AddressAbout The Role
Experienced Permanence Children’s Social Workers
Full time, 37 hours (flexible and part time hours considered)
Salary up to £44,428(depending on level / experience)
East Dorset & Purbeck, West Dorset & Dorchester, Chesil (Weymouth &Portland) and North Dorset
Are you seeking a rewarding career in Children’s Services? In Dorset, we are committed to creating an environment where every child can thrive, and we want our Social Workers to do the same.
As part of our model, we have developed multi-agency locality teams bringing together colleagues from across Early Help, Children's Social Care, Educational Psychology, SEND and Inclusion services under the leadership of Heads of Locality and Strategy.
The Permanence Children’s Social Care teams works with Children in Care with a strong focus on achieving stability and permanent placements, including SGO applications. All our teams are highly motivated, aspirational and high performing.
We also have truly exciting initiatives. Some examples are the pineapple project that provides safe havens in Weymouth to help to keep young women safer when they are outside of their family home using the principles of community guardianship. Another project that is due to be rolled out across all localities after pilots in Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester is Safeguarding Families Together; embedding specialist multi-disciplinary professionals within teams and working ‘whole family’. In the East of the county, the first two family hubs (with more locations planned) provide visible, appealing and welcoming spaces for families to access help and support from Dorset Council and partner services.
Our focus is on supporting families to meet the needs of their children and keeping children at home where it is safe to do so. You’ll find a variety of exciting challenges, working with our children, families, and partners, in a workplace that inspires you to grow professionally and personally.
What’s in it for you:
Join us and be part of our exceptional Children's Services team, recently recognized as Good with Outstanding Leadership by Ofsted. This is not just a job; it's an extraordinary opportunity to empower children and help them reach their full potential.
In July this year, the Department for Education officially announced the Families First for Children Pathfinder. Dorset has been recognised for the fantastic work with children, young people and families taking place by being selected to be one of only three initial pathfinder sites nationally, testing the delivery of key reforms across the sector. This is a fantastic opportunity and comes with central government grant funding and support which recognises the scale and ambition of the work we need to carry out. Be part of designing social work for the future.
As a Social Worker here in Dorset, you’ll truly make a difference to the lives of children and young people in our beautiful county. Our Dorset Academy is central to ensuring you have everything you need to excel in your role, be valued and supported, and grow personally and professionally. Whether you’d like to progress into management or become a true expert in practice, we’ll help you to identify a career pathway that aligns with your goals.
We prioritise your wellbeing by offering access to talking therapies, a network of Mental Health Champions, and workshops facilitated by our dedicated Employee Wellbeing Team.
You’ll join a forward-thinking service, where you’ll be encouraged to think creatively, question how we do things, and devise new, innovative approaches through our ‘Diagonal Slice’ initiative – our Children's Services' employee forum.
We want our Social Workers to have manageable caseloads and feel safe and supported, with more time to work with families so they can make a real impact.
Our innovative model of working, Dorset Children Thrive, will support you to be part of a service that:
- Puts children and families at the heart of everything we do
- Focuses on ‘getting it right first time’ by providing early help
- Makes services easily accessible for all
- Develops a skilled, supported and confident workforce
- Provides quality and efficient services that meet the highest standards
- Measures success by how we have made life better for children and young people
We've revolutionised our application process, offering a new fast-track CV option to make it easier for you to apply to join our team. Simply submit your CV and we will respond within 24 hours, and undertake an initial telephone interview within 5 days when you can ask more about our offer.
Find out more about Children’s Services in Dorset: Jobs in Children's Services - Dorset Council.
Find out more about The Academy: The Academy - Dorset Council
What our people say:
“Dorset is a great place for children to thrive - I am very proud to be part of an organisation that recognises the strengths of our staff and the creativity we have in achieving great outcomes for our children, young people and families.”
“It was great to feel listened to about the big issues and developments within Children’s Services”.
“I am proud of the service I work in for their commitment to children and young people, working hard to collaborate with colleagues and agencies to achieve good outcomes.”
About you:
You will have a Social Work qualification, be registered with Social Work England and be able to fulfil the travel requirements of the post. If you have completed your ASYE and have at least one year of post qualifying experience working in statutory social care services, we would love to hear from you.
Due to the current need, applications can only be accepted from candidates who already have the right to work in the UK.
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact pathfinderrecruitment@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
This post requires some travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed.
This post involves working with children and/or vulnerable adults and/or having access to significant information about them. It will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. See our policy on the employment of ex-offenders.
See our policy on safeguarding children and young people.
About Us
Friends & Family Referral Scheme
The friends and family referral scheme applies to this post. If an employee recommended this post to you, please make sure to mention them when applying.
Employees can share this advert by using the button links alongside the job title.
Relocation expenses package
A generous relocation package is payable, of which up to £8,000 (of HMRC eligible elements) are free of tax. We can offer you help to move whether you are looking to buy or rent, depending on your circumstances.
Our package includes:
- an initial advance of up to £2,500 payable when you start
- help towards fees associated with buying/selling (up to £6,500)
- an option to receive help towards your rent or mortgage in the first two years
Dorset Council: A great place to work
We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.
At Dorset Council we:
- provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
- have ambitious aspirations
- are excited about our future
- care about Dorset and all the people who live here
- know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success
You will:
- have access to a range of employee benefits
- be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
- have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression
We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.
We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.
We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.
This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.
We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.
