Social Worker – Children in Care, Mid Essex
Permanent, Full Time
£36,124 to £51,834 per annum
Location: Chelmsford, Essex
Working Style: Community-based worker
Are you ready to be part of an incredible social work team that’s all about support, creativity, and making a real impact on young lives? We currently have a permanent opportunity in the Children in Care Team Mid.
Ideal Candidate
- Strong communicator – able to build relationships and clearly present information.
- Analytical and insightful – confident in assessing situations and identifying risks of significant harm.
- Organised and deadline-driven – able to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality work on time.
- Decisive and responsible – understands safeguarding and takes appropriate action when needed.
- Creative and child-centred – opportunities for creative direct work with children and advocating their wishes and feelings.
What You’ll Do
As part of our Children in Care team, you’ll be working with children and young people up to the age of 18 who need our help. Whether they’re with foster carers or in residential homes, your goal is to ensure their experience in care is a positive one. You’ll visit children and young people in placement, develop permanency plans (including Special Guardianship Orders and adoption), and help them understand the reasons behind being in care through life‑story work. You will build an effective professional support network for the children and young people. You will represent the Local Authority in Family Court and present our care plans for the children and young people, gaining court report writing skills and presentation of evidence. And for some, your support could be the key to them returning home to their birth family.
Requirements
- Diploma or degree in social work, CQSW, CSS, or an equivalent qualification.
- Registered with Social Work England as a registered Social Worker.
- Demonstrated capability in practice, following current professional standards such as the Professional Capability Framework and Knowledge & Skills Statement. Capable of case recording and handling complex social and family situations.
- Proficiency in using tools like Word and social work case recording systems.
- Flexibility to work evenings and weekends when necessary.
- Mobile throughout a wider operational area – driving licence and car or other means to meet mobility requirements.
Additional Information
The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings, and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.
As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC), if your role requires a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for maintaining it.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and commits to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under the Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements. We also commit to interview all veterans and care leavers who meet the minimum requirements of the role. We support unpaid carers through flexible working arrangements. Employees are required to adhere to our code of conduct and the Nolan principles.
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