Children and Families Senior Social Worker / Social Worker

We are currently recruiting for Social Workers and Senior Social Workers in all our locality teams. Gloucestershire covers six localities : Gloucester, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Forest of Dean, Stroud, Cotswolds

About us

For all your hard work. You will receive the following;

• between £37,938 - £39,513 per annum for a Social Worker or between £40,476 - £45,718 per annum for a Senior Social Worker subject to experience
• welcome payment of £4,000
• annual retention payment of £2,000
• up to £8,000 relocation package
• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service
• an option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro-rata for part-time staff)
• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone.
• an in-house Occupational Health service
• employee discount scheme
• cycle to Work scheme
• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network
• career development and qualification opportunities
• access to our Social Work Academy
• paid SWE registration renewal

Right child, right support, right time, every time

Working together to support families and communities to give every child the best chance of a happy and rewarding life, especially those who need more help.

We have ambitious improvement and transformation plans to create the optimum conditions within which our staff can make a real difference and improve outcomes for children.

We aim for the same social worker to support children and their families from the front door until permanence is achieved either through positive change and the child remaining with their parent / s or legal permanence being secured either within the family or outside of the family.

We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to join an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.

Our team structures are designed to ensure there is the right level of support available to staff and that caseloads are kept at a manageable level with a Team Manager, Advanced Practitioner, 4 Social Workers and an NQSW making up each team’s full complement of staff. We need resilient, driven individuals who will play their part in making our vision for Children’s Services a success. You will be joining an authority with a strong set of values that underpin the work we do : Accountability, Empowerment, Excellence, Integrity and Respect.

About You

As a Social Worker, you will be instrumental in delivering a first-class service to ensure the best outcomes for the children and young people of Gloucestershire. Through building positive relationships with colleagues within the service and partner agencies you will ensure we are able to provide support and protection for children and young people in need and at risk.

As well as your experience as a frontline social worker, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post :

• Social Work England / Wales registration
• a recognised qualification in Social Work
• to have passed your Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) (if you qualified after 2012)
• a full driving licence and willingness to drive
• DBS clearance

If you would like to find out more about our Children's Service please take a look here :

• Please note, all our welcome payments and retention payments are non-contractual, pro rata for part-time staff and subject to National Insurance and tax deductions.

We reserve the right to close an advertisement earlier than the stated closing date if we receive a suitable amount of applications or fill the vacancy / vacancies.

Additional Information

Under the terms of our Safer Recruitment Policy, if you are invited to interview, we will take up safeguarding references prior to your interview to understand your suitability to work with vulnerable children. These references will then be discussed in your interview. Please give details of at least two referees, one of whom must be your present and / or last employer and the other from a previous employer(s). These will need to cover the last three years of employment / education. In the case of applicants leaving full time education or not having worked since doing so, the Head of School, College or University should be one of the named referees.  We do not accept references from friends or family members or workplace colleagues (who are not more senior).  To ensure we process your application in a speedy and efficient way, we will contact your referees by DocuSign. Where appropriate, please inform them of your application.

This position is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.

It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.