Social Worker /Senior Social Worker - OPMH

About Us

Working for us at West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. The Older People Mental Health Team (OPMH) team has a vacancy for a full time qualified Social Worker or Senior Social Worker. This is an exciting and unique opportunity to work with the OPMH team, coordinating all aspects of Health and Social Care needs for users with severe and enduring mental health challenges.

We embrace a strengths-based approach, working within a community-led support model that builds on the assets and strengths of both people and their local communities. Together, we'll focus on prevention, enablement, reablement and safety, to promote wellbeing and independence. We'll ensure that residents, families, and communities have the right support in place, and at the right time.

We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and offers the right balance between challenge and support. This provides our workforce with what they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for our residents. We believe the best staff get the best outcomes.

We work to ensure that innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do, and that we maintain an environment within which our social workers can develop and progress in their careers. If you have the talent and ambition to achieve the best for the people we serve, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your social work career.

About The Job

Salary: £39,862 to £42,839 per annum for grade 10 role or £44,075 to £47,181 per annum for grade 11 role
Working Pattern: 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Crawley

This is a well-established team consisting of 11 social workers and 2 assistant care managers. We work with customers with both functional and organic mental health difficulties in the community and acute inpatient wards. The team specialises in the most challenging areas within mental health therefore a good knowledge of mental health, statutory frameworks including Mental Health Act and DOLS is desirable. Four team members are Best Interest Assessors and 2 are approved Mental Health Professionals.

The successful candidate will be working with colleagues in Sussex Partnership Trust including Dementia and older people's mental health teams, the Memory assessment teams and the Intensive Crisis team, as well as the functional mental health teams.

Your responsibilities will include assessment, planning, implementation, and review of care, alongside leading on specialist areas of service delivery. You'll play a key role in communicating developments to colleagues and supporting successful business change.

What You'll Be Doing

• Managing a caseload and working collaboratively with individuals and their family or friend carers.
• Carrying out strengths-based assessments and reviews to identify eligible needs and personalised outcomes.
• Developing and implementing support plans that promote wellbeing and deliver meaningful outcomes, making use of community assets and ensuring needs are met.
• Working in a supportive environment that encourages professional growth, with regular supervision and a manageable workload aligned to your development.
• Demonstrating ongoing professional learning through CPD and preparing to work towards a specialist post-qualifying award (e.g. Practice Educator, AMHP, or Best Interest Assessor).

Your Contribution

• Providing informal supervision and mentoring to unregistered social care practitioners, students, and apprentices.
• Representing the service professionally, with integrity and respect, ensuring safe and effective delivery to individuals with complex mental health needs.

What You'll Bring

• A strong understanding of local health, voluntary, and private sector services.
• Resilience and emotional awareness to manage complex cases, unpredictable risks, and safeguarding enquiries.
• Commitment to staying up-to-date with legislation, policies, and professional standards, including those set by Social Work England.
• There will also be a requirement for you to work flexibly to support customers, carers and families, sometimes out of normal office hours.
• You will be required to travel county wide, including to locations that are not always easily accessible by public transport so it is desirable for you to have a driving licence.

Experience and Skills

Key Skills (please cover with examples within your application as these are the short-listing criteria):

1. Ability to analyse and interpret complex people-related information and data in order to prioritise needs and formulate plans for intervention and service provision. 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.
2. Ability to undertake direct work with those who access or need the service in order to support individuals.
3. Ability to remain up to date with key legislation and apply legislative requirements within social work practice. Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, and to seek appropriate support, advice and supervision.
4. Ability to work in partnership with carers, colleagues and a variety of external agencies in order to deliver the most effective service.
5. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both written and oral format including the ability to explain complicated information to a wide range of people and negotiate and persuade others to adopt a particular course of action.
6. Sound and accurate IT and keyboard skills.

Qualifications (please cover within your application):
* Degree in relevant professional or equivalent qualification e.g. Certificate of Qualification in Social Work or Diploma in Social Work.
* Registration with the relevant professional registration body and responsibility for maintaining registration with that body.
* Approved Mental Health Professional (it is a requirement to have AMHP qualification or to be working towards the qualification to be complete within 2 years of appointment and to maintain level of knowledge).
* Valid, full driving licence - Desirable

Further Information

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

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.