Support Worker - First Response
Job Description
Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall Glenfield LE3 8RA
Salary: £28,605 - £31,029 per annum (pro rota for part time) ( Pay award pending)
Working Hours: 22.2 hours per week (3 days Mon/Tues/Wed)
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 2nd August 2026
Interview Date(s): 11th August 2026
About the Role
Are you passionate about protecting children and supporting families?
We are looking for committed, collaborative people to join our team as Support Workers for the Children and Families Service. You will be at the forefront of safeguarding, handling initial reports of abuse or neglect, assessing risk, and passing vital information to social workers and other professionals. Your contribution will be essential in helping vulnerable children and families receive the support they need, when they need it.
Our team works in a fast-paced, modern environment, dedicated to making a real difference. You’ll work alongside children’s social care, targeted family help, health professionals, police, and partner agencies. In this role, you will be supervised monthly by qualified social work staff, and benefit from reflective social work POD meetings that encourage development and collaboration. We value adaptability and teamwork; you must be able to manage pressure, work to tight timescales, and communicate effectively with both professionals and the public.
The role involves responding quickly to enquiries and referrals about Children’s Social Care, including urgent cases that may require escalation to the police, and offering high-quality advice to families in accordance with established thresholds. It requires collaborative teamwork with both internal colleagues and external partner agencies to secure the best outcomes for children and families, ensuring communication is clear and support pathways are effective. The position requires individual accountability for managing casework, meeting deadlines, and ensuring electronic records are accurate and up to date. Support workers are expected to provide guidance to families, direct them to appropriate resources and services, and escalate concerns when necessary, adhering to departmental protocols. Additionally, the role includes supporting other professionals by explaining service thresholds, referral processes, and offering basic behaviour management advice.
An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.
For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.
About You
To apply for this post, you must:
Please ensure that you cover all 7 points in your application and provide clear examples and evidence of how each point has been met
- NVQ level 3 in Childcare Qualification (NNEB/NVQ3) or Equivalent
- Be able to demonstrate your ability to promptly respond to enquiries and concerns relating to children and families and to provide high-quality advice to families in line with established thresholds.
- Have proven experience of working collaboratively within a team and with external partner agencies to achieve positive outcomes for children and families
- Be able to evidence accountability for casework, ensuring all tasks are completed accurately and within deadlines, and that electronic records are kept up-to-date according to departmental standards.
- Demonstrate be able to deliver guidance and advice to families, effectively signposting to self-help resources and services, and know when to escalate cases for additional support as appropriate, following departmental scripts and protocols
- Have experience in supporting professionals by explaining service thresholds and referral processes, providing information about available services, and offering guidance on basic behaviour management strategies.
- Have excellent communication skills, adaptability, professionalism, and proficiency in ICT and have experience in working with members of the public, Children’s Services or Customer Services and a commitment to upholding safeguarding, confidentiality.
In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Helen Rhind - Assistant Service Manager First Response
Telephone: 01163053891
Email: Helen.Rhind@leics.gov.uk
How to Apply
At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.
If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.
By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
About us
About Leicestershire County Council
At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone.
Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.
For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:
Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us
Salary range
- £28,605 - £31,029 per year