Mental Health Social Worker

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are 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.

About the Service and Team

The Mental Health Social Care Team (MHSCT) forms part of Adult Social Care within the Royal Borough of Kingston (RBK). We are one of two specialist teams within RBK. We are an enthusiastic group of professionals dealing with the following responsibilities:

Our main functions are under the Care Act 2014 and Safeguarding. We work with adults whose primary need is their mental health. We work closely with our colleagues in the NHS mental health teams, and on mental health wards, as well as partners in primary care, and other NHS services.

Our responsibilities also include working with people with autism who do not have a learning disability, and young people transitioning from children's to adults’ services, and who do not have a learning disability. We also have Care Act responsibility for people with Drug and Alcohol issues.

The team incorporates the Royal Borough's AMHP service.

The team is currently situated on the site of Tolworth Hospital. We are operating a hybrid working model composed of working from home, and working in the office.

We are a large, friendly team, composed of 20 people, including a manager and a deputy manager, and ably supported by business support colleagues.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

We have a great opportunity for a social worker to join our Mental Health Social Care Team (MHSCT).

We work with people whose primary care need is related to their mental health, adults with autism (without an associated learning difficulty), and young people transitioning into adulthood. We also have Care Act responsibility for people with drug and alcohol problems.

As a Mental Health Social Worker, your responsibilities will include:

• Undertaking statutory duties related to the care of adults and of their carers as defined in the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Mental Health Act 1983
• Managing a caseload of complex cases for assessment, safeguarding, and review under the above legislation
• Undertaking regular duty on the team's duty rota
• Undertaking Care Act Assessments, mental capacity assessments, and Safeguarding enquiries
• Liaising closely with key partners in Health, other teams within the local authority, and others as relevant.

We work in a person centred, strength based way, holding residents at the heart of all we do.

If you wish to have an informal chat about the role, please contact Karin Slack, Team Manager on karin.slack@kingston.gov.uk

To be successful in this role, other essential skills and qualifications include:

• Be a qualified social worker, registered with Social Work England.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, especially the Care Act and the Mental Capacity Ac, and Safeguarding.
• Experience of undertaking Safeguarding Enquiries
• Experience of working within Local Authority Adult Social Care in a similar role is desirable.
• Qualification as a Safeguarding Adults Manager (SAM) is desirable, but training for this is available.

If you are an enthusiastic social worker who thrives on challenge and wants to make a difference to the lives of people with mental health problems, then we want to hear from you.

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 25-32 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
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible 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 Kingston 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 STAR values.
Here at Kingston 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.