Senior Social Worker
Gloucester
This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.
- Job Title: Senior Social Worker
- Job Location: Gloucestershire
- Salary: £39,152 - £47,181 per annum
- Hours per Week: 37.00
- Contract Type: Permanent
- Closing Date: 07/12/2025
- Job Requisition Number: 13017
- This post is open to job share
We are currently recruiting for motivated and passionate Fostering Social Worker to join our dedicated, dynamic Kinship Assessment Team on a permanent basis.
Reward and Support
For all your hard work, you will receive the following:
- between £39,152 - £47,181 per annum subject to experience
- £4,000 welcome payment*
- £2,000 retention payment*
- up to £8,000 relocation package*
- flexible and agile working opportunities
- 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service (pro rata for part-time staff)
- option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro rata for part-time staff)
- family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
- 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
- an in-house Occupational Health service
- employee discount scheme
- cycle to work scheme
- links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network
- career development and qualification opportunities
- access to our Social Work Academy
- Cycle to Work scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)
- Green Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)
Right child, right support, right time, every time
In our recent inspection in June 2025, our Children’s Services have been officially judged as ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ elements. Ofsted also said ‘Leaders have set out a clear vision for delivering success for children, by modelling values and creating a culture where the workforce, children and families feel valued and heard; risk is managed confidently with bottom lines clearly set out.’
This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive.
Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award-winning workforce.
We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of 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.
About the team
The Kinship Assessment Team is experienced, highly supportive, friendly, and deeply passionate about the work we do. While we work hard, we also take the time to celebrate our achievements and share good practice. The Kinship Assessment Team collaborates closely with Social Workers, managers from other Children’s Services, and Legal Services. The work is engaging, often complex and challenging, but plays a vital role in achieving placement stability and permanence for children.
About the role
In this role, you will:
- complete Connected Person Fostering Assessments, Special Guardianship Assessments and Viability Assessments
- deliver preparatory training to kinship carers
- present assessments to fostering panels and attend court as required, demonstrating strong presentation skills and a confident, articulate manner
- provide statutory supervision and support for Connected Person Foster Carers during the assessment process, collaborating with the team around the child to achieve the best outcomes
- work flexibly, including some evenings, to meet the needs of kinship carers. This role may involve travelling out of the county for assessments
In return, you will work within a supportive team environment, where your skills and dedication will be valued and developed. You’ll make a meaningful impact in the lives of children and families, helping to create safe, stable, and nurturing environments.
About You
As well as your experience, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post:
- a full driving licence and willingness to drive
- DBS clearance
- to have completed your ASYE year (if you qualified after 2012)
How to apply
For an informal chat about this role, please contact Cheryl.Lodge@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
We reserve the right to close an advertisement earlier than the stated closing date if we receive a suitable number of applications.
Interviews are due to take place in person on Monday 15th December 2025.
If you would like to find out more about our Children's Service please take a look here: Children's Social Care Careers | Gloucestershire County Council
We may be able to offer sponsorship for this role, in line with Home Office guidance and subject to pre-employment checks. Applicants must already hold a valid right to work in the UK that Gloucestershire County Council can transfer.
*Please note that all our welcome and retention payments are subject to terms and conditions as well as tax and national insurance deductions
Under the terms of our Safer Recruitment Policy, if you are invited to interview, we will take up safeguarding references prior to your interview to understand your suitability to work with vulnerable children. These references will then be discussed in your interview. Please give details of at least two referees, one of whom must be your present and/or last employer and the other from a previous employer(s). These will need to cover the last three years of employment/education. In the case of applicants leaving full time education or not having worked since doing so, the Head of School, College or University should be one of the named referees. We do not accept references from friends or family members or workplace colleagues (who are not more senior). To ensure we process your application in a speedy and efficient way, we will contact your referees by DocuSign. Where appropriate, please inform them of your application.
Additional Information
To access the job profile for this role, please follow the link below:-
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.
Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.