Children's Social Worker - Locality Service

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

The London Borough of Sutton Children’s Services offers a supportive and inclusive environment for its Qualified Social Work staff. Specialist support on challenging cases, regular structured supervision, and an environment that encourages all those to take part and ensure their voices are heard.

Our Locality Teams offer a social work service to children and young people in the Borough who are living at home on plans under Section 17 or Section 47 of the Children Act 1989. This is achieved by working in partnership with relevant agencies, children and young people and their families. We provide a supported working environment that ensures manageable caseloads, regular supervision, daily management support and an abundance of learning and development opportunities for our Social Workers to grow and flourish. In addition we have a creative and flexible approach to the working week which allows for both home and office working which promotes a work/life balance.

Working with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP). The partnership offers staff a wide range of pre and post-qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development. This includes staff being encouraged to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE). Staff are also given the opportunity to attend conferences, and workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.

Sutton Council also has a number of staff network groups such as the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic +A Network, LGBTQ +A Network and Women’s +A Network to ensure staff have a voice to drive positive change in the organisation.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Join Children Social Care as a Social Worker on selected pay grades and be eligible for our Golden Hello and a Recruitment and Retention Bonus as follows:

• £1000 paid in your first month's salary
• £1000 paid for your first completed year in service
• £2000 paid for your second completed year in service
• £3000 paid for your third completed year in service and every year thereafter
• Reimbursement of Social Work England Registration
• Flexible working model that allows social workers to manage their diary to meet the needs of the service.

We've got an exciting opportunity for confident and experienced Social Workers to join our Locality Team in Children’ Social Care. Our objective is to deliver the best outcomes for children and young people.

Your responsibilities will include:

• To support children and young people through robust assessment, SMART planning and effective intervention to achieve positive outcomes within their families and communities.
• Working within a restorative practice approach to form partnerships with families and multi-agency colleagues in intervening to address both the presenting concerns and underlying difficulties.
• Leading and coordinating multi-agency partnerships, plans, interventions, and meetings to ensure children and young people are safe and their holistic needs are being met.

Reporting to the Team Manager, you will work within the frameworks of Section 17 and Section 47 - undertaking assessments, planning, and interventions with children and their families. Your role will consist of completing direct work with children to keep them safe, ensuring their voice, wishes and views are central to the planning and delivery of the care we provide. Compliance is key to our statutory requirements. As a Social Worker, you will deliver all aspects of work in accordance with safeguarding policy, procedure, and standards, ensuring that the children are at the heart of your decision making.

Your role will consist of completing direct work with children to keep them safe, ensuring their voice, wishes and views are central to the planning and delivery of the care we provide. Compliance is key to our statutory requirements. As a Social Worker, you will deliver all aspects of work in accordance with safeguarding policy, procedure, and standards, ensuring that the children are at the heart of your decision making.

Are you ready to progress your career? We are committed to supporting your development as you embark on your journey with Suttons Children Social Care service. Apply today and become part of our pursuit of excellence

Our ideal candidate

The successful candidates will be enthusiastic and motivated individuals with a caring and calm approach who have a thorough understanding of the frameworks that underpin social work practice. You will bring insight and experience to the team and the lives of children and show initiative which will help develop our services to an outstanding standard. You must also enjoy working in a high pace team, being able to deliver consistency, energy, and passion to make a difference in children's and young people's lives. You will demonstrate empathy when dealing with sensitive situations and strong interpersonal skills using different ways of communicating. Showcasing the ability to assess and record a child's needs, applied through evidence based practice to justify decision making.

In addition, We would expect the successful candidate to demonstrate the following competences (not limited to):

• you are a Qualified Social Worker with a Social Work degree or recognised qualification and registered with the relevant regulatory body Social Work England

• 2 years post qualifying practice experience, ideally within a UK regulated authority

• hold the relevant skills, knowledge and aptitude to ensure that all vulnerable people are safeguarded from abuse and that all statutory functions, local policy, procedures are adhered to in a timely manner and documented accordingly

• Can commit to 1 full week in the office every 4 weeks, as part of the Duty rota

Please note: Social Workers may be required to travel outside the Borough to visit clients as part of their caseload. Further details regarding the caseload and travel expectations will be provided during the interview process.

Our culture of strong, accessible and supportive management will provide you with good regular supervision and the opportunity to take part in case discussions.

If you have experience in Children's services, are competent in assessment and direct work, and are looking for the next challenging step in your career with a supportive management team, then apply today!

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-32 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.