. This is an exciting opportunity to become part of a dynamic and dedicated team committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for children in care.

With an average caseload of just 16 children, a highly supportive management team, and a well-established Systemic Practice model at the heart of the work, the Children in Care 0-16 Service offers a rewarding and nurturing place to develop your career. The service fosters a culture of collaboration, learning, and professional growth, ensuring practitioners feel valued, supported, and empowered to make a real difference in the lives of children and young people. This is a service where relationships matter, practice is valued, and children remain at the centre of everything.

Key responsibilities include:

• Working directly with children in care aged 0–16, including those who have arrived unaccompanied in the UK
• Maintaining records that evidence engagement with children and families and inform the quality assurance framework, including quantitative, qualitative, and outcome information
• Making effective and timely decisions in complex and diverse front-line settings, including in contextual safeguarding situations
• Working positively and collaboratively with partner agencies, children, and their families
• Applying knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance, and national policy to inform practice

About you

Croydon Council is looking for a committed and skilled Social Worker who is passionate about high-quality relational practice and making a lasting difference to children's lives. The right candidate will bring strong front-line experience, a natural ability to build trusting relationships with children, and a thorough understanding of the legislative framework that underpins children's social work.

The ideal candidate will:

• Be a qualified Social Worker, registered with Social Work England
• Have preferably completed their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE)
• Demonstrate knowledge of national policy, strategy, and developments in children's social care
• Have knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance, standards, and procedures
• Be able to maintain records that evidence engagement with children and families and support the quality assurance framework
• Demonstrate experience, knowledge, and skills in working in front-line settings with complex and diverse needs and risks
• Be able to make effective and timely decisions, including in contextual safeguarding contexts
• Demonstrate the ability to work positively with partner agencies and collaboratively with children and their families
• Have experience of working with children in care or those who arrived unaccompanied in the UK (desirable)
• Be committed to high-quality relational practice with a natural ability to create trusting relationships with children

Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. As users of the Disability Confident scheme, they guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. The successful candidate will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Croydon Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment.

About Croydon

Home to 94,000 children, Croydon is a truly unique place to practice social work. We are a borough with big ambition, grit, and determination. Children's social care was judged ‘good’ in our last Ofsted inspection.

Our systemic practice framework places emphasis on relationships as key to supporting change for families. We make sense of the world through relationships, focusing on the whole family system and thinking about our own part in that too – what we bring, our own family stories and beliefs, how we use ourselves in the work that we do. Our practice model is all about collaboration - with our families, networks and partners; being open to challenge and ensuring our practitioners are highly trained in a variety of intervention approaches. Our established clinical service will support you to grow your own systemic practice within the service, providing accredited training, co-working and direct work with families.

Benefits of working with Croydon

• You will be valued for your skills and expertise, supported by the team of experienced professionals, as well as the management at Croydon Council, one of the largest employers in the borough. We also offer:
• Highly competitive compensation package
• Accredited Systemic Practice training
• A range of CPD opportunities
• 29-31 days (grade equivalent) annual leave in addition to Bank Holidays and option to purchase more
• A pension scheme with an average employer contribution of 20%
• Continuing Professional Development –genuine opportunities to grow, develop and specialise in your career
• Investment into your wellbeing
• Access to Employee Discount scheme with a range of programmes (Cycle Benefit Scheme, GymFlex, Retail Discounts and more)
• We promote flexible & hybrid working arrangements where possible to support a healthy work-life balance

What makes Croydon special is our people – both within the council and throughout the borough.

• Choosing to practice social work in Croydon will give you opportunity to develop, grow, thrive, and stride; it is not just a job but a career. Here are some of the reasons our colleagues like working at Croydon:
• Our team consists of experienced, dedicated practitioners
• We meet regularly to make sure everyone we work with has the support and knowledge needed to make a difference and be the difference to our families, communities and colleagues
• At Croydon relationships matter and we are about strong partnerships and working together to make lasting positive change
• We are an established team who can help you settle in and offer their expertise
• You will have the support of an extremely knowledgeable understanding manager
• You will have access to a busy, buzzy, committed workforce and work environment Opportunities to work from home and work flexibly provides you with more work-life balance
• Opportunities to think together with your manager about career development
• Support to help you grow, develop, learn and lead

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