Advanced Social Worker, Positive Futures Care Experienced Team

About Us

We have now implemented the Family Safeguarding Model in 2022, a new multi-disciplinary approach that supports a whole-system change to child protection for children up to adolescence, focusing on supporting the needs of children and adults so that children can safely remain within their families. This is a great opportunity to join us now and be part of this pioneering work as we continue to learn from multi agency family work and support more families to look after their children in their families and wider communities.

In addition, we have an established and growing our ASYE programme, linked to our Social Care & Leadership Academy, offering mentoring support, fostering a culture of learning and challenge, manageable caseloads and good quality supervision, as we commit and invest in growing our own talent, as well as our experienced Social Workers.

About the role

Our Positive Futures, Care Experienced Team work with young people between the ages of 16 and 25 years old who are in the care of the local authority or who are Care Experienced.

We are looking for Advanced Social Worker Practitioner with a minimum of 5 years post qualifying experience who have worked with Looked After Children, UASC and Care Experienced Young People. You will love working to ensure that children have stability by supporting them in their homes, enabling them to learn about becoming young adults and ensuring that they are equipped with the skills they need to have successful adult lives. You will also be expected to take on social work students, provide mentoring and support the Management Team.

This is a dynamic role and we are looking for a charismatic Social Worker with advanced experience to work alongside our Social Workers and managers.

There are lots of opportunities to build meaningful relationships with young people, their carers and other professionals who will share your passion for doing all you can to ensure our young people are looked after.

We are working hard to keep those children who need to live locally, in our local area. We do have some children living outside of Swindon, and we are committed to these children receiving just as good a service as those who remain in Swindon.

In their own words, Children in care consistently tell us what makes a good Social Worker is someone that:

• “Actually listen to us!”
• “Does what they said they would do”
• “Tells me what’s happening when it’s happening”

This is just a small example of the qualities that young people expect in an ideal Social Worker. You can view the full skills and values on our Ideal Social Worker poster here

About You

Your aspirations should be limitless and you will be as determined and passionate about Children’s Services as we are. As a local authority, we continuously drive forward improvements in our services. We want our Social Workers to be part of our transformation, contribute to improving the safeguarding of our children, and we will make sure you have the full support network and training to do it.

You will require a Social Work qualification and be registered with Social Work England. This is an advanced role so should be able to demonstrate strong statutory knowledge alongside leadership qualities.

Our teams are ambitious and proactive and we are looking for people who will share that ambition and be part of our journey.

Candidates must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act – for the effective performance of a customer-facing role).

Our commitment to your development

We are dedicated to ensuring that you can progress your continued professional development and access training and learning opportunities linked to the BASW competencies for career progression.

We have an established Social Work & Leadership Academy. The Academy aims to celebrate the best in professional practice in Social Work and Social Care Leadership. The Academy represents an opportunity for us to demonstrate how we support, develop and value the professional disciplines in Social Work and Social Care through a targeted framework of career development and learning opportunities.

Your next package

• Relocation allowance of up to £8,000 (eligibility criteria applies)
• Competitive salaries
• Free car parking at our central Swindon campus and easy commuter links to many locations

Please see our Rewards and Benefits offer for more details.

As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.

For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It’s why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you’ll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We’ll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we’ll achieve our vision of a prosperous, re-vitalised Swindon together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Please see our Vision and Values page for more details

Your next steps

Read the role profile and select the Apply button where you will be redirected to the Swindon Borough Council website to complete our online application process. Clicking the ‘Apply’ button on this job website is not an application, you must register on the Swindon Borough Council website in order to be considered for the role.

For further information about the role please contact Positive Futures Team Manager, Grace Okoro Anyaeche at gokoroanyaeche@swindon.gov.uk

If you are experiencing technical issues submitting your application please email resourcing@swindon.gov.uk