Out of Hours Social Worker
SO3 (£39,862-£45,091 dependant on experience) plus 20% Out of Hours enhancement, plus essential car user allowance of up to £963 per annum, and reimbursement of Social Work England fees
37 Hours, Full Time, worked over 7 days/4 week rota
Temporary Maternity Cover, 12 months
Hybrid: Fred Perry House and homeworking for night shifts
Application Deadline: 26th February 2026, 11:59pm
Please be aware that we may close this vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Shortlisting Date: 27th February 2025
Interview Date: 2nd March 2026
Interview Type: Face to face
Current rota (subject to change) as follows
Week 1 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 16:30-23:00 and Sunday 20:30 08:30
Week 2 Monday 20:30 08:30, Friday 16:00-23:30, Saturday and Sunday 08:30-20:30
Week 3 Monday 16:30-23:00, Friday and Saturday 20:30 08:30
Week 4 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 20:30 08:30 and Sunday 16:30 23:00
While we embrace the use of AI as an innovative tool to maximise our services at Stockport Council, we are looking for authenticity in applications we receive. We therefore ask you to think carefully if choosing to use AI when completing your application and ask that you ensure you read all instructions carefully and that your application is written by you and reflects your skills, knowledge and enthusiasm.
Join us at Stockport Council MJ Local Authority of the Year 2025
Your Role
Stockport Family is looking for an experienced Social Worker to join our Out of Hours (OOH) Team full time, working a shift pattern outside of normal hours.
The OOH service provides an effective and timely response to urgent notifications that occur outside usual business hours that identify a child or adult is vulnerable and at risk of harm. You will join a well-established, highly experienced team of Social Workers to perform this statutory social care function who benefit from Team Manager Support as well as On Call Service Lead support.
Activity includes statutory social work functions such as Section 47 investigations, decision making, safeguarding adult investigations, placement of children (including pace beds) and adults in residential care, completion of welfare visits and checks.
You will be provided with a solo protect device, which offers you personal security whilst lone working and allows you to discretely contact for immediate help 24/7.
About You
You will be a passionate social work practitioner, proud of your profession and able to reflect and think creatively about how you respond at pace to urgent social work intervention to ensure children, families and adults are safe and achieve the best outcomes. You will be confident using professional judgement to employ a range of interventions ensuring safety whilst balancing rights and risks.
You will be flexible and a team player, and expected to cover shifts for annual leave and to support the team.
You must have a current Social Work England registration and you will be committed to your professional development, take up the vast amount of learning opportunities on offer and be excited about becoming part of Stockport Family. You must have a minimum of 3 years’ experience in a statutory children’s social work team.
In Stockport Family we value diversity and the unique perspectives that each of us bring and are committed to our workforce being representative of the diverse communities that we serve.
About Us
What do social workers say about working in Stockport?
“Working in Stockport makes you love social work again. From the moment I started in Stockport, I fell in love with my job again. This is real social work. If you miss direct work with children, life story work, systemic genograms, family network meetings, reflective practice, relationships, this is the place for you. The term ‘restorative practice’ genuinely means something here and everyone from front line workers to senior management care about keeping families together and management care about their staff”.
At Stockport Council we are one ambitious team on a mission to create opportunities for everyone who lives, works and spends time in the borough. Working at Stockport Council means contributing to one of the most thriving towns in the North. We’re keen to recruit people with the right values and behaviours that can help us ensure our workplace values are at the heart of everything we do.
We are proud to be recognised under the Good Employment Charter as an organisation committed to the wellbeing of our colleagues. As members of the charter, we have been recognised as a great place to work for all colleagues and pledge to pay the real living wage, engage staff in key decisions and endorse fair and flexible working conditions.
If you would like to find out more about the role please contact Jessica Britton via email on Jessica.britton@stockport.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.
The successful applicant’s appointment will be subject to satisfactory pre-employment clearances including a Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Stockport Council holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.
Please note that we have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers and ex-military personnel. As part of the Guaranteed Assessment Scheme you will therefore be guaranteed an interview if you meet both the criteria for the scheme and the essential job role criteria.
Find out if you meet the criteria here: https://www.greater.jobs/our-guaranteed-assessment-scheme
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Stockport Council is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce culture - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities to join our workforce.
We want our employees to have a good work life balance and in many job roles we can offer a range of flexible/hybrid working arrangements. We also have inclusive employment policies and staff engagement forums to support our diverse workforce. We will listen to, learn from, and develop our workforce.