Children's social worker - Assessment

Qualified Social Worker - Children's Assessment Team
Location: Middlesbrough
Pay Rate: £31.74 per hour (Umbrella)
Contract Type: Full-time (37 hours per week), Ongoing locum assignment
Working Model: Hybrid (Office-based in Middlesbrough with flexible working and home visits)
Job Purpose
Middlesbrough Children's Services is seeking an experienced, resilient, and analytical Qualified Social Worker to join a fast-paced statutory Assessment Team.
Working at the front door of children's social care, you will be responsible for undertaking short-term, high-quality statutory assessments for children and families where concerns have been raised. In this dynamic role, you will assess initial risks, determine immediate safety needs, and coordinate swift multi-agency interventions or step-down plans to ensure children and young people receive the right support at the right time.
Key Responsibilities & Main Duties
Front-Door Assessments: Complete robust, analytical Child and Family Assessments within statutory timescales (45 days), evaluating risks and family strengths from the point of referral.
Safeguarding Enquiries: Undertake Section 47 child protection enquiries and acute risk evaluations where immediate safeguarding concerns arise, holding urgent strategy discussions with multi-agency partners.
Crisis Intervention & Short-Term Planning: Establish initial Child in Need (CIN) or Child Protection (CP) plans, chairing initial core group meetings and multidisciplinary network discussions before transferring longer-term cases to core safeguarding teams.
Multi-Agency Working: Collaborate closely with the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), police, health professionals, schools, and early help services to ensure seamless referral and assessment pathways.
Child-Centered Practice: Engage directly with children and young people using trauma-informed and strengths-based methods to capture the voice of the child and embed their views into all assessment outcomes.
Compliance & Case