Assessing Social Worker – Fostering Service

Job title:

Assessing Social Worker – Fostering Service

Company

Sutton Council

Job description

About the Borough :
In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We’ve set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan – Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.About the Service and Team :
The London Borough of Sutton Children’s Services offers a supportive and inclusive environment for its Qualified Social Work staff. Specialist support on challenging cases, regular structured supervision, and an environment that encourages all those to take part and ensure their voices are heard.Our Fostering Recruitment Teams offer a social work service by recruiting prospective foster carers who can provide a care giving environment to children and young people in the borough who are unable to remain with birth families. A “assessing social worker” in the context of fostering is a qualified social worker responsible for conducting a comprehensive evaluation of potential foster parents, assessing their suitability to care for children through a series of home visits, interviews, and background checks, ultimately deciding if they are approved to become foster carers. This is achieved by working in partnership with the applicants, relevant agencies, children and young people and their families. We provide a supported working environment that ensures manageable caseloads, regular supervision, daily management support and an abundance of learning and development opportunities for our Social Workers to grow and flourish.In addition we have a creative and flexible working environment for our staff allowing you to work flexibly from multiple locations, remotely from your mobile/tablet using Google Mail and Apps which are a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. All our social workers also benefit from manageable caseloads and a culture of strong supportive management and autonomy.Other flexible working options include time off in lieu (TOIL) and working from home to write reports and to meet tight timescales.Working with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP). The partnership offers staff a wide range of pre- and post-qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development. This includes staff being encouraged to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE). Staff are also given the opportunity to attend conferences, and workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.Sutton Council also has a number of staff network groups such as the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic +A Network, LGBTQ +A Network and Women’s +A Network to ensure staff have a voice to drive positive change in the organisation.About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate :
Join Children’s Social Care as a Social Worker on a starting salary of £40,833, and receive a Welcome Bonus of £1000 paid in your first month’s salary and a Retention Bonus as the following:

• £1000 paid for your first completed year in service
• £2000 paid for your second completed year in service
• £3000 paid for your third completed year in service and every year thereafter

With a total package of up to £53,089 including bonuses and benefits, this is an excellent opportunity to advance your career in social care.We’ve got an exciting opportunity for you as an Assessing Social Worker as part of our Fostering Service within Children’s Social Care. Our mission is to empower children to live independently as possible and provide the necessary support in safeguarding their well-being. We need your expertise to make it happen. In this role, your responsibility will include:

• Recruit, assess, and monitor the continued suitability and competence of foster carers. This includes Holding information sessions, attending to screening calls, undertaking initial enquires, Initial Home Visit, Skills to foster training, stage to assessments, and attending fostering panel.
• Participating in promotion of fostering service .
• Completing timely assessments and sensitive to the needs of the prospective foster carers.
• Ensuring assessments undertaken to identify foster carers suitable for a child are informed by a clear understanding of the child’s needs and of the skills necessary to help and support them.
• Ensure prospective foster carers feel valued and welcomed.
• Ensure recruitment is in line with the service’s statement of purpose and Manager’s review.

Currently, this role involves working with prospective foster carers, completing initial visits; facilitating the Skills to Foster training; undertaking the Sutton fostering assessment; supporting the service at targeted recruitment and information events and attending Fostering Panels.We aim to deliver a fostering service that recruits a range of foster carers who can meet the diverse needs of children who are looked after. This role will challenge you in a dynamic and diverse environment whilst helping you to expand your knowledge and skill set in the practice of children social care. Our teams are renowned for its ability to craft outstanding care plans that prioritise the needs and voices of service users, integrating input from various professionals, families/carers, and external agencies to ensure the best outcomes are achieved.The role with suit a motivated social work practitioner that is passionate about fostering and providing quality care for children who have experienced trauma.Candidate should have:-

• A degree in Social Work, CQSW, DipSW or equivalent and registration as a Social Worker with Social work England.
• At least 3 years practice experience as a Social Worker.
• Sound interpersonal skills with proven experience of completing evidence based and high quality, analytical assessments with adults and children.
• Knowledge of Fostering Regulations, National Minimum Standards and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations.
• Work with Case Management systems and ensure management information is maintained.
• Ability to work flexible hours to fit with the needs of foster carer applicants.
• Ability to travel in a timely and effective manner across Sutton

Are you ready to take the next step? We are here to support your growth as you begin your career at Suttons Children’s Social Care. Apply now and join us as we navigate this journey toward excellence.For more information about the role and/or an informal conversation, view the Role Profile or contact Geeta Rath, Service Lead for Special Guardianship, Kinship and Fostering Recruitment and Assessment Team on [email protected] or the Recruitment Team on [email protected]Our Offer to You :
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across – however big or small – will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working – Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Three volunteering days per year in Sutton
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process :
Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.Additional Information :
We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve – the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.#LI-SR1

Expected salary

Location

Sutton, Greater London

Job date

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 05:50:39 GMT

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