Are you an experienced social worker who is passionate about working with vulnerable teenagers? This is a fantastic opportunity to join our growing Adolescent Safeguarding and Exploitation Team (ASET) team who support young people who are at risk of, or experiencing, harm outside of the family home, including child exploitation, mental health, radicalisation and homelessness. WHAT IS INVOLVED? This is a really rewarding role where you will support teenagers who are at risk of, or experiencing, harm outside of the family home, including child exploitation, mental health, radicalisation, and homelessness. You will form positive working relationships with young people and negotiate and advocate on their behalf to achieve positive outcomes. You will be working with only a limited number of young people at any one time to ensure you can give them the support they need. You will use the Signs of Safety social work model to help understand young people’s experiences. You will work closely with other teams including Child Exploitation, Supporting Solutions and Rapid Response, and with partner agencies including police and CAMHS. You will be joining us at a fantastic time. Inspectors have just judged our Children’s Services as outstanding. You can read the full report here If this sounds like the job for you, we encourage you to contact Sue Thornton, Team Manager by email at sue.thornton@durham.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the post. HOW WILL WE SUPPORT YOU? 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 strong learning and development offer. Take a closer look WHAT WILL I NEED? For this role you will need to be passionate about working with vulnerable teenagers across County Durham and be a qualified and registered social worker who has completed the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE). Please refer to the attached person specification for the full criteria. If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure. Our commitment to safeguarding Durham County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore if successful in your application, an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be sought, due to the position working in regulated activity. Applicants should be aware that the DBS check will disclose both spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings, in line with current legislation. INTERVIEWS Interviews will be held on 24 March 2026. 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. 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 This post is eligible for a recruitment/retention allowance of £2,500 over 12 months (pro-rata for part time workers). Payments are made in equal instalments across a 12-month period alongside your pay. The allowances are subject to tax, National Insurance and pension contributions. Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions. 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 and neurodivergent 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. Please visit our website to understand our position on using AI to support to your application and for guidance on completing your application. 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