Senior Social Worker - Children Services (eligible for £7,000 Welcome Payment)

• Candidate_Pack_-_People_Directorate_-_Sept_2025
• Two_Year_Retention_Payment_with_Welcome_Payment_-_CSC
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• CSC_Senior_Social_Worker_JD_FINAL_3

Please apply online via the link provided.

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

Would you like to join an outstanding authority, where you will be a valued member of a team, experience high quality training, supervision and a manageable workload.

At Bracknell Forest, you will get the support you need, when you need it because; we value you and invest in you so that you flourish and have the tools, experiences, and support to do your job well!

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.

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.

About you…

You will need to be registered with Social Work England and have at least three years post qualifying experience in statutory Children’s Social Care, including child protection. You will also have solid experience in completing comprehensive assessments of children's needs which are timely and detailed and take account of children’s unique characteristics, including their culture, ethnicity, religion and any disabilities.

You will be passionate about relational social work and committed in joining our embedded culture and ethos of bettering vulnerable children’s lives.

To thrive in this role, you will bring a solid understanding of the key legislation, guidance, local policies and thresholds. You will be comfortable working closely with a range of partners and confident in your ability to assess situations, analyse information and record your work clearly. This is a fast-paced role, so being able to stay calm, organised and proactive, especially when leading on complex situations, will really help you succeed.

As a Senior Social Worker, you will role model and champion high quality practice. You will demonstrate a strong commitment to your own continued professional development and use your knowledge and experience to support your colleagues, helping to foster our inclusive and collaborative culture.

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

Learn what OFSTED say about us here.

We have vacancies across our teams so 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.

Our benefits…

• Welcome Payment £7,000 plus an annual Retention Payment of 4% after 2 years continuous service, subject to terms and conditions.
• 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.
• Career development through internal and external training opportunities.
• 1 days paid volunteering leave a year.
• Local government pension scheme, with life insurance cover.
• Reimbursement of Social Work England registration.
• Recognition of continuous service attained within the NHS and UKHSA when calculating some benefits. (Terms and Conditions apply)
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and fostering leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support your health and wellbeing.
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme. (subject to eligibility)
• Inclusive and social working environment with a variety of staff networks and a sports and social club.

Find out more about all our benefits

Key responsibilities...

• To manage a caseload and deliver assessment, care planning, interventions, and family support consistent with senior social worker expertise.
• To promote listening to children at every opportunity, ensuring their views are heard, recorded and acted upon in an appropriate and timely manner and to ensure life journey work is completed with children and young people in accordance with their age and understanding.
• To assess and identify the needs of children and families referred and negotiate delivery of services by determining how these needs can be best met in accordance with statutory responsibilities and council policies using best value principles.
• To develop and maintain accurate case records and comply with the department's policies, procedures and guidelines including data protection and GDPR.
• To role model and champion good social work practice, support and mentor less experienced colleagues including newly qualified Social Workers, Family Workers and Social Work Students and positively contribute to the inclusive culture of the department.

Interviews

Shortlisting will take place on a weekly basis, and candidates who are successfully shortlisted will be offered an interview at least seven days later. Interviews will be held in person, giving you the opportunity to meet the team and get a real feel for our working environment.

Our values

At Bracknell Forest Council, our values—inclusive, ambitious and always learning—shape how we work and how we support our communities. We live these values every day, and if you want to join a diverse, learning focused service that strives for excellence, we’d love to hear from you: our values

Reasonable adjustments Find out more about reasonable adjustments.

As an inclusive employer, please let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments at application or contact recruitment@bracknell-forest.gov.uk.

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.

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.