Parenting Assessor - Senior Social Worker (£49,918–£53,048 plus 4% Retention Payment after 1 year)

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Please apply online via the link provided.

Please include a personal statement with your CV specifying why you are applying for this vacancy.

Are you ready to make a genuine impact in a council where children and the social workers who support them are our top priority?

We are looking for an experienced and skilled Senior Social Worker to join our Family Safeguarding Team as a Parenting Assessor. This is a non-case holding role, offering a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact on children’s lives through focused, specialist assessment work.

About you...

As a Parenting Assessor, you are a confident and skilled Senior Social Worker with extensive experience in complex child protection cases, care planning and legal proceedings. You are passionate about relational social work and committed to joining our embedded culture and ethos of bettering vulnerable children’s lives.

This is a specialist, non-case holding role where you will undertake in-depth, high-quality assessments of families. You will focus on identifying need and risk, with particular emphasis on parenting capacity and the ability to achieve and sustain change.

You will bring:

• Proven expertise in completing detailed, analytical assessments and producing high-quality reports.
• The ability to make professional judgments and recommendations based on analytical assessment and review.
• Confidence in preparing comprehensive court reports and giving evidence in court.

You will role model and champion excellent practice and support the development of others. You will contribute to a positive, inclusive and collaborative team culture, while maintaining a strong commitment to your own ongoing professional development.

You must be registered with Social Work England and have at least three years’ post-qualifying experience in Children’s Social Care, including significant experience in child protection, care planning, and legal processes.

This role offers a blend of office, home, and community-based working. You will be based at Time Square, Bracknell for a minimum of three days per week, with flexibility to work from home and in the community, depending on service needs.

If you would like an informal chat or a tour of the office prior to submitting your application, please contact helen.gore@bracknell-forest.gov.uk to arrange a suitable time.

About the team...

Our Children’s Social Care service is proudly Outstanding in all areas (Ofsted, December 2025), with inspectors calling our practitioners “effusive about working in Bracknell” and praising our highly effective Social Work Academy. Learn what OFSTED say about us here.

We are a small, welcoming and friendly local authority where you will have the opportunity to build strong, positive and supportive working relationships with colleagues and peers with an embedded culture and ethos of bettering vulnerable children’s lives. You will experience leaders who are visible, approachable and a service who collectively has unwavering commitment to children.

To learn more about what it is like to work with us, take a look at our workforce video.

Read more about our culture and what our staff say Children's social care culture | Bracknell Forest Council.

Key responsibilities...

• To complete in-depth, analytical parenting assessments (including pre-birth), with a clear focus on parental capacity and capacity to change within PLO and care proceedings, and to produce high-quality reports that provide robust analysis and clear recommendations within stipulated timescales.
• Complete additional assessments, such as risk assessments or 'Together and Apart’ assessments, when required.
• Promote listening to children at every opportunity; ensuring their views are heard, recorded and acted upon in an appropriate and timely manner.
• To coordinate multi-agency contributions to assessment, planning and intervention, working within the multidisciplinary Family Safeguarding Model to drive change and provide effective support.
• Attend Permanency Planning meetings and contribute to the care planning for children.
• Participate in regular reflective supervision, providing analytical assessment findings and recommendations in monthly group case supervisions alongside the allocated social worker and partners.
• To support and mentor less experienced colleagues including newly qualified Social Workers, Family Workers and Social Work Students.

Our benefits...

• 28 days annual leave increasing to 33 days after 3 years’ continuous service, with the opportunity to buy up to 10 and sell up to 5 days.
• Hybrid working opportunities to support your wellbeing and work-life balance.
• Paid employee volunteering scheme.
• Local government pension scheme, with life insurance cover.
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme (subject to eligibility). [only applicable to roles on BG-G and above – delete if not relevant]
• Reimbursement of one annual professional subscription/registration
• Reimbursement of Social Work England registration
• Recognition of continuous service attained within the NHS and UKHSA when calculating some benefits. (Terms and Conditions apply)
• Career development through internal and external training opportunities.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and fostering leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support your health and wellbeing
• Inclusive and social working environment with a variety of staff networks and a sports and social club.

Salary: This role attracts a4% Annual Retention Payment after 1 year's service.

Find out more about all our benefits or see the candidate pack.

Our values...

At Bracknell Forest Council our values define who we are and what is important to us. Our core values are inclusive, ambitious, and always learning. These values influence the way we work with each other and the way we serve our residents and engage with our communities. We make our values real by demonstrating them in how we behave every day. If you are excited about joining a diverse team that celebrates learning and strives for excellence, we would love to hear from you.

Reasonable adjustments...

We are committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process for all applicants. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview, please let us know by contacting recruitment@bracknell-forest.gov.uk. We will work with you to support you throughout the process. Find out more about reasonable adjustments.

Interview date

Shortlisting will take place on a weekly basis, and candidates who are successfully shortlisted will be offered an interview at least 7 days later.

Interviews will be conducted in person, providing candidates with the chance to personally meet the team and experience our work environment.

We will be reviewing applications regularly and reserve the right to close the advert early if suitable candidates are identified. To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible.

Please note AI is prohibited during the interview, any candidate using AI will be withdrawn from consideration.

Want to ask us a question?

For an informal discussion or to ask any questions about this role, please contact:

Maggie Mandecka, Team Manager

Email: maggie.mandecka@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

or

Helen Gore, Principal Social Worker

Email: helen.gore@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

Previous applicants need not re-apply.

Bracknell Forest Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect everyone employed with us to share this commitment. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to a DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check as part of our pre-employment checks process.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience of working within the current Social Care System and Framework.

We can only accept applications from candidates currently residing in the UK.

Candidates currently residing in the UK who require sponsorship to work are encouraged to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) based on the relevant criteria. Please be aware that 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.

No agencies please.