Adult Social Work

We understand the importance of a thorough induction. All our new social workers are warmly welcomed and provided with a structured and carefully planned introduction to the job. The process will take place over 10 weeks and includes an intensive look at Oldham’s practice standards, time to build relationships and a look at what support you might need as you adapt to the role. 

Learning and development is also important to us and, working in partnership with local universities, we provide a range of accredited professional development support.

Our experienced workers are supported to develop and take on new responsibilities and be accountable for the practice of others and mentoring newly qualified social workers.

For those who are newly qualified, we provide intensive support and guidance with Practice Learning Mentors, working with the Principal Social Worker, helping to guide you through your first year.

We want your career in Oldham to be a lasting one so we will support you in your career and skills development – as an active partner with the local universities we engage in programme development for Best Interest Assessor and Approved Mental Health Professional.  We have also supported consolidation and master’s programmes identified via the appraisal process. 

We understand that regular, planned and competent supervision is a right and a requirement for all of our social work team.

We believe Critically Reflective Skills (CRS) is an excellent way of ensuring continued professional development in line with our standards, Social Work England expectations and the overall regulation of professional practice. To ensure this remains a key part of our work at all times we’ve invested in CRS training for all managers and senior practitioners to ensure they have the skills they need.

This, in turn, helps our frontline social care staff to understand why it is important to review their own work and gives all our team an opportunity to enhance their skills and develop better ways of working.

Our ambition is not just to be the best borough for adults with health and social care needs but to be the best borough for the staff and services that work with them.
As a result, we’ve produced a comprehensive set of practice standards.

Adherence to those standards will play a vital role in ensuring staff are working to high standards and to drive up the quality.  The practice standards incorporate key guidance and expectations for staff and managers in line with legislation, policy and procedures. 

We know that having a manageable caseload is one of the top priorities for team members. Newly qualified social workers and ASYE’s will have protected caseloads and additional support with the most complex cases. More experienced staff have larger but manageable caseloads to ensure they also have time to also focus on their professional development. 

Our Principal Social Workers and senior practitioners have created a Social Worker Forum at which team members meet up to raise issues that impact on how we deliver services.

The issues being raised are then raised with senior management to help drive improvements

Managers are encouraged to take up a range of development opportunities and put that learning into practice and share their knowledge to improve our teams.

Our rota system, meanwhile, is organised so that learning and development doesn’t take managers away from their teams for too long and someone is always on hand to support junior staff.

As with any job, it’s hard to perform at a high level without the right tools.

We’ll ensure you have modern, up-to-date mobile working solutions along with the appropriate software and training to ensure technology is a help and not a hinderance.