Senior Social Worker (Duty and Assessment)

Wigan Life Centre South

College Avenue

Wigan

WN1 1NJ

Salary: Grade 10, £42,403 - £ 46,464 per annum.

37 hours per week

Why would you want to work on the duty team?

Here at Wigan Council, we believe our workforce is our greatest asset and we will ensure you have the right support and a positive working environment to deliver outstanding support to children, young people and families.  It’s our view that children and families benefit from a strong consistent professional relationships and workforce.  Our key values and culture along with the support you will receive have enabled us to have a stable and supportive workforce. Furthermore, when Ofsted visited staff indicated that they "feel well supported by managers and leaders and they receive regular communication from the senior management team".

The senior social workers currently in post on duty have said:

“I have been a senior social worker for Wigan for nearly 12 months. It is a great opportunity to use your experience and move you on from the social worker role to being a deputy manager.  

I like still being able to work with families, that’s why I became a social worker in the first place, but I also enjoy the mentoring element, supporting colleagues with less experience.

I feel completely supported by my manager and have been able to gain confidence in providing that mentoring /reflective supervision element to team.  Best thing I did was make decision to apply. “

 

“I started my career in social work in Wigan and have been able to progress into a senior role and have a very supportive team around me which has enabled me to do this. Managers are approachable and supportive and I have been able to enhance my skills with lots of training opportunities.”

 

The feedback from families who the duty teams have worked alongside and have supported have said:

“Its been lovely working with you - I seriously hear of such horror stories of adopted parents who get social workers who have no idea of trauma or the impact, thanks for listening and understanding - it’s been a very supportive process and I am really thankful for all the work you did behind the scenes to get people to listen”

“At first when I first met Linda, I didn't really give her the time of day and wasn't really nice with her and didn't want to give her a chance. I didn't really like social services and was really scared of her taking my kids due to my pasted experience with social care and the lack of support. once I felt settled and got my head around the whole situation, she explained it all Everything very clear and in simplest way I could understand and if I didn't then she would find a way where I could understand things and was very helpful.”

“I felt listened to and found the social worker to be lovely, down to earth and felt she was clued up and knew what she was doing. The social worker really cheered me up during her visits and I felt I could open up to her because she listened.

 

“The social worker was great, she told it as it was, very honest and if she felt I hadn't taken on board what was said, she would stress her point which I was grateful for because she helped me keep the children safe. The kids liked her, she was child friendly and took into account what they liked when working with them, my daughter liked colouring so she brought colouring books and my son liked cars. She was really very good.”

What will your role as a senior Social Worker on this team will look like?

We are looking for an experienced Social Worker, committed to achieving positive change for children and families and supporting your colleagues to learn, develop and deliver consistently good social work practice.   You will be a qualified social worker, with significant experience of social work practice within the field of social work with children and families, using a strengths-based practice model, with a proven track record of success.

The nature of the work within the duty Service can be described as fast paced, as a senior practitioner within the team in duty, you will be working closely with the current 5 duty teams. The duty teams in Wigan hold a varying complexity of cases, in our duty service, case transfer points include the initial child protection case conference, the first CLA review, the first PLO meeting, the 3rd CIN meeting.

This role is an amazing opportunity to support our children and families. You will be a highly experienced social worker and relish the opportunity to work in a fast paced, creative and supportive environment. 

You will readily share your knowledge and skills to contribute to a culture of continuous learning and improvement, by mentoring, coaching and support others to achieve a shared goal of improving outcomes for children and their families.  You will ensure that practice is underpinned by the Deal principals and our practice standards, and that the Signs of Safety model is embedded in our work with children and families, by championing this model.

You will have a keen interest in learning from case reviews, audits and complaints, and disseminating that learning, and will support the workforce to close the loop following audit activity to support continuous improvement.

You will have excellent analytical and judgemental skills to analyse, risk assess and interpret complex information or situations and to solve difficult problems or develop solutions and plans. You will be able to think quickly and creatively to help overcome complex challenges and issues. Your highly developed interpersonal and caring skills will help you to meet the needs of children, young people and their families, and you will be able to motivate and empower children and families to reach and achieve their own solutions, by being kind and helping them make long-term sustainable family plans.

In Children’s Social Care, we want to support all children in Wigan to be happy, healthy and safe; to feel listened to and to have the maximum opportunities to be ambitious. 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.

We believe that looking out for our young people and supporting families is a key priority for the future. Our children and young people have told us how important it is for them to feel safe, to have access to things that interest them and be proud of their local area. We want our young people to thrive, be proud to call the borough of Wigan home and see it as a safe and vibrant place to grow up in. We want them to be happy and to continue to feel connected with the borough as they grow into adults, with opportunities to live, work and raise their own families here. We want you to help us to achieve our goals.

What we need from you:

• A caring and friendly nature and you put children, young people and their families at the heart of all you do
• Social work qualification with up-to-date registration with Social Work England

• At least 2 year post qualifying experience
• Significant knowledge and fundamental understanding of research, innovation and good practice
• In depth knowledge of statutory and legislative frameworks which underpin effective care planning
• Experience of a broad spectrum of services within the field of social work with children and families either through social work experience or through training
• The ability to work as part of a team and alongside colleagues from other areas of Children’s services
• Good time management skills with the ability to work to deadlines and reorganise the workload to meet conflicting demands   

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.

Here in Wigan, we listen to what our staff tell us, so when they told us that they wanted to progress, without moving into a management position, we introduced the senior social worker role. This is not an Advanced Practitioner post, and so there are no supervisory responsibilities; this post acknowledges the expertise of experienced social workers who will hold a caseload whilst sharing their skills and knowledge with their less experience colleagues and working alongside the Advanced Practitioner to support and develop the team.

What we can offer you:

• Flexible working – including a blend of working from home/remotely and utilising our re-designed, shared office space.
• A generous pension scheme.
• To work in a dedicated team of social work practitioners with manageable caseloads.
• Fantastic career development opportunities you can access through our ‘one stop shop’ supported by regular supervision with your manager and reflective supervision with peers.
• Regular social work forums to share your views with the ability to get involved in service development to improve our support to children and families, being creative and doing things differently.
• New challenges and experiences.
• A culture where everyone is treated with respect and ensure our behaviours of Be Positive, Be Accountable, Be Courageous and Be Kind are embedded in everything we do.
• Continuous service across other GM Authorities and partner organisations.
• Free parking.

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 Caroline Whitworth on caroline.whitworth@wigan.gov.uk

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