Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: Bassett Street Locality Offices, Wigston, LE18 4PE
Salary: £35,451 - £42,699 per annum (pro rata for part-time) plus market premium of £3,283
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 12th April 2026
Interview Date(s): 22nd April 2026 at Huncote Family Hub, LE9 3BN
Come and join our Outstanding Family Help Service!
We have an exciting opportunity in Blaby, Oadby and Wigston for a Social Worker in our Family Help Team to deliver high-quality Child in Need service for children and their families.
About the Role
“The right support at the right time”. Working with the whole family to offer practical help, building on strengths and community support to improve daily life, positively impacting upon outcomes for children and young people.
Family Help is a service that offers intensive and timely family support for families on the continuum from Targeted Early Help to Child in Need.
Learning from the recommendations in the Independent National Review of Children’s Social Care and the government response to this, we have created an integrated service called Family Help, where both Social Workers and Keyworkers (AQWs) engage, support and encourage families to make positive changes in their lives.
Family Help focuses on strong and consistent professional relationships, responding more quickly and intensively to families so that they get the right help at the right time. Building on workers’ capacity to listen, understand and respond to trauma, and supporting children and families to build strength, resilience, confidence and parenting capacity. By unlocking the potential of family and community networks, we support more children to stay safely at home, and when this is not possible, to remain with wider family and friends.
By supporting staff through regular reflective supervision, ensuring positive training and career pathways, we hope that staff will embrace this more intensive way of working and remain in post longer, providing our families with the professional consistency they need, want and deserve.
We want a creative and supportive worker who will provide intensive and focused support to families in their homes. Developing effective relationships and using strengths-based and trauma-informed approaches will help to motivate and encourage behaviour change, leading to positive differences in children’s lives.
An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.
For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.
About You
To apply for this post, you must be able to evidence in your application how you meet the following criteria:
* Have a social work degree or equivalent, e.g., CQSW or DipSW (with a specialism in children’s services) - You must also be registered with Social Work England. Evidence of continuing professional development, including self-development.
* You must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence (or be able to convert your current licence) AND have access to a vehicle.
* Have post-qualification experience of working with children and families, knowledge of childcare legislation and Local Safeguarding Children Partnership procedures, particularly in relation to child in need and child protection. Be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the theoretical underpinning of social work practice and models used.
* Be able to evidence your skills and knowledge of creative, innovative, and relationship-based social work, working in collaboration with families and professionals, including supporting staff/colleagues or social work students. Ideally, you will already be confident in the application of the Signs of Safety methodology.
* Hold strong assessment skills, capable of analysing information to make sound decisions which offer support and are impactful and be able to demonstrate this via examples.
* Knowledge of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families. An understanding of published serious case reviews and impact on work.
* Be proficient in IT, with sound knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word and database applications to ensure clear, accurate and age-appropriate communication with children, families, carers and external agencies/other service providers that support collaborative ways of working both orally and in writing.
In addition, we expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the interview process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Helen Farquharson – Team Manager
Telephone: 0116 305 8264
Email: helen.farquharson@leics.gov.uk
How to Apply
At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.
If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.
By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
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