In West Sussex Children’s Social Care, we are committed to making real changes to the way we work to continue on our journey to provide ‘Outstanding’ services to children and young people. We have introduced a new evidence based practice framework for ‘How we do Social Work in West Sussex’ including a whole service implementation of Signs of Safety, underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of child development, attachment and the impact of trauma.

We see our staff as our greatest asset and on-going investment in staff training and development is a priority. Over the last year, we have trained all our staff in Signs of Safety. This year we will also train all our staff in attachment and developmental trauma and there are regular development opportunities to develop and embed knowledge and skills into practice.

All Social Workers joining West Sussex will receive this training as part of their induction and CPD.

Our aim is to continue to improve our responsiveness to children and families, maintaining manageable caseloads, and ensuring strong leadership, support and enhanced supervision.
You would be joining a skilled and motivated staff group and an experienced management team that effectively manage the work within the service and ensure that staff have manageable caseloads and receive the support they require.


We are committed to increasing the amount of time social workers spend in direct work with children and families and we are already seeing this leading to improved outcomes for children and young people.

To support the further development of changes in the way we work, we are now investing in new social work posts and have opportunities in the following service areas:

Contact, Assessment and Intervention – undertaking Child and Family Assessments, S.47 inquiries and intervention and planning for Children in Need

Family Support and Protection – working with longer term Children in Need and children subject to Child Protection plans

Resilience and Permanence - working with children who are looked after and/or on the edge of care, to achieve and maintain permanence, including permanency and care planning, family proceedings and preparation for children leaving care

Fostering, Adoption and Intervention – working with foster carers as a supervising social worker, undertaking assessments and providing support to adopters and others with Special Guardianship Orders, undertaking assessments and interventions within family proceedings,

All applicants should be qualified Social Workers with at least 1 years’ experience

You will be creative, flexible, have excellent communication skills, and enjoy working at a fast pace. You will be able to use IT, and will be organised and able to manage your workload and competing demands. With a child centred focus you will be competent in maintaining accurate records of all work undertaken, taking part in professional meetings and able to produce well evidenced, outcome focused assessments, plans and reports.

Salary £27,123 - £32,778 per annum
Permanent, Full time
Based in various locations (Horsham/Crawley, Worthing or Bognor)
37 hours per week
Interview date: TBC

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Social Worker positions span two grades. When making your application, please express a preference regarding whether you are applying for a grade 9 Social Worker or a grade 10 Senior Social Worker, depending on your qualifications and experience. This can be detailed at the top of the application form in the preference area. Please ensure you use the correct role profile when making your application.

**When applying please state your preference of service and location**