Overview
Join to apply for the Social Worker Children Looked After, SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL role at Guardian Jobs.
We have an opportunity to join our Children Looked After Team based in Reigate. When not working with our residents in the community, we are keen to support agile working with a combination of home and office working. We are keen to get the balance right of providing flexibility but ensuring you feel connected to your team and the service.
The salary range for Social Workers is £42,239 - £45,135 per annum. We also offer a financial package of up to £6,000 payable in 3 instalments across your first 18 months in post.
Rewards and Benefits:
* We pay your Social Worker England Registration fee
* 28 days annual leave, rising to 31 days after 5 years' service (plus bank holidays)
* Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
* An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
* Up to 5 days of carer\'s leave per year
* Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
* A generous local government salary related pension
* Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
* 2 paid volunteering days per year
* Learning and development hub with resources
* Refer a friend payment of £1,000 as a thank you for finding the right Social Worker
About Working With Children Looked After
As a member in the Children Looked After Team, your role will be to support children living with relatives, friends or foster families and prospective adopters or older children living in children\'s homes and semi-independent units. You will build sustainable relationships with them and plan for their permanence. You will be responsible for ensuring their safety and supporting them to take the necessary steps towards independence.
Through regular visits, assessments and reviewing their Care Plan, you will nurture and develop meaningful relationships with these children and young people; understand and interpret their wishes; and champion and support them to reach their full potential. Occasionally, you will be required to prepare reports and attend court.
You will be supported in this challenging role with regular supervision and consultations with our Mental Health Focussed Social Worker. You will also work alongside other social workers, family support workers and partnership organisations such as Health Services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (New Leaf), Independent Reviewing Officers and carers.
Supporting You
In Surrey, you will have a sense of belonging within your team and the wider service areas and directorate. You will receive high quality supervision, with a commitment to dedicating time that focuses on the work you do with children and families, to enable you to work creatively and holistically with a child-centred approach.
You will be supported in your career development by your management team and the Surrey Children\'s Service Academy, which has over 60 courses and a bespoke learning programme to help you achieve your future aspirations, including courses such as motivational interviewing and our total respect course.
Our Inclusive Approach
To apply you will need to upload your CV and answer the following questions:
* Please tell us what has motivated you to apply for this role?
* Please tell us about the key skills and experience you will bring to this role.
* Please tell us about an example that demonstrates how you have built long-lasting relationships with children.
If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to a short first round virtual interview to explore your answers to the above questions (lasting approx. 15–20 min). If your Teams call goes well, you will be invited for an in-person interview to meet the team and visit the office.
We are committed to inclusive recruitment. If invited to a face-to-face interview, we will share the themes of the questions in advance to help you prepare.
The job advert closes at 23:59 on the 22nd September 2025.
An enhanced DBS check and checks for the Children\'s and Adults\' Barred Lists are required for this role. You will need to be registered with Social Work England.
Surrey has both urban and rural areas, and locality-based social care workers will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments will be made for applicants who have a disability or long-term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.
Our Commitment
Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where the candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role and has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form. Our application process will provide an opportunity to request reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We welcome applications from all underrepresented groups and strive to be inclusive and diverse.
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