Social Worker (Adoption)

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37 per week

Salary: NJC Grade H1/H2 SCP 27-35 £38,220 - £46,142 per annum

Closing Date: Friday 6th February 2026 at 12 noon

Are you passionate about making a lasting difference in the lives of children and families? This is a rare opportunity to join a small, highly experienced team dedicated to delivering exceptional adoption services in Blackpool.

As part of our adoption team, you will:

Work closely with children, birth families, prospective adopters and foster carers to ensure the best possible outcomes.

Be part of a supportive environment where your expertise and ideas truly matter.

Collaborate with a team that values quality practice, innovation, and child-centred approaches.

What we’re looking for:

• A qualified social worker with a strong commitment to adoption and permanency planning.
• Experience in adoption work—including assessment, CPR writing, matching, and support for families.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.

What we offer

• Pay: our salary offer is strong and candidates who are recruited from the same or similar role may be eligible for a salary match within the above salary banding
• Genuine flexible working: family-friendly patterns such as flexible start/finish times and state of the art technology support, so you can spend some time working from home.
• Small teams, clear line management and practice development support
• Caseloads: they’re going down, they’re manageable, varied and appropriate to your role. 
• Easy and regular access to the senior leadership team & Principal Social Worker
• Social Work England registration fee is paid
• 26 days’ annual leave (rising to 28 after 5 yrs & 32 days after 10 yrs) and the option to buy an additional 5 days on top of that, via salary sacrifice. 
• Encouragement to take your TOIL back – we mean it!
• Supervision: our strengthened supervision policy supports you to build a trusting relationship with your manager. 
• Leadership is ‘good’ and ‘stable’ – DfE appointed Independent Commissioner.
• Career development is focused on supporting your development.
• Relocation support up to £8,000 (where eligible)
• Blackpool Council Staff benefit scheme: Social Work Benefits and Diversity | Next Step Blackpool
• Employee Assistance Programme, to support you through challenging times e.g. with free counselling, financial or legal advice.
• Mental Health First Aiders that are here for you
• Principal Social Worker Best Practice Awards are our way of saying ‘thank you’ to our amazing and committed staff.

It all adds up to an exciting package. 

The Council operates an Introduce a Friend Scheme for a small number of agreed jobs in Children’s and Adults Services which encourages our Blackpool Council employees to initiate a successful introduction.  This job is one of those roles, therefore if you have received a recommendation from a friend please ensure you select ‘Introduce a Friend’ when asked on the application where you heard about the vacancy.

Click here

to view the Job Description.

Please click here to see the benefits of working for Blackpool Council.

Are you a Blackpool resident aged between 16-24? Would you benefit from some free guidance on producing a quality application for job vacancies such as this one? Blackpool Council?s Youth Hub - The Platform, has highly skilled Employment Advisers that can support you with demonstrating how you can evidence you meet the Essential and Desirable criteria requirements on a Job Description.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children/vulnerable adults. This post is subject to satisfactory reference history of at least two years, Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, medical clearance, evidence of any essential qualifications and proof of Right to Work in the UK in accordance with the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and amendments to the exemptions order, which mean that certain offences are ‘protected’ and do not need to be disclosed, guidance on the "filtering" of offences can be found at New filtering rules for DBS certificates (from 28 November 2020 onwards) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

For further information on the health and wellbeing support on offer during your employment, please see here.

Have you got what it takes to ride the Roller Coaster ride of Social Work in Blackpool? for further information on the career path and development opportunities available at Blackpool please see here.

 

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