Children's Social Worker (Return to Social Work)

If you are considering returning to social work after a break of more than 2 years, we can support you in your professional development journey with our Return to Social Work programme.

About the teams

If successful you will join one of our Children and Families teams; they cover Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Forest of Dean and Stroud and Cotswolds. our teams aim is to provide consistentcy to the children and their families by supporting them until permanence is achieved either through positive change and the child remaining with their parent/s or legal permanence being secured within the family or outside of their family.

Our Return to Social Work programme will enable you to gain the learning, practice experience and confidence to re-start your social work career, and to equip you with the requirements for registration with Social Work England.

You will come into the role as a Family Support Worker whilst undertaking the development and training to obtain your Social Work England registration.

On the programme you will receive:

- a supervised practice placement, including shadowing and learning opportunities within Children's Services
- supervision with an experienced Social Work Team Manager
- opportunities for protected private and formal study withiin your working week
- hybrid timetable of learning and practice
- Academy support to review your progress against Social Work England standards
- further opportunities to consolidate your learning through our ongoing training modules and CPD

Requirements

- A lapsed Social Work England registration of 2 years or more
- A recognised qualification in Social Work
- A full driving licence and willingness to drive

Please note we are not offering sponsorship outside of the UK for this post.

*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. And subject to annual review

About us

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.

Our Social Work Academy supports all our social workers pre and post qualification. This includes newly qualified social workers on their ASYE journey, students, practice educators and social work apprentices. We are committed to building quality in a supportive working environment and are excited for you to be a part of that

Our team structures are designed to ensure there is the right level of support available to staff and that caseloads are kept at a manageable level with a Team Manager, Advanced Practitoner, 4 Social Workers and 1 Newly Qualified Social Worker, making up each team's full complement of staff. We need resilient, driven individuals who will play their part in making our vision for Children’s Services a success. We are an authority with a strong set of values that underpin the work we do: Accountability, Empowerment, Excellence, Integrity and Respect.

Our vision

Right child, right support, right time, every time

We are working together to support families and communities to give every child the best chance of a happy and rewarding life, especially those who need more help.

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.

Gloucestershire Children’s Services are improving. Our latest Ofsted inspection (February 2022) identified that:

‘Significant progress has been made in many areas of Gloucestershire’s children’s services… significant financial investment and the backing of political leaders, has led to improved services that are now more effective in meeting the needs of children and families’.

Reward & Support

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

- £33,945 per annum during your initial 6 months to £36,648 per annum when you re-register with Social Work England
- potential to earn up to £44,428 when you progress to Senior Social Worker
- annual retention payment of £2,000*
- welcome payment of £4,000* once re registered with Social Work England
- flexible and agile working opportunities
- 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service
- option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year
- 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
- 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

Additional Information

If you would like to find out more please contact: returntosocialwork@gloucestershire.gov.uk