Advanced Children's Social Worker

Make a real difference where it matters most.

Are you a passionate and experienced Social Worker ready to take the next step in your career?

Join our dedicated Assessment and Staying Together Teams in the scenic Staffordshire Moorlands, where your work will directly impact the lives of vulnerable children and families.

We are a small but supportive and welcoming team who share excellent relationships with our district colleagues in Early Help, SEND, Education, Children with Disabilities and we are co located with our Children in Care and Care Leavers Team. We very much embed a restorative model and are committed to ensuring that every child is supported through a whole district approach.

What you'll do:

You’ll work across the continuum of need from Child in Need to Care Proceedings and Adoption planning ensuring children are seen, heard, and safeguarded. Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading statutory duties and Section 47 investigations
• Supporting placements into care and preparing court reports
• Collaborating with district teams and specialist services
• Mentoring ASYE and student Social Workers

What you'll need:

• a Social Work qualification and post-qualifying experience in a Child in Need, Child Protection Team & Public and Private Court Proceedings.
• Registration with Social Work England.
• a valid current UK driving licence and vehicle.
• a commitment to restorative practice and keeping families together where safe
• experience of supporting and mentoring your colleagues.

But above all, you will bring the desire to work with children and families to give them the right support, at the right time with the aim of keeping families together where it is safe to do so.

Why join us?

We offer a clear career progression framework, including:

• Practice Educator Programme
• Aspiring Practice Lead & Team Manager Programmes
• Strong regional learning partnerships

You’ll be part of a small, supportive team with excellent multi-agency relationships and a shared commitment to whole-district support.

We are ambitious in our learning and development programme with strong links within the West Midlands and our teaching partnership.

For more information about this vacancy or for an informal chat please contact Team Manager, Angela Cookeat: angela.cooke1@staffordshire.gov.uk

Interviews will be held week commencing 1st December 2025.

Our Recruitment Process: To ensure fairness, we anonymise applications during shortlisting so that only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement to highlight the skills, experience, and values you’ll bring to the role.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.