Are you a qualified and passionate Social Worker looking for a rewarding opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of children and young people? West Berkshire Council is seeking a dedicated professional to join our Family Placement Team on an 18-month secondment. In this role, you will be responsible for recruiting, training, supervising, and supporting a diverse range of foster carers, including those offering short breaks, temporary, and long-term care. You’ll play a key part in developing our fostering service, responding promptly to enquiries and referrals, and contributing to planning decisions for children and young people. Key Responsibilities Recruit, assess, and support foster carers. Prepare reports for the Fostering Panel. Liaise with professionals to plan placements and support packages. Undertake fostering assessments and placement supervision. Maintain accurate records and contribute to service monitoring. Participate in duty rota (once every 8 weeks). Work collaboratively across agencies and within multi-professional teams. About You Recognised social work qualification and registration with Social Work England. Completion of Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE). Strong knowledge of child protection, fostering legislation, and social work methods. Excellent interpersonal, organisational, and report-writing skills. Ability to work flexibly, travel for work, and attend meetings across locations. This role is fixed term until 31/03/2027– Backfill for secondment Our offer to you A Competitive Salary Alongside a Range Of Benefits Including We offer flexible working wherever possible between the hours of 07.00-19.00 We offer hybrid working wherever possible working 40% in the office Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities Local Government Pension Scheme Death in service benefit Family friendly policies A range of local discounts Wellbeing Programme including Employee Assistance Programme and employee benefits You will also be entitled to a generous annual leave entitlement starting at 29 days per annum (plus public holidays) Rising by an additional 5 days after 5 years’ service. Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment. All roles will be subject to an annual banding pay review until the top of the pay grade is reached (following successfully passing probation) All roles will be eligible for the annual national pay award. Join us at West Berkshire Council and make a positive impact in our community while advancing your career. Explore everything that a career with West Berkshire Council has to offer here: Working with Us Due to West Berkshire Council’s size and scale, and limited number of social work vacancies, we are not currently able to accept applications from overseas social workers. If you interested in working with us and want to know more, do not hesitate to contact Keith Langley - Team Manager - Children and Family Services at keith.langley@westberks.gov.uk Equal Opportunities The Council supports Equal Opportunity of employment and positively encourages applications from people who fall within any of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. How To Apply Please now complete a short online application form. You will then be able to upload your CV. This role has been identified as public facing in accordance with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016; the requirement to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English applies. West Berkshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all its staff and volunteers to share these values. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment. Successful candidates will be offered employment subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks along with other relevant employment checks. This privacy notice applies to job applicants applying for vacancies with West Berkshire Council https://info.westberks.gov.uk/pnapplications About Us West Berkshire council is a forward thinking and ambitious council. We have a positive attitude to our work and focus on excellent teamwork to deliver award winning services for our residents and businesses. We employ over 1,500 members of staff corporately, plus additional members of staff working across our local schools and education settings. We offer a wide array of opportunities for training and development and varied career progression opportunities. Our staff support the delivery of a wide range of services on behalf of the Council. Ranging from garden waste collection, planning and roadworks to caring for those in our communities. Everything we do is focused on our priority for improvement and delivering our values of fairness, integrity and being customer focused.