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Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Job Title: Social Worker (Assessment)

Salary: PO1 – PO4 £41,133 - £52,194

Retention Bonus: Up to £3000 (terms & conditions apply)

Contract Type: Permanent

Number of Posts: 5

Working hours per week: Full Time

Proposed Interview Dates: TBC

Reference: 1966

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a welcoming and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have tight-knit and diverse communities. Our work is always resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded: we’re a borough focused on meeting and exceeding the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace wellbeing, skills, progression and diversity.

Have you had a look at our full range of benefits we have to offer if you were to join us? HERE

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.

About the Social Worker (Assessment) role:

We're seeking dedicated, qualified and experienced Social Workers to join our Assessment teams.

We are a supportive, focused, and inspirational service. Our shared purpose is to nurture independence and freedom of choice in our children, young people, and families, helping them to achieve the best possible outcomes. All our staff work together to build and maintain a centre of excellence and best practice. In return for your hard work, we will give you the time and active support you need to make a difference.

Promoting creativity is at the heart of our agenda to develop social work; you will be encouraged to share ideas, bring about positive change, and strive to continuously improve outcomes for our vulnerable children and young people.

We are a Home Office–licensed sponsor; however, for this specific role we are not able to provide Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. To be considered, you must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct assessments of children and young people’s circumstances and issues to determine intervention / referral to the appropriate service.
• Plan and implement interventions and actions for allocated cases. Monitor and review cases. Assess in more complex cases, with guidance.
• Provide professional advice and guidance to colleagues and partner agencies supporting children and young people.
• Liaise internally and externally and work with colleagues from other agencies to ensure children, young people and carers are supported.
• Carry out all duties with an awareness and understanding of the safeguarding requirements within area of responsibility.
• Provide advice and support to children and young people to assist in completing financial assessments.
• Proactively develop professional knowledge, skills and behaviours.
• Act in accordance with all policies and procedures which apply to the job and understand the reasons for this.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Proven social work experience/placement in children and families setting/minimum of one year’s post-qualifying experience.
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of issues relating to children in need, child protection and looked-after children, including relevant legislation, guidance and procedures.
• Experience of service delivery which is culturally sensitive and responsive to the needs of a multi-cultural community.
• Able to prioritise and effectively work under pressure.
• Managing a quality service by ensuring key performance indicators relating to service areas are met.
• Ability to work well within a team and maintain clear and regular reporting lines to line manager and senior team members.
• Display agile behaviours and understand change at any given moment and respond to it effectively.
• Ability to communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing, and to follow through on required actions.
• Commitment to the participation of children, young people and their families both at an individual and service level.
• In rare emergency situations, the ability to work flexible or unsocial hours at short notice.

Desirable

• Have an understanding of the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 and other relevant legislation, procedures and guidance relating to children and families.
• Awareness of current issues in childcare policy and practice.
• Commitment to the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy and acceptance of responsibility for its practical application.
• To understand and comply with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

How to Apply:

This role requires CV submission only. Please submit your up-to-date CV by the application deadline. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the next steps in the selection process.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Retention Bonus
• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks
• Satisfactory declaration of interest
• This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults
• Satisfactory DBS check; Enhanced
• Continued professional body registration
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the Council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The Council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Rongful Begum, our Head of Service – Assessment (Children Services at rongful.begum@walthamforest.gov.uk.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Fraud Awareness Notice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk