We are looking for an experienced Social Worker who has the child’s voice at the heart of everything they do to join us on a 12 month fixed term contract in our Children in Care Team! Due to the fixed term nature of this role you will need to demonstrate immediate proficiency, assuming full responsibilities from the outset. Therefore previous experience as a Social Worker in a Children in Care or Looked After Children team is essential. Our aim in Children in Care is to achieve permanence for children and young people who become Looked After and to ensure that they are in a home which meets their needs, reflects their right to safety and security, and encourage them to reach their full potential at every stage of their development. We encourage all Looked After children and young people to meet their full educational potential and to promote both their physical and mental health. This role is based at Scott House in Huntingdon covering maternity leave. If this sounds like an role that suits your skill set, we would love to hear from you! For more information, call Nathalie on 01223 475920 or email joinus@cambridgeshire.gov.uk. Closing date 5th May 2026. Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Our benefits We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage… A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development A pay progression scheme to enable you to accelerate through the pay grade as you gain experience and skills A Refer a Friend Scheme where if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we’ll pay you an introduction fee of £350 Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert. What will you be doing? From day one you will take on the full responsibilities of a Social Worker in Children in Care acting as the lead professional and ensuring all matters in respect of safeguarding are dealt with promptly, effectively and in line with child protection procedures, escalating where necessary. You will undertake assessments to identify and respond to needs, building on strength and ensuring that analysis is robust and leads to clear outcomes that can be met through SMART targets. You will engage with children, young people, and their families or carers to build effective and empowering relationships that support positive change and lead to improved outcomes. The role involves producing reports and plans for a variety of forums, including court, which are child focussed and reflect their experience. About you You will be an experienced Children in Care Social Worker able to make an immediate impact. You will be a confident and dynamic individual who enjoys making a difference in their local community, is curious and spot things that others might not see, enjoys building relationships and likes to explore possibilities. You must: Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification. Please note we are not accepting applications from candidates living overseas who require sponsorship to move to the UK About us Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes. Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do. We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch. Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers