Adults Social Worker - Mental Health Supported Accommodation
Permanent, Full Time
£37,185 to £50,081 per annum
Location: Colchester / Countywide
Working Style:
Closing Date: 23rd November 2025
About the Team
You will work in the Mental Health Supported Accommodation Model, the silver award winner for ‘Team of the year’ at the Social Work Awards 2025. This is a small, specialised team who work with people with complex Mental Health difficulties currently living in one of our mental health supported living schemes. These schemes are currently located in Colchester but could be countywide in the future.
The people we support may also experience other challenges, such as homelessness, substance misuse, domestic abuse and / or contact with the criminal justice system. In the role you would be expected to work together closely with our partners in EPUT and housing.
Joining the Mental Health Supported Accommodation Model at Essex means you will be working in a supportive and innovative environment enabling you to develop your own ideas to make meaningful changes to the service user’s lives. This role enables you to build meaningful relationships with our service users and make a difference in their lives.
The team will be countywide community based with a mixture of working from home, working at the supported living schemes and local office-based working.
About the Role
We’re an adult social care service that wants to see citizens of Essex have as much choice and control over the way they live their lives as possible. We think everyone should have the chance to live a full and fulfilling life with people they love and care about, doing things that matter to them and living in a place they can call home. We’re determined that with the right support, everyone can maintain or achieve some independence and we’re proud to be working to make these ambitions a reality.
Our Social Workers work alongside people and their families and carers to help them think through what might help them get on with their lives in the way that works best for them. We do this within the framework of our statutory Care Act requirements. This means many of our conversations are framed as ‘assessments’, ‘reviews’, ‘support planning’ and ‘safeguarding’. But our aim is always to listen and understand what matters to the person and then to work with them to think through how this might be achieved.
About You
If you share our vision, enjoy meeting people and hearing their stories you might be interested to find out more about what we do.
If you’re also a Social Worker post ASYE and registered with Social Work England with that winning combination of creative thought, reliability and practical ability to get things done, we’d really love to hear from you!
You’ll have a broad understanding of our statutory responsibilities and a commitment to meeting these in a person-centred way.
You may have experience of chairing meetings, and you’ll have an ability to develop strong relationships with partner agencies and the local community to provide a supportive framework.
Our Social Worker roles involve travelling around Essex. A driving licence and car - or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means - is essential.
Why Join Us?
In June 2025, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated our Adult Social Care services as “Good” with a score of 73%
“The local authority had a good structure and processes in place to enable people to be supported successfully, and support people to remain independent and live healthy lives. The workforce was passionate about supporting people to achieve these outcomes and the local authority had good knowledge of their area, the people living there and the demographics.”
You can read the full report on the CQC website
1. and about the LGPS.
2. Volunteering leave
3. 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), rising with service
4. Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - access to free and confidential information, support, and guidance from a team of highly qualified professionals.
5. Employee Networks – communities to support you, connect you and help influence change at ECC
6. Payment of your Social Work England registration fees!
Whatever you want to achieve in your social work career, you can do it here.
*T&Cs Apply.
For more information
In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about ) on our careers site
Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.
Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.
At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
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