Children's Social Worker

A Senior Specialist Qualified Social Worker is required for the London Borough of Hillingdon for the Children's Services

Working at London’s second largest borough can be tough, particularly with government reforms, budget restrictions, and political attention - but it’s enough to keep us busy and ensures no two days are the same! Our collaboration and no blame culture has created this stable workforce. We are one service, all dedicated and willing to go the extra mile to do all we can to keep children and their families together.

We appreciate our Senior Practitioners as they play a key role where they mentor, coach and supervise our aspiring social workers whilst still providing support to some of the most vulnerable children and young people of Hillingdon. It will be down to your expert knowledge and skills which will make you best placed to assess and manage high levels of risk, be systemic and solution focused in your approach to put effective safety plans in place. Here at Hillingdon, we invest in specialist assessments and therapeutic interventions to identify and address the root causes of the challenges families may be facing. You will have these resources at your fingertips to be able to create the best possible plans. Flexible working arrangements, a smart phone, laptop, clinical supervision, senior management training & development opportunities are a few of the benefits you will have access to when you work with us as a Senior Practitioner.

• General responsibilities •
• Maintain professional registration and compliance with council's DBS requirements. •
• To manage, within a supervised framework, a limited client caseload. •
• Accept referrals from Supervisor or Team Manager. •
• Interview clients and other relevant people. This may take place in a work setting, at the client's home or other related venue such as schools or hospitals.
• Assess nature of issues, identify relevant objectives to resolve problems and to take effective action to achieve solutions.
• Employ a variety of social work models and techniques in addressing the client's requirements. •
• Appropriately apply available resources to meet the needs of the child. •
• Maintain confidentiality and compliance with all data protection protocols. •
• Receive regular professional supervision while maintaining a critical reflective approach to practice. •
• Recognise own professional limits and seek appropriate advice from Supervisor, Team Manager or other experienced Social Workers where required. •
• Work collaboratively with other council officers and other agencies such as the police, health workers, voluntary sector organisations and partners. •
• Demonstrate awareness and compliance with required Standards including the Social Work Professional Capabilities Framework (ASYE level). •
• Manage a wider, increasingly complex social work caseload including safeguarding, with more autonomy.
• Demonstrate expertise in one or more areas of social work practice. •
• Use range of frameworks for assessment and intervention. •
• Provide support for trainees and other employees, including acting as a 'buddy' for inductees. •
• Take responsibility for obtaining regular, effective supervision from appropriate Social Worker to ensure effective practice, critical reflection, and career development.

In addition -

• Undertake welfare visits to children and their families who have settled in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
• This includes the completion of child and family assessments as part of the private fostering process in regards to unaccompanied minors arriving under the scheme.
• Advise, support and assist families at risk of homelessness and/or destitution including those with no recourse to public funds.
• Assist in the maintenance of the NRPF network data base.
• Collaborate with colleagues in Housing Needs as well as Children's Finance Team in regard to families resident in lettings accommodation.
• Lead on the completion of brief enquires with people claiming asylum provided with adult asylum support but claiming to be a child.
• Assist the CSC lead on providing UASC with permanence through the National Transfer Scheme including the maintenance of the UASC tracker and dash board.