Fostering Social Worker

This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.
 

• Job Title:                            Fostering Social Worker
• Job Location:                     Shire Hall, Block 1, Ground Floor 
• Salary:                               £36,648- £44,428 per annum (pro rata) 
• Hours per Week:               Various
• Contract Type:                   Permanent 
• Closing Date:                     ongoing 
• Job Requisition Number:   5026 
• This post is open to job share 

We are currently recruiting for Social Workers within our Fostering service.

About us

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• between £36,648- £38,223 (Social Worker) or between £39,186- £44,428 (Senior Social Worker) subject to experience
• annual retention payment of £2,000 (pro- rata)
• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years’ continuous service
• plus, an option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro rata for part-time staff)
• family friendly employer offering benefits to help support you and your family
• career development and qualification opportunities
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone
• in-house Occupational Health service
• we also offer all children’s social care staff a clearly defined career pathway with support and encouragement from management for individuals to fulfil their potential
• employee discount scheme Cycle to Work scheme
• access to our Social Work Academy
• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) network and the Young Employees Network

*Please note, all our welcome payments and retention payments are non-contractual, pro rata for part time staff and subject to National Insurance and tax deductions.

About the team

Gloucestershire’s vision is “to work together to give every child the best possible chance of a remarkable life, especially those children who are disadvantaged and vulnerable.”

We have ambitious improvement and transformation plans to create the optimum conditions within which our staff can make a real difference and improve outcomes for children.

We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to join an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.

Systemic practice:

• fundamentally repositions the relationship between the Local Authority in the form of the allocated social worker, and the family: families are worked with rather than done to
• has a liberating effect for families and practitioners: families are no longer pathologised, and practitioners are free from the burden of trying to urge a family to change
• supports the idea that there are multiple ways of working with families to make change, and the theory of change is explicit and articulated.

Fostering Teams

Our Fostering Support Team is responsible for supporting Gloucestershire’s fostering households and enabling them to provide therapeutic and nurturing care to children.

The Friends and Family Assessment and Support Team undertakes the assessment and support of family carers, including Kinship and Special Guardianship Order applicants. The team is very supportive and has weekly huddles and monthly clinical supervision sessions. There are opportunities to travel if you wish as we cover the whole of the UK.  

Fostering Recruitment Team

The Fostering Recruitment Team is the first point of call for people thinking about becoming foster carers and provides information stands and sessions for potential applicants. From there, they screen applicants to ensure that, before they embark on our assessment and approval process, they are ready.

Fostering Placement Team

The Fostering Placement Finding Team matches children who come into care with in-house foster carers and supports specialist foster carers who care for children with additional support needs

About you

As a Social Worker within our Fostering service, you will be instrumental in delivering a first-class service to ensure the best outcomes for the children and young people of Gloucestershire. Through building positive relationships with colleagues within the service and partner agencies you will ensure we are able to provide support and protection for children and young people in need and at risk.

As well as your experience as a frontline social worker, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post:

• Social Work England registration
• a recognised qualification in Social Work
• to have passed your Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE)
• a full driving licence and willingness to drive
• DBS clearance

How to apply

If you are interested in joining our Fostering service, please apply directly here: careers.gloucestershire.gov.uk/go/Children’s-Social-Work-Jobs/8557655/ 

Alternatively, please email CSWrecruitment@gloucestershire.gov.uk if you have any further questions.

Additional Information

To access the Job Profile for this role, please follow the link below:-

Fostering Social Worker Role Profile 

Please note there may be different role profiles for each team

This Position is subject to a DBS check. 

Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities.  Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.

It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.