Placements Officer (Social Worker and non social worker)

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: SO1 - PO1 £38,256-£43,680

Retention Bonus: Retention Bonus for qualifying social workers

Contract Type: Full-time/Fixed Term (12 Months)

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 02/09/2026

Proposed Interview Date: TBC

Reference: 2229

About Us

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London's Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council's preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role

We are looking to recruit permanently to a Placements Officer position in our Childrens Access to resource team. The main responsibility of the position holder would be to identify placements which can meet the needs of Looked After Children, Children in Need and Care Leavers. The position holder will be expected to collaborate with social workers, providers and other stakeholders to achieve service delivery of the highest quality, on time and at the right cost to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people. The position is open for social worker and non social workers.

We are a Home Office-licensed sponsor; however, for this specific role we are not able to provide Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. To be considered, you must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship.

Key Responsibilities

• To identify placements and/or additional services which meet the needs of Looked After Children, Children in Need and Care Leavers holistically and in accordance with the care plans
• To collaborate with social workers, providers and other stakeholders to achieve service delivery of the highest quality, on time and at cost to achieve the best outcomes for the children and the young people
• To strive to learn new skills and develop in the role.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Degree Level in any field including registered Social workers

Terms and conditions

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/or vulnerable adults;
• Satisfactory DBS check;
• Continued professional body registration if practicing as a social worker;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
• Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
• Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.

Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit here.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Swapnil.Shrivastava@walthamforest.gov.uk. If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.