Department of Children’s Services

SOCIAL WORKERS: Through Care Team

·         ASYE:  £23,398 to £ 25,951 pa

·         Social Worker (SWL2): 24,964 to 29,323 pa

·         Experienced Social Worker (SWL3): £28,485 to £33,487 pa

·         Pay Award Pending

3 x 37 hours per week

Established Posts

The Code of Practice on the English language requirement for public sector workers, Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 requires that Councils ensure that all candidates applying for customer facing posts must be assessed in order to establish their fluency in English.

We currently have vacancies for Social Workers in the Through Care Service - supporting children and young people who are looked after, ensuring they have an effective plan of care and assisting looked after young people through the process of leaving care.       

Bradford is the 4^th largest Local Authority with a population of 530,000 of which 150,000 are children and young people, making us one of the key cities with a young age group population.

To ensure we achieve even better outcomes for children and young people.  We are on a journey to excellence; ensuring children are at the heart of everything we do. We continue to embed solution focused practice by adopting the Signs of Safety model with key partners across the district within our work with families and ensuring we have a clear model of care for the children and young people we look after.

Bradford is a dynamic and forward thinking council, which is reviewing how it delivers our services to our customers in order to improve educational outcomes, protect vulnerable children and young people in the district, and reduce the effects of childhood poverty.

We have placed ourselves on the forefront of innovation in social work, rethinking our approach and processes in order to maximise the impact of the social work practice we provide. We are one of the authorities that have secured funding from the DfE and are part way through implementation of Be Positive Pathways Program which is a dynamic approach to re-thinking how we care for our children and young people.  We’ve looked far and wide for what we believe are the best models for care for children and young people. Our intention is to provide inspirational care, tailored to the individual needs of the children and young people.

Last year as part of our journey to excellence, we re-organised the Looked After Children Service and Leaving Care Service into a Through Care model with the ambition of ‘relationships’ being at the heart of all practice and transition points.

As a Social Worker within Through Care you will be working a multi agency team to develop excellent casework practice, that is aspirational for all our Looked After Children Looked and Care Leavers, through to 25. You will have an understanding of what excellent social work practice looks like for Children Looked After and Care Leavers, be passionate to nurture this and to contribute to the development of the service.

Visit this link to see testimony from one of our social workers and senior leadership team - https://youtu.be/0eD8rkcXYBo  

Our aim in partnership with the Children’s Trust is:

'For every one of our children to have the best possible start in life'

In order to meet our vision, we aspire to develop a workforce that is therapeutically trained, supported, motivated, aspirational, highly skilled and who have the best interests of the children at the heart of everything they do.

Michael Jameson Strategic Director 

Do you meet the following?

• Hold a DIPSW or equivalent qualification and are registered with the HCPC as a qualified social worker. 
• Have a full driving licence and car available for work (unless a disability prevents this).
• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills and be able to make good decisions based on the information available, ensuring effective relationships with other professionals.
• Possess excellent Innovation skills to join us on our journey to excellence.
• Have demonstrated a  commitment to anti-oppressive practice and to the Departments equal opportunities policy.
• Have the ability to work within and contribute to a team.
• Possess knowledge of service needs for ethnic minority communities.
• Have confident IT skills, and be able to navigate an electronic file system.
• Have the ability to write clear, concise robust reports.
• Have a flexible approach when need arises.

If so, then we want to hear from you, to assist us in the Journey to Excellence and be part of Bradford’s future, enabling us to be the best of the best.

What do we offer as a Council? 

We provide numerous Employee opportunities and benefits including:

• A structured and practical based induction programme.
• CPD opportunities and protected time for study.
• The opportunity to continue your development through our progression framework.
• Support through interactive 4 weekly supervision sessions which allow you to share your thoughts and ideas and build on the future of Bradford.
• An annual appraisal of practice, ensuring clarity of purpose and providing an opportunity to take stock, raise ideas and obtain valuable and constructive feedback.
• Excellent training and learning opportunities, including opportunities to develop practice based on interests and passions, through our practitioner led forums.
• A culturally diverse workforce reflecting our communities.

What do some of our Social Workers say about working in Bradford Children’s Services? 

·     “We are making differences to children’s lives by acting appropriately to risk”

·     “Workers support one another, as do the team managers and this helps us to keep the children as our focus”

What did the Ofsted JTAI (April 2017) inspectors say about Bradford?

·    ‘Leadership within children’s social care is effective and senior managers are creating a healthy  environment in Bradford for effective social work to flourish’.

·    Across partners there is commitment to continual improvement to offer a wide range of high quality services to meet the diverse needs of children and families.

What Benefits do we offer:

Credit Union

Payroll deduction savings scheme for BMDC employees.

Health Care Plans

A healthcare cash plan is a type of insurance policy that lets you claim back the cost of treatments, such as eye tests, dental treatment or physiotherapy.

Metrofit

The MetroFit scheme is an offer exclusive to Bradford Metropolitan District Council employees, designed to promote a healthy lifestyle, by entitling them to a discounted rate for certain sports and leisure activities.

VIC Staff Discount

Discounts available to CBMDC staff at the Visitor Information Centres in the District.

Travel Benefits

Travel benefits for major modes of transport.

Childcare Vouchers

Save money on all types of registered childcare for children. 

Relocation Package

A relocation package may be available for successful candidates who meet the criteria.

An enhanced disclosure check with the Disclosure and Barring Service will be undertaken for this post.

The closing date for this recruitment is 27^th May 2018

Shortlisting will take place w/c 28^th May 2018

Successful shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview on either the 7^th or 8^th of June 2018