Are you an experienced social worker ready to progress your career and step into a leadership role? We have a really rare opportunity for a Social Work Consultant to join our Fostering North Team. This could be the right role for you! WHAT IS INVOLVED? As a Social Work Consultant you will: Work in partnership with the Team Manager to ensure high quality and effective services are delivered to children and their foster carers in line with procedures, legislation and national guidance. Play a key role in developing, maintaining and championing expertise and driving best practice based on research evidence and professional experience. Provide constructive challenge to enhance practice, procedures and policies, promote innovation and introduce new ways of working from recognised areas of excellence. Model and facilitate reflective and evidence-based decision making. You will be joining us at a fantastic time. Inspectors have judged our Children’s Services as outstanding and “social workers told inspectors that Durham is a great place to work. Their words and actions convey a sense of belonging and they view Durham as their employer of choice.” You can read the full report here We encourage you to contact Julie Sheen, Fostering North Team Manager for an informal discussion about the role before you apply. You can contact Julie by e-mail at julie.sheen2@durham.gov.uk HOW WILL I BE SUPPORTED? We are passionate about social work in County Durham. We are committed to providing a culture where good practice can flourish. We will ensure you are highly supported. You will benefit from high quality professional supervision, a great induction, and access to our really strong learning and development offer. When you are ready to take your next step our aspiring managers programme “rising stars” will be there for you. We encourage flexible working to achieve a good work-life balance. You can find out more about social work in Durham here WHAT WILL I NEED? To apply for this role you will: Be a social worker with significant experience of work with children, young people and families including children in our care. Be a wonderful communicator with experience of nurturing other professionals. You can read more about the experience, skills and personal qualities we are looking for in the attached person specification. If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure. INTERVIEWS Interviews will be held on 12th December 2025, but we may be able to consider alternative dates if required. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked after young person, care leaver or a veteran. Removal, lodging and separation expenses may be available to you if at the time of application for appointment your place of residence is outside the administrative area of County Durham and more than 30 miles in a straight line from our administrative centre, along with a number of other criteria for eligibility. OUR OFFER TO YOU We offer a competitive rewards package that includes attractive salaries, a generous annual leave entitlement of 27 days (rising to 32 after five years’ continuous local government service), membership of the excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme, and a range of flexible working arrangements including hybrid working (home and office) where applicable. Explore the full range of rewards and benefits on our website Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions. Removal, lodging and separation expenses may be available to you if at the time of application for appointment your place of residence is outside the administrative area of County Durham and more than 30 miles in a straight line from our administrative centre, along with a number of other criteria for eligibility. EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION We are a proud equal opportunities employer and believe a diverse workforce brings fresh ideas and drives service improvement. We welcome applications from everyone and make employment decisions based on skills and ability. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled people and offer support throughout the recruitment process HOW TO APPLY Please note, we do not accept CVs. All applications must be submitted online via the Northeast Jobs portal. Use the ‘Person Specification’ section of the form to clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential (and where possible, desirable) criteria. Applications that do not evidence the essential requirements will not be shortlisted. For guidance on completing your application, visit our website If you require assistance when applying for this role, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk on 03000 26 27 27, or via email RecruitmentCYPS@durham.gov.uk All correspondence relating to your application will be sent from donotreply@northeastjobs.org.uk. Kindly check your spam/junk folder regularly to ensure you don’t miss any updates. CONNECT WITH US Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Visit our website VPRS/161