Experienced Social Workers Families First Children’s Services

Salary: Band 8 (Level 3), £40,777 - £42,839 per annum. To aid attraction and retention of Band 8 (Level 3) Social Workers, Trafford have in place a market factor supplement of £2,400 per annum (pro rata to hours worked) which is payable monthly and reviewed on an annual basis.

Contract: Permanent

Location: Location: Borough-wide, main office locations Trafford Town Hall or Sale Waterside

Here in Trafford Children’s Services our vision is that our teams are offering the right help at the right time, and that at all levels our interventions make life better for children and families. We are ambitious for our children and for our practitioners - and our core value is ‘would this be good enough for my child’?

We want to have practitioners and managers who are confident and brave in their practice and are supported by strong leaders at all levels. As a relatively small local authority, we pride ourselves on our friendly teams, manageable caseloads, creative approach and colleagues who support each other. We were pleased to see this recognised in the Ofsted report that followed our ILACS inspection in late 2022, which highlighted that “social workers in Trafford are overwhelmingly positive about both the local authority and the support they receive.”

In Trafford our approach is strengths-based, using relational and restorative practice. Our recent Ofsted report referred to our "relational model of social work practice, which is well regarded by the wider workforce, has been successfully implemented.”

We believe that a culture and environment in which our managers and social workers can thrive is an essential element of improving outcomes for children and families. Our 2023 Ofsted report recognised this, noting a “cultural shift (that) has been underpinned by a strong training offer to support social workers to develop the skills they need to provide a better service to children”.

We are currently recruiting Experienced Social Workers (in line with PCF), with at least 2 years post qualifying experience to our First Response Service and would love to hear from you;

Families First (localities)

This is our dedicated Child in Need Service where you will work on a locality basis with children and families that require a social work assessment. We have developed a specialised service in this area of work to allow us to strengthen our assessment and planning for children in need and their families, raising the status of children in need and ensuring a consistent approach across the borough. Teams complete duty on a rota basis and social workers will have a varied workload including undertaking section 47 enquiries, completing child and family assessments and holding a manageable case load of children who are supported through child in need planning.

It is also important that social workers in this service are able to build relational partnerships that strengthen our work and enable the step down of plans where it is safe to do so and in the families’ timescales.

Roles currently available in the following teams:

· Central (based in Sale)

· South (based in Altrincham)

· North (based in Stretford)

· West (based in Stretford)

Our commitment to you

We know that when you come to work in Trafford, we have a responsibility to provide you with the right tools and support to flourish in your new role.

Induction

We have recently updated our induction programme for new colleagues joining us at all levels. During your first two weeks you will have protected time to get to know your team, our systems and other parts of the service.

Workload

We are absolutely committed to ensuring that your workload is manageable. This isn’t necessarily a specific caseload number, as we all know that numbers don’t necessarily reflect the complexity of the children and families you are working with. But we believe that manageable workloads are critical, and managers will support you and confirm priorities through discussion and supervision. We have performance management reporting of caseloads and therefore at all levels we are responsible for monitoring workloads across the service.

There will be times where there is a level of flexibility required to meet the needs of the service or for individual children you work with, particularly in times of crisis. We will ensure that you are able to take additional hours back quickly to give you balance between your work and home life.

Supervision

One of our practice-led improvements has been to refresh our supervision framework, which has been a really exciting piece of work. We commit to offering monthly formal supervision that is both reflective and supportive and provides you with clear advice, guidance and direction. We also offer peer supervision as part of our refreshed framework, with practitioners involved in deciding the topics of discussion.

Opportunities for progression

A number of Trafford social workers have recently had the opportunity to undertake project secondments and DfE pilot work. We’re always on the lookout for new initiatives that will benefit our service and our practitioners, and we will support you to step up and develop your skills in new ways wherever possible.

It is always wonderful to see colleagues progress within the service and we are keen to support our social workers to reach their full career potential here at Trafford.

A note from Pamela Wharton, Director of Early Help and Social Care.

“Thank you for showing your interest in a role here in Trafford. I hope that you find the information we have provided helpful and that you feel that Trafford is somewhere you want to come and work.

“Trafford is a great place to work and we are striving to make it even better. We believe the service structure we now have in place is working well and is enabling children and families to get the right help at the right time. You will find more information directly from colleagues about working at Trafford on our website. We hope you will like what you see and hear - and will be inspired to join us.

“I look forward to receiving your application. I firmly believe together we can truly make a difference.”

About us

Trafford Council and its partners in the public, private and third sectors have a Vision which sees us working together to close inequality gaps and maximise Trafford’s huge potential.

Our vision: Trafford where all our residents, businesses and communities thrive.

Trafford is a lively, prosperous place to put down roots and build a career. The council and Trafford schools employ around 8,000 people, who are central to making the area great. In return for their commitment, the council offers its employees development opportunities, as well as a fair and flexible workplace. The council is a Living Wage Employer.

About the benefits

You will be welcomed into a friendly environment where your personal and professional development will be encouraged. You will have the opportunity to work and grow in a people-centered and values-based organisation that promotes a positive permission culture. Your opinions matter so you will have the opportunity to shape how we do things here at Trafford.

To learn more about Trafford as a place to work visit and to view more about our awards and benefits please visit: Trafford - Benefits | www.inploi.com (greater.jobs)

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment - greater.jobs | www.inploi.com

For this opportunity, you must be able to prove you have the right to work in the UK - if in doubt please visit the following link Employers' right to work checklist - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note we are not a licensed sponsor.

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