Social Work Support Assistant, Adult Social Care Fixed Term – 12 months, Full time (37 hours), countywide Learning Disabilities Team. We have an exciting opportunity for a Social Work Support Assistant to join our Countywide Learning Disabilities team. We are looking for a passionate person, who is keen to deliver a high-quality service to join our team. About the role: As a key worker for adults with care needs over 18 years of age, you will be the main point of contact for support and advice to them and their families. You will also lead in ensuring their safety in their day to day lives and to help them live as full and independent a life as possible. The role will include responsibility for completing needs assessments, taking into consideration safeguarding, reviewing the need for continuing healthcare and promoting self-directed support. You will work within the North Locality Team which include social workers and care managers and will link closely with GP practices, Community Mental Health Services, Community Physical Health Services and District Nurses. You will need to have a strong commitment to enabling and empowering service users to live independently in the community and help them think creatively about how they can do that. There will be a focus on managing risk and ensuring service users are protected from significant harm. You will need to be able to work well within a team and independently, have good time management skills and an ability to prioritise. You also need strong interpersonal, advocacy and communication skills. Solid IT skills are also needed to be able to input, use and retrieve data and information although full system training will be given. The main responsibilities include: - Carrying out assessments and working with service users to design solutions to meet their desired outcomes, seeking guidance from your Line Manager and colleagues where appropriate. - Managing and planning such work in an effective way to allow the required monitoring and review of the outcomes achieved for an individual. - Undertaking Carers’ Assessments as part of the care management process. - Carrying out Risk Assessments as part of the care management process. - Participating in the Duty System to pick up ad hoc work, taking and processing information and acting on it under supervision as required. - Take part in shadowing of students, e.g. Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and newly appointed staff from other disciplines. - Participating in discharge planning (from hospital) and care planning meetings. - Ensuring all written and electronic records are maintained to organisational standards. - Providing written reports, outcomes of assessments and recommendations. - Advocating on behalf of service users. Essential requirements: - NVQ 3 in social care or equivalent - Experience of working with adults in a social care setting - Some knowledge of legislation relevant to mental health and adult social care - Some knowledge of, or experience of, working with people experiencing mental illness, learning disability and/or physical conditions in adults and older people - Due to the nature of this role, it is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving license and has access to a car they can use for work purposes If you are passionate about delivering a high-quality service, we would like to hear from you! For more information about the vacancy please contact Kevin Waggott on Kevin.Waggott@northumberland.gov.uk Northumberland County Council’s (NCC) vision is ‘Land of Great Opportunities’, for current and future generations. We believe there is no better place to live and work. For further information about working for NCC, please visit our website here. Why choose us? We have some outstanding benefits and perks to offer you, including: - 26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees) - Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme - Flexi scheme (if applicable) – up to 2 days flexible leave available per month (pro rata for part-time employees) To see all our excellent benefits and perks, please click here. Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .