Are you a nurturing social worker passionate about supporting parents so that children can remain with their birth family? This could be the right role for you! WHAT IS INVOLVED? This is role where you can have a huge positive impact on the lives of children and families. You will work with care leavers, young parents and parents with experience of care proceedings to try and break the cycle of repeated social work involvement. You will provide intensive support to parents so that they can achieve sustainable change, and children can remain within their birth family. Where this is not in the child’s best interest, you will work to find a permanent home for the child as early as possible. To ensure that you have the space and time to complete meaningful work with families your caseload will be capped. You will be joining us at a fantastic time. Inspectors have just judged our Children’s Services as outstanding and “social workers told inspectors that Durham is a great place to work. Their words and actions convey a sense of belonging and they view Durham as their employer of choice.” You can read the full report here We encourage you to contact Carla Walker, Pre-Birth Team Manager, for an informal discussion about the role. You can contact Carla by e-mail at carla.walker@durham.gov.uk 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 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. If you are looking to take a step into management our aspiring managers programme “rising stars” is there for you. We encourage flexible working to achieve a good work-life balance. You can find out more about social work in Durham here WHAT WILL I NEED? You will need a degree in Social Work or equivalent Social Work qualification with current Social Work England registration. 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. REWARDS AND BENEFITS Our rewards and benefits are designed to support you: Competitive salaries 27 days holiday per year rising to 32 days after five years continuous local government service, and the option to purchase up to 10 additional days annual leave per year. We encourage excellent work/life balance through schemes including job sharing, compressed hours and flexi-time (allowing up to 13 flexi days per year). Hybrid working (home and office working). Excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Plus, top up options - Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC scheme and standard AVC scheme for members of the LGPS. Wellbeing Portal and access to an Employee Assist Scheme. Wide range of learning and development opportunities including professional qualifications, coaching and mentoring. Employee Benefits Portal and Lifestyle Savings Scheme (discounts across a host of major retailers). Discounted DCC gym membership. Staff networks run by staff for our staff, including Race Equality and Diversity, Disability, LGBT, Armed Forces, Carers, Menopause and Neurodiversity. Trade Union membership. A range of other salary sacrifice schemes such as car leasing. If you are looking to relocate to join us removal, lodging and separation expenses of up to £8,000 may be available to you if you live outside of County Durham and in excess of 30 miles in a straight line from your new base, along with a number of other criteria for eligibility. Take a closer look at our Rewards and Benefits Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions. EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION We are a proud equal opportunities employer and recognise that a diverse, talented workforce brings new ideas and new perspectives, which will facilitate growth and improvements to services. We are committed to ensuring that our employment policies and processes are fair and equitable to all. We welcome job applications from everyone, and successful candidates are considered only on their skills and ability to do the job. As a Disability Confident Leader, we encourage applications from disabled people and provide support throughout the recruitment process. INTERVIEWS Interviews will be held week commencing 8 September, but we are able to offer alternative dates if required. 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. HOW TO APPLY In line with the County Council's Recruitment and Selection Policy, please note that we are unable to accept CVs. Applications must be submitted on-line via the Northeast Jobs portal. Please use the ‘Person Specification’ section of your application form to demonstrate that you have the essential and where possible, desirable experience, skills, and knowledge. Candidates who do not evidence that they meet the essential qualifications and experience listed on the person specification will not be short-listed. If you have any support needs or require assistance when applying for this role, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk on 03000 26 27 27 (option 2), or the Recruitment Team via email at RecruitmentCYPS@durham.gov.uk We collect personal information from you when you register with North East Jobs and make an application. Details on how we process your personal data is available in our Privacy Notice. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION REGARDING YOUR APPLICATION FOR THIS POST WILL BE SENT TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS THAT YOU HAVE REGISTERED WITH NORTH EAST JOBS, INCLUDING YOUR INVITE TO INTERVIEW IF YOU ARE SHORTLISTED. PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL AFTER THE CLOSING DATE FOR NOTIFICATION FROM DONOTREPLY@NORTHEASTJOBS.ORG.UK AS YOU WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED BY ANY OTHER MEANS. PLEASE ENSURE YOU CHECK YOUR JUNK MAIL. VPRS/161