Social Worker-Families Together in Leicester

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall Glenfield Leicester LE3 8RA

Salary: £38,734 - £45,982 inclusive market premia £3,283 (pro rata for part-time) (Pay Award Pending)

Working Hours: 37hrs per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 7th June 2026

Interview Date(s): TBC

About the Role

Families Together Team (based centrally at County Hall)

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the Families Together Team which works with children who are at risk of coming into care. We believe that the best place for children is to be raised within their own families, immediate or wider, wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so. We also do further work around the 16/17 Homelessness pathway with utilisation of housing protocols to support appropriate reduction in homelessness for this age group.

You will assess needs through completing Child and Family Assessments and hold CIN level caseload which you will work alongside your allocated family intervention worker. If you are passionate about building relationships with children and their families to support the prevention of family break down, young person voice work and making a positive difference then our team is looking for you to join us.

We are looking for two passionate, motivated and ambitious social workers who are focused on working towards positive outcomes for the children and families we support. The team is made up of Team Manager, two Senior Practitioners, Social Workers, and Family Intervention Workers. The social work role consists of Child and Family Assessments, section 47 enquiries when deemed necessary, and a mixture of support around Child in Need and care processes where in best interest of the child or young person.

We are a supportive team! As a social worker in our service, we recognise the intensity of edge of care interventions, and each allocation is co-worked with a Family Intervention Worker, where you will hold a reduced caseload and regular supervision to support progression and oversight of SMART working to ensure our work is carried out in a purposeful and timely way.

We work with the following Core Principles:

• Prevention Focus: Keeping children safely within their families to avoid the trauma and cost of entering care.
• Family-Centred: Honouring family perspectives, strengths, and cultures, promoting dignity and respect.
• Intensive & Targeted: Providing intensive support when families are at critical risk, often when other services haven't worked.
• Strengths-Based: Building on existing family capacity rather than just focusing on deficits.
• Co-Production: Involving families directly in planning and delivering the support.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post. For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must have:

• Appropriate social work professional qualification such as MA, DipSW or CQSW with experience of working in a statutory child safeguarding setting and evidence of continuing professional development.
• Knowledge and understanding of the complexity and contexts of vulnerabilities and risks that young people experience and the complex needs of families where children are on the edge of care.
• You should also be able to evidence consideration around impact of previous lived experience such as young people who have been adopted, or under a Special Guardianship Order or similar.
• You will be an energetic and enthusiastic social worker who is able to share your enthusiasm and passion for practice with your colleagues.
• You will be able to evidence your skills and knowledge of creative, innovative and relationship-based social work, with use of family network.
• You will have strong assessment skills and be able to prioritise competing demands.
• Ideally you will have knowledge of the application of the Signs of Safety methodology but certainly in the value of relationship-based social work.
• You will have an in depth understanding of trauma informed practice and ensuring the child/family are at the centre of everything you and your team do, and you have high aspirations for those we serve and support.
• In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents.
• You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.
• Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.
• We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: Sianne Callaghan – Team Manager: Sianne.callaghan@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected.

For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.