Social Worker - Short Break Service

Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports.

Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services.

We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’.

Our Team:

Halton’s Short Breaks Team is dedicated to helping young people with additional, complex needs and their families thrive within their local community. We provide clear, accessible information about support and services, and offer a range of choices so families can decide what works best for their daily lives. By truly listening to children and their families, we continually shape and improve the support we offer. Working in partnership, we make sure families are fully involved in decisions about developing services that meet their needs. We also support young people as they grow, promoting independence and ensuring a smooth transition into adulthood. Above all, our services are designed to enrich family life and help children feel confident, included, and empowered in their communities.

Your Contributions:

Our dedicated team are currently seeking a qualified social worker, with knowledge of relevant government legislation, guidance and local procedures relating to children with disabilities, their carers and safeguarding. You will have experience of working collaboratively with colleagues from other organisations, including social care, health, education, commissioned services and the voluntary sector as you will represent the team in multi-agency panels and task groups.

Previous experience of supporting young people with complex health needs, a learning disability, social communication difficulties and challenging behaviour is preferred.. You will also have excellent communication skills and have knowledge of the use of alternative communication systems such as PECS, Makaton, social stories etc.

You will manage an individual caseload, prioritising your own workload and meeting challenging deadlines. Case recording must be clear, analytical and timely. Your role will also include working with the Manager and Senior Early Help Officer to support the delivery and development of high quality short breaks services.

Our team work with families living in all areas of Halton. The Service is primarily based at Warrington Road Family Hub, Widnes but there is flexibility to work on a hybrid and agile basis, depending on the needs of the service. There will also be regular travel involved in this role, so a full UK driving license and access to a vehicle is required.

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service
• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• Investment in your personal development
• Free Car Parking at HBC sites
• Flexible working arrangements
• Extensive employee benefits platform including discounted shopping, car leasing, gym memberships, wellbeing hub and Employee Assistance Programme

Next Steps:

At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Charlotte Dewar - Team Manager - Charlotte.Dewar@halton.gov.uk 01515117361.

Interviews are expected to take place W/C 20th July.

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – resourcing@halton.gov.uk

Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. If you’re interested, please complete your application as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application!