Advanced Social Work Practitioner

The job itself

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Advanced Social Work Practitioner within our busy and effective Children’s Safeguarding Hub. We need a qualified and registered Social Worker who is a confident decision maker to join our vibrant and dedicated service on our journey to excellence.

The Children’s Assessment Service is a busy service where you will be covering all aspects of Social Work duty and assessments which at times will require countywide travel. You will join a team of motivated Social Workers and as Advanced Social Work Practitioner will support them to fulfil their roles to the highest possible standard promoting accountability and equity to ensure that children receive the right service, at the right time.

You will be working in a service recently rated as “GOOD” by OFSTED:

"The ‘grow your own’ approach to Social Work training, particularly a significant investment in the Social Work apprenticeship degree route, is contributing to the service’s succession planning and a carefully considered approach to retention and recruitment. The development of the workforce academy, the practice standards and quality assurance framework has created a solid foundation for consistent practice to be developed from."

"There is a wide range of quality assurance activity across all service areas, which gives leaders a real understanding of the quality of practice and the impact this has on families. There is evidence that the learning from this activity then informs the practice development offer. There is a strong culture within the local authority of workers being supported in developing their careers."

"The workforce reports that senior leaders are visible and approachable. Practitioners appreciate the contact with leaders. They feel valued, listened to and part of the whole service. Practitioners and managers are positive about working in East Riding. They describe an improved culture within the organisation over the last two years, with a strong focus on learning and development and a more cohesive approach being achieved through its ‘Stronger Together approach. This has had a direct impact on staff actively choosing to return to work in the authority from elsewhere.:"

“CAS is a team full of positive and motivated Social Workers who despite being spilt across the county come together daily for meetings, they are a can-do service and the team support each other in every possible way, I feel excited coming to work each day and feel well supported by the team managers – I would not want to work anywhere else” – Children’s Assessment Service Social Worker

The right candidate

We are looking for an energetic, creative and experienced Social Workers who can demonstrate tenacity and enthusiasm in making a positive difference to the lives of children and young people. You will have proven ability of supporting less experienced Social Workers and will be able to evidence that you meet the criteria of Advanced Social Worker.

You will have an in depth understanding and experience of working with children, young people and their networks and the experiences of working within a children’s social care setting, as well as a thorough knowledge of legislative frameworks and demonstrable commitment to the values of family involvement, relational approaches and empowerment.

In East Riding we really value positive relationships. Therefore, it is essential that the post holder is able to work relationally with others with a flexible and adaptable approach – always demonstrating their commitment to working to the highest possible standards whilst remaining at all times child centred.

You’ll bring:

• You will have excellent written and oral communication skills which will enable you to prepare clear, analytical and coherent reports on work undertaken.
• You will be able to demonstrate a high level of motivation and the ability to work independently, with skills in working within timescales and with conflicting priorities.
• Significant experience in working with children and families in a statutory social care setting with excellent, current practice knowledge.
• Proven skills in being able to support and motivate your colleagues.
• Proven skills in partnership working.
• Experience of working across organisational boundaries to achieve improved outcomes for children, young people, and their families.
• Effective communication skills.
• Experience of working under pressure whilst meeting deadlines.
• Someone who is open to discussion, challenge and new ways of thinking.
• Confident in your decision making and understanding of threshold.
• Ability to work as a valued member of the team but also on your own initiative.
• Committed to working hard for our children, young people and families.
• A dedicated worker who is not afraid of hard work.
• Be able to work in a fast-paced environment and communicate well with colleagues, children, young people and families as well as our partners and other professionals.
• Be able to complete work within statutory deadlines and be able to complete tasks quickly and accurately to maintain consistent team performance.
• To participate in team meetings, learning & Development sessions and training opportunities.
• Be open to help and helping others.

Why work for East Riding?

• Social Work England fees reimbursed.
• Licence for Community Care Inform to support with evidence-based practice and CPD.
• Regular reflective supervision with a focus on your wellbeing, your development, and what is working well.
• Opportunity of flexible working options.
• Strong leadership support at all levels.
• A service wide commitment to celebrating best practice and practice strengths.
• A service wide commitment to promoting Social Work wellbeing and support.
• Open dialogue between across the service, including with managers.

Why work for East Riding?

We really value our Social Workers, and it is our fundamental belief that our staff are the most important asset in fulfilling our responsibility to provide a quality service to children, young people and their families. We therefore want to invest in you and your development, for Advanced Social Workers this means having the opportunity to develop specialist skills, support to become a practice educator/assessor and ongoing support and training when in this role, a developing aspiring managers programme for those who want to develop into leadership and management roles, and support to develop your coaching and mentoring skills. We care about your career and will help you to identify your own goals and work with you to support you to achieve that within East Riding.

Our Social Workers and practitioners describe East Riding as ‘a family’; we really value our relationships with each other, with the families we support, and our partner agencies. We offer flexible working approaches because we want you to be able to enjoy your own family time and we know that this is important to our staff. We listen to what our Social Workers and practitioners are telling us and work hard to respond and make a difference – in East Riding we are so committed to this that we have a Principal Social Worker for those who are Social Work qualified and a Principal Practice Lead for our practitioners who are not, who champion the frontline voice across the service.

Other benefits of being a Social Worker in East Riding include:

• Social Work England fees reimbursed.
• Licence for Community Care Inform to support with evidence-based practice and CPD.
• Regular reflective supervision with a focus on your wellbeing, your development, and what is working well.
• Flexible working options.
• Christmas to New Year shut down – working arrangements are on a rota basis with additional time paid or time off in lieu.
• Strong management support at all levels.
• A service wide commitment to celebrating best practice and practice strengths.
• A service wide commitment to promoting Social Work wellbeing and support.

Take a look at our recruitment web pages and our Children’s Social Care information page for a full range of benefits and support.

Our model of practice

Stronger Together: ‘You can, I can, We can’

We have created a bespoke practice model that reflects and connects our vision, our value base and our behaviour as one East Riding of Yorkshire approach to working with children, young people and their families, which is nurtured and grown from within East Riding of Yorkshire CYPSSS and owned by our workforce.

We remain committed to Signs of Safety as a practice framework, but this is set within a much wider, values based, model of practice that clearly connects Signs of Safety with the East Riding value base, and our overall approach to making and sustaining relationships with children, families and communities. Our Stronger Together approach is strengths based, solution-focussed, and relational recognising that the very best work with families takes place within the context of excellent, collaborative relationships.

A well embedded model ensures we all have something to centre our practice on so that, while the work may be different, all of our teams are grounded in the same values, beliefs, theories and approaches. Having a well-developed practice model helps to create a common language for the service and enables everyone to understand how we go about doing the right things, in the right way and for the right reasons for children and their families.

Other important information

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and is pursuing equality of opportunity in employment.

These posts are subject to an enhanced DBS Check.