About the Role
and our Ideal Candidate
Join Children Social Care as a Social Worker on a selected pay grades are eligible for our Golden Hello and a Recruitment and Retention Bonus as follows:
1. £ paid in your first month's salary
2. £ paid for your first completed year in service
3. £ paid for your second completed year in service
4. £ paid for your third completed year in service and every year thereafter
We have an exciting opportunity for a passionate and skilled Social Worker to join
our Children Looked After, Court and Leaving Care Service in Sutton.
Our mission is to provide children and young people with the stability, care, and
support they need to thrive – empowering them to achieve their aspirations and live
as independently as possible. As part of our supportive and dynamic service, you will
play a key role in ensuring positive outcomes for children and young people in care.
In this role, your responsibilities will include:
5. Undertake and manage care proceedings and associated court work.
6. Assess the needs and circumstances of children in corporate care, undertaking statutory duties, developing and reviewing robust care plans that support their safety, stability, and development.
7. Advocate for children and young people, ensuring their voices are heard and their rights are upheld in all decision-making processes.
8. Work collaboratively with families, carers, schools, health professionals, and partner agencies to provide coordinated and effective support.
9. Promote placement stability, permanency planning, and successful transitions
to independence and adulthood.
As a Social Worker, your role is vital to promoting stability, supporting transitions to independence, and working towards long-term, positive outcomes for each child. Your knowledge and expertise will help to provide a stable and safe environment, advocating for children’s voices to be heard and ensuring their rights are upheld in all aspects of their care. You will collaborate with foster carers, families, and a range of professionals to provide consistent and effective support. If you are an experienced social worker, empowered by making a meaningful impact on the lives of children and young people, we would like to hear from you. We are dedicated to ensuring the safety, well-being, and development of children in care.
This position offers an excellent opportunity for individuals with outstanding communication skills and a compassionate manner capable of effectively managing high levels of emotional distress. We encourage applications from candidates with experience in childcare and those passionate about delivering person-centred care. You'll join a welcoming, supportive, and energetic team dedicated to providing first class supervision and ongoing professional development opportunities.
In addition, we would expect the following from all suitable candidates:
10. Registered with Social Work England, with post-qualifying experience in statutory children’s social care.
11. Skilled in care planning, court work, and multi-agency collaboration.
12. Committed to strengths-based practice, relationship-based social work, and achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
13. Have sound knowledge and ability to deliver social work support to service users and their families.
14. Ability to communicate complex social issues clearly to both patients and professionals.
15. Ability to plan and coordinate social care plans and aspects of patient discharge.
16. Motivated by making a genuine difference and ready to contribute to a
supportive, learning-focused team culture.
Please note: Social Workers may be required to travel outside the Borough to visit clients as part of their caseload. Further details regarding the caseload and travel expectations will be provided during the interview process.
About Us
The Leaving Care and Children Looked After Service is dedicated to providing exceptional support and care for children in the local authority's guardianship. Our focus is on ensuring the safety, well-being, and developmental needs of each child are met through personalised care plans and stable placements. We are committed to creating nurturing environments that address each child’s unique needs and ensure their voices are heard in all decisions affecting their lives
We are growing a diverse and inclusive environment for staff to learn, develop and grow their career. We provide specialist support on challenging cases, regular structured supervision, and an environment that encourages all those to take part and ensure their voices are heard. We understand the value that our staff bring to our service, and the needs of the residents in our community.
In addition:
17. Sutton works with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP) to provide staff with a wide range of pre- and post-qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development.
18. Staff are given the opportunity to attend conferences, and workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.
19. We encourage staff to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).
Sutton Council also has a number of staff network groups such as the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic +A Network, LGBTQ +A Network and Women’s +A Network to ensure staff have a voice to drive positive change in the organisation.
Our Offer To You
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:
20. A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-31 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
21. Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
22. Two volunteering days per year
23. Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
24. Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
25. Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
26. Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
27. Interest free season ticket loans
28. Local Government Pension Scheme
29. Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
30. Zip car scheme
31. Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support