We are seeking a Social Work Assistant (Full-time, 37 hours per week) to support our young people aged between 0 to 18 within our Children in Care Service. WHAT IS INVOLVED? You will support our children by supervising family time for them and their family members, ensuring their emotional and physical safety. You will support our Social Workers by completing life story work with our children to enable them to understand their life journey into our care. And you will help assist our Social Workers by completing SDQ’s (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires) with our children and their caregivers to review our children’s emotional and mental health needs, as well as recording our children’s dental dates to support our children’s health reviews. We encourage you to contact Daniel Hay via email at daniel.hay@durham.gov.uk to arrange an informal discussion about the role. WHAT DO OFSTED SAY ABOUT US? 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 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 ensure our social workers are highly supported and encourage flexible working to achieve a good work-life balance. You will benefit from a range of training opportunities and professional development through personalised induction, professional supervision, and mentoring. Take a closer look: https://www.durham.gov.uk/childrenssocialwork WHAT WILL I NEED? 5 GCSEs (A-C grades) or equivalent relevant qualification Experience in supporting children and having supervised family time. It is essential that you are able to drive and have a car, and have business insurance to be able to transport our children in your car. If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure. Please refer to the attached person specification for the full criteria. 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 inclusive of a check of the Children’s Barred List and Adults Barred List. Applicants should be aware that the DBS check will disclose both spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings, in line with current legislation and will confirm whether an individual is barred from working with children, adults, or both. INTERVIEWS Interviews will be held week commencing 29th June 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 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 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