Social Worker - Children in Care

Priority Candidates will be considered in the first instance

Wigan Life Centre South

College Avenue

Wigan

WN1 1NJ

Salary: Grade 9, £37,336 - £42,403 per annum.

37 hours per week

Your role:

In our Children in Care teams, we strive to support all of our children to have the best possible lives they can have, maximising opportunities and experiences to support them to achieve, underpinned by our Signs of Happiness model.

You will be expected to undertake statutory responsibilities in line with legislation for children in care, along with having with established skills and experience in relationship building, direct work, report writing and managing complex multi-agency meetings.

You will manage and conduct a range of assessments, planning, delivery of intervention and reviewing the impact and progress of outcome for children who are looked after, including preparing young people for independence.

We are committed to achieving permanence for all our children, an area recently commended by Ofsted so you will be expected to drive practice in this area. We have an active and dynamic children in care forum who influence service delivery and contribute actively to our Corporate Parenting Board.

Good supervision, including peer supervision is central to our offer, along with our promise to support our staff and promote a healthy work life balance. We recognise that social workers have one of the most challenging but rewarding roles. We value our social workers; the fantastic work they do and the resilience they show by overcoming challenges every day.

About you:

We are looking for social workers who are committed to prioritising the needs of children in our care, who are skilled at making relationships with children, carers and families. You will need to be resilient and have a good sense of humour to work within our amazing family of social workers.

You will:

• be caring and friendly and put children and families at the heart of your work
• have a knowledge of relevant legislation and procedures
• be committed to providing the best service to children
• enjoy working as part of a team and supporting your colleagues
• have good time management skills and the ability to prioritise competing demands
• value supervision and reflection

About us:

Wigan Council has been voted ‘Overall Council of the Year’ at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Awards and has recently published The Deal 2030, our ambitious plan for our borough. We are signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment ensuring that your service will be continuous or 'unbroken' between the supporting organisations.

We have 4 dedicated Children in Care Teams who work with children who are looked after up to the age of 18. Each Team has a Team Manager, an Advanced Practitioner, a Senior Social Worker, along with 7 social workers.

We have a service of established and experienced permanent staff who are able to build good relationships with children and carers to maximise good outcomes and effective care planning.

A strong focus on care planning and promoting placement stability is key to our practice.

We are a highly motivated and professional team who are committed to ensuring our children who are looked after receive a holistic and therapeutic service to ensure they can remain living with foster families wherever possible.

Here at Wigan, we are proud to support flexible working patterns, when the service can accommodate this. We also take a blended approach to where we work, depending on the work we do. This may include working from home (My Place), the office (Our Place) or the community (Your Place). We like to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment by giving them the opportunity to access a range of exclusive rewards and benefits click here to find out more about working for #TeamWigan.

Wigan Council prides itself on equality, inclusion and promoting diversity within the borough and aims to recruit a workforce that reflects our diverse communities. We invest in training and developing our staff, in a positive learning environment, and aim to be a consciously inclusive employer. We welcome applications from everybody in the community and would particularly encourage applicants from our underrepresented groups to apply. At Wigan, it is really important to us that applicants demonstrate our Team Wigan behaviours, and we do all we can to make sure that everyone feels like they belong. We have guidance in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process.

To be appointable in this role you must be able to prove you have the right to work in the UK. If you are unsure, please visit the below link to check you qualify to apply. Please note, at present we are not a licenced sponsor. Prove your right to work to an employer: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For further information, please contact Tracey Turner at Tracey.turner@wigan.gov.uk

To view the details relating to this position, please click the links below:

Job Specification

DBS Applicant Information

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Interview date: Friday 10^th May 2024

This position is subject to Enhanced Disclosure Procedures plus child barred list check

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