Senior Social Worker - Supervising School Safeguarding Leads (2 Positions)
Salary Grade 8 £41,771 - £47,181 per annum, plus an Essential Car User Allowance: £1,239 per annum and 2% Recruitment and Retention Allowance paid monthly.
Full Time/Permanent.
This is your opportunity to join our ‘Outstanding’ Company and make a difference! Together for Children Sunderland is rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2021 and has maintained the outstanding rating in 2025, recognising the stability of our well‑supported and talented workforce that delivers an ongoing commitment to improving children’s outcomes. Join us and help us continue our outstanding journey.
Responsibilities
We are seeking to appoint two qualified social workers who have a passion for safeguarding and education.
* 1 post will be based within the Integrated Contact & Referral Team and will supervise around 40 school Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs).
* 1 post will be based within the Families First Pilot Project and will supervise around 20 school Designated Safeguarding Leads in our pilot locality (Coalfield) and will hold a practice development role within the Families First Pilot as well as the multi‑agency child protection team.
In these roles you will be responsible for offering high quality supervision to DSLs in schools with a view to improving knowledge and understanding of Sunderland Safeguarding Children Partnership’s (SSCP) Multi‑Agency Threshold Guidance and ensuring children and their families get the right help at the right time.
You will also work closely with Children’s Social Care, the Integrated Contact and Referral Team, Early Help Service and the School Improvement Service, as well as directly with schools to increase support to DSLs, ensuring families receive the right support at the right time and improving the quality of referrals into children’s social care.
You will support schools in understanding the changes to the Families First agenda and report to and be supported by a social work Team Manager.
Why Join Us?
* Supportive Environment: Join a small, supportive social work team with guidance from experienced managers.
* Innovative Practice: We use the Signs of Safety model, embedded across our service. Extensive training and support are available, regardless of your prior experience with this model.
* Professional Development: We invest in our workforce with specialist training programmes, including Trauma Informed Practice and Safe & Together training. Our multi‑agency edge of care team, ‘Wear Together,’ is just one example of our innovative initiatives.
Benefits
* Competitive salary.
* Agile working arrangements.
* Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
* Flexi‑time scheme.
* Comprehensive health and wellbeing programme.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage job applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, belief or race, and background. If you have a disability please reach out to our Accessibility Network Chair to hear how we can support you during the recruitment process. We also offer a fostering friendly People policy for all foster carers in their employment, including flexible working and paid time off for training and settling a new child into their home.
Contact
If you would like to have an informal discussion about this post please contact Nicola Burn, Head of Service (Nicola.burn@togetherforchildren.org.uk) and/or Paula Steel, Head of Service (Paula.steel@togetherforchildren.org.uk) or peoplesupport@togetherforchildren.org.uk.
Visa sponsorship: We welcome applications from all nationalities; however, successful candidates must, by the commencement of employment, have the right to work in the UK.
Further information
For further information on Together for Children, please visit https://www.togetherforchildren.org.uk.
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