Senior Social Work Practitioner - Lifelong Transition Services

About Us

West Sussex County Council is a diverse organisation that provides services to more than 850,000 residents. At West Sussex County Council there is a supportive culture and employees are genuinely valued and respected. We are committed to fostering personal growth, with ongoing professional development and continuous learning at the heart of our culture.

The Transition Teams are county-wide teams that offer a service to young people from the age of 16 who have lifelong disabilities. Lifelong disability transition services are for those young people with physical disability, learning disability and / or autism. The focus of the team is to support people moving from childhood to adulthood and plan for the time after the person turns 18.

Working in the Transition Teams is all about making a positive difference for young people on their journey to adulthood. We recruit colleagues who share our passion for supporting young people to be ambitious and develop lives of their own. If you join us you will be welcomed into supportive teams who will encourage you to be the best colleague that you can be.

We aim to:
- Offer early intervention
- Build on an individual's strengths to develop skills and independence
- Build and promote links with the individual's community
- Promote and maintain safety and good health, and
- Promote employment and meaningful daily occupation.

About The Job

Salary: NJC grade 12 £48,226 to £51,356 per annum
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Contract Length: Permanent
Location: Office base in either Littlehampton or Bognor/Chichester

As a Senior Social Work Practitioner, you'll support the Team Manager in delivering high-quality, strengths-based practice. You'll play a key role in mentoring and supervising colleagues, managing complex cases, and ensuring high standards across assessments and care planning, and the functioning of duty.

You will be expected to work within organisational, policy and legislative frameworks as you support young people to increase their independence and plan for the future.

You'll need a strong commitment to the strengths-based model-empowering people to meet their outcomes using their own capabilities, family support, and local community assets, alongside funded care where appropriate.

To succeed in this role you need to have sound and accurate IT and keyboard skills, As a senior team member you will need to be able to work autonomously and flexibly, including some working out of normal office hours. You will also need to be able to travel across the county and work from various locations across the county.

What You'll Be Doing

• Supporting the Team Manager in day-to-day operations
• Supervising and mentoring team members
• Chairing Best Interest Meetings
• Quality assuring assessments and reviews with a strengths-based focus
• Promoting and supporting staff wellbeing
• Contributing to complaint resolution and continuous service improvement
• Holding your own case load

You will be a confident and empathetic communicator-capable of managing expectations, delivering difficult messages sensitively, and finding alternative solutions in line with our approach. Experience in a supervisory role (or strong foundations and training in supervision) is essential.

You'll also be committed to upholding strong social work values and supporting both qualified and unqualified staff.

"I love being a part of a supportive and friendly team and the close connections I have with my colleagues."
- Senior Social Work Practitioner

Experience and Skills

Key Skills (These will be used as the shortlisting criteria so please cover with examples within your application):

1. Solution focussed with the ability to analyse complex situations and provide
forward thinking strategies and solutions that consider a variety of possible
strength-based solutions, balancing risks, resources and desired outcomes.
2. Highly developed communication skills in order to influence in a multi-
disciplinary setting and communicate clearly and effectively to explain
complicated information to a wide range of people and negotiate and
persuade others to adopt a particular course of action that they may not
otherwise wish to take.
3. Ability to diagnose, research best practice development, analyse and
interpret complex or technical information to make effective and robust
judgements and write reports which consider business implications and make
articulate recommendations considering the broader impacts on the business.
4. Ability to think creatively, innovatively and laterally and to adapt to changing
situations in a measured and flexible manner in order to tailor the advice.
5. Ability to work proactively as a member of the team to make an accurate
assessment of needs and negotiate and implement effective plans and
outcomes.
6. Ability to be proactive in having up-to-date knowledge and understanding of
changes in legislation and effectively lead and supervise others and to
provide coaching and mentoring when appropriate.

Please refer to the relevant job description for your level of experience for full Qualification and/or experience requirements. Includes:

• Degree in relevant professional or equivalent qualification e.g. Certificate of
• Qualification in Social Work or Diploma in Social Work.
• Completion of relevant post-qualifying training.
• Registration with the relevant professional registration body and responsibility for maintaining registration with that body.
• Practice Teachers Award / Practice Education (PEPS 2 level), Best Interest
  Assessor (BIA) or Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) qualification - Desirable
• Requirement for BIA qualified practitioners to contribute to BIA service
  delivery, AMHP qualified practitioners to contribute to AMHP service delivery.
• Expectation to undertake post qualifying training in one or more specialised
  roles

Further Information

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.