Newly Qualified Social Worker in Plymouth

Please note, this role is not eligible for visa sponsorship and we can only consider applicants with existing right to work in the UK.

Primary Purpose Of Role

When you join Plymouth’s Children, Young People and Families Service we will support your development from the start. We recognise the need to enable you to develop and diversify your knowledge and skills to build an influential and impactful career. Plymouth are proud to be one of only a small number of authorities nationally, who are an ‘Early Adopter’ of the Department for Education’s Early Career Framework. This will enable us to give you a high quality and supported development package for the first two years of your career, enabling you to become confident in your abilities and to provide the best possible support to the children, young people, and families with whom you work.

Our nationally leading programme is academically accredited, and you will gain master’s level credits towards an MA in Advanced Practice for all work which is successfully completed during the Early Career Framework.

The Early Career Framework Consists Of Two Years:

• ECF Year 1 (Formerly known as the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) – Grade G)
• ECF Year 2 (An extended continuous professional development year) – Grade H

As a Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) you will have:

• Access to high quality support from the Academy of Social Work, through dedicated ECF year 1 and 2 coordinators.
• The commitment and full support of our management team and colleagues within your service to ensure you achieve your goals and get the best development during your ECF years 1 & 2.
• Protected induction time.
• Enhanced supervision with your line manager and regular action learning sets to support learning from reflective practice.
• Protected Caseload.
• Access to a diverse and progressive training curriculum.
• Access to a dedicated training and learning support educator, who will provide coaching and mentoring to assist you in embedding our curriculum learning outcomes.
• Protected development time, including 5 paid study days in both ECF year 1 and 2.
• Opportunity to shape the development of the Early Career Framework through direct engagement activity with the Department for Education (DFE).

Key Accountabilities And Key Measures To Complete The Early Career Framework Programme Though:

• Undertaking casework with children, young people and families, working within the legislative and policy frameworks that underpin the casework (80%)
• Work based and off-site training and developmental activity as defined by the Early Career Framework Policy (20%)

Role measures:

• Maintain satisfactory performance as measured through probation, performance review and continued assessment under the 6-month council probation policy and the 12-month government directed programme for newly qualified social workers (The Early Career Framework).

Key activities:

• Directing work with children, young people and families in multiple settings/locations, ensuring the child/young person’s voice is central to all case work and recording including:
• Delivering recognised packages of support and tools to engage children, young people, and families to achieve positive outcomes. This will require climbing stairs and lifting small children and their equipment, travel to and from destinations, lone working and occasional weekend and evening working.
• Building purposeful, effective relationships with children and families, demonstrating a high level of skill in evidence based, effective social work approaches to helping children and families which support change.
• Working to tight deadlines, managing conflicting demands and interruptions (30%).
• Undertaking Assessments Of Need And Risk; Plan For Outcomes, Reviewing In Line With Procedures And Applying Understanding Of The Key Risk Factors Affecting Child Welfare And Development Including:
• Analysis of the decision-making, the difference between opinion and fact, the role of evidence and the reasoning of any conclusions reached, and recommendations made.
• Maintaining timely and accurate case recording in line with practice standards, managing information in line with the council’s policies, procedures, and guidance on data protection (40%).
• Undertaking Court work and may be called upon to give evidence on behalf of the Local Authority (15%).
• Participating positively in supervision, practice development and newly qualified worker scheme requirements (15%).

Essential Qualifications/knowledge:

• Degree or higher qualification in Social Work that has resulted in registration with relevant professional regulatory body for the profession.
• Knowledge of the legislative frameworks for child and family social work.

Desirable Qualifications/knowledge:

• Knowledge of child and family social work in a statutory setting.
• Understanding of child development, including the impact of different parenting styles on development; the impact of loss, change and uncertainty in the development of resilience and assessment of vulnerability.

Essential Experience:

• Some experience of working in a childcare setting, which may have been gained through student placement or voluntary or paid work.

Desirable Experience:

• Assessing risk and need.
• Planning and reviewing outcomes to achieve sustained change.
• Working with service users who demonstrate challenging behaviour.

Essential Skills:

• Be able to recognise the risk indicators of different forms of harm to children including sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and neglect, the impact of cumulative harm, particularly in relation to early indicators of neglect.
• Effective communication skills (written, verbal and use of technology).
• Ability to build effective relationships in contexts that may encompass resistance to change, ambivalence or selective cooperation with services.
• Excellent time management skills and ability to prioritise competing demands.
• Ability to use strategies that promote professional resilience and management of self in circumstances that may at times be challenging.

The nature of the role includes lone working in home environments where basic rules of hygiene and safety are not observed and where the unpredictability of the home environment can also result in the potential risk of abuse and violence. Involvement on a daily basis with service users who are experiencing or who have experienced all forms of child abuse. The subject material is often distressing, and this is an integral feature of the role.

Corporate standards:

• In accordance with Council policies and guidance on information management and security, it is your personal responsibility for data protection, client confidentiality and information governance.
• Act at all times in accordance with appropriate legislation and regulations, codes of practice, the provisions of the Council’s constitution and its policies and procedures.
• Work within the requirements of the Council’s Health and Safety policy, performance standards, safe systems of work and procedures.
• Undertake all duties with due regard to the corporate equalities policy and relevant legislation.

We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Plymouth’s diverse communities. We welcome and encourage applications from Newly Qualified Social Workers who bring diverse perspectives and experiences, as we believe in harnessing the unique strengths of each individual to provide exceptional care and support to those in need.

The Disclosure & Barring Service Check requirement for this post is: Enhanced Check + DBS Children’s & Adult’s Barred List. Plymouth City Council is an equal opportunities employer. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of age, care experience, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion/belief, sex or sexual orientation. As part of our commitment to promoting equality we offer guaranteed interviews to those who meet the essential criteria and are considered disabled, care experienced or are an Armed Forces Service Leaver within the last two years.

For more information or an informal discussion regarding this role, please contact Stephanie Williams, ASYE Co-ordinator, on 01752 304091 or email stephanie.williams@plymouth.gov.uk.

Closing date: Monday 01 June 2026