Salary £27,123 to £29,558
Permanent, Full time
Based in one of our main hubs – Crawley/Horsham, Worthing or Bognor
37 hours per week
Interview date: Week commencing 20th July 2015

This position is subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (formerly Criminal Records Bureau check) We are revolutionising the way we work within our Children Services and have launched the West Sussex Social Work Academy so that we can guide and steer Newly Qualified Social Workers through that crucial first year of practice. Only the most promising and passionate advocates of children and young people will be selected to take part in this programme.

Let’s face it being a Social Worker is not an easy environment to work in, therefore the Academy will provide guidance and support as you embark on a challenging and hugely rewarding career helping to support children and families. You will be equipped and highly trained to become the best possible social worker with a phased approach to the volume and complexity of your workload.

The academy gives social workers a high level of support and supervision during their first year. At the end of this they will have developed the skills, experience and confidence to join our existing workforce and to protect and improve the lives of West Sussex vulnerable children.

We offer reduced and protected caseloads, a dedicated Training pathway (intensive for the first four months) and regular reflective supervision. There will be Group supervision which includes a dedicated holistic assessor to help oversee your development and support from an experienced Social Worker based in the team.

We are looking for NQSW’s who inspire and deliver change all around them. That’s why we’re looking for talented, ambitious and passionate people like you to come and join us. You will need to be an ambitious and motivated Social Work graduate with a passion to improve the lives of children. You will be able to work under pressure with excellent organisational ability and be eligible for HCPC registration.

Social Work Academy teams - we have vacancies in our dedicated Academy teams where you will undertake a range of assessment and intervention work with children in need, children in need of protection and some looked after children (Worthing or Crawley).

We also have some vacancies for NQSW’s in our specialist services (based in Horsham, Worthing or Bognor) within the following teams:

Family Support and Protection – working with longer term children in need, children subject to child protection plans and children with disabilities

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,

If, like us, you’re full of drive and determination and ready to make an impact, visit our dedicated children's social work recruitment website www.withyoueverystep.co.uk to find out more.

For Newly Qualified Social Workers we require a minimum of three references for our pre-employment checks. Please ensure that you attach the further referees to the additional documents section of the application form. The references we require are; current work placement, college/ university tutor, current paid employer and most recent paid employer in a social care setting.