Senior Practitioner KIU (Out of Hours)

Role Responsibility

Want to take the next step in your career?

This position has a competitive basic salary between £43,810 and £49,989 dependant on your experience, and the potential to earn upwards of £60,000 per year with Out of Hours market premiums applied subject to criteria.

The Kent and Medway Out of Hours Service is expanding to include a team of permanent workers who will provide a service to new arrivals of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at the Port of Dover. The Service leads on social work practice outside of usual office hours with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Kent, which Ofsted recognises as Outstanding. The Service is part of a developing centre of excellence for social work practice nationally and we are seeking passionate Senior Practitioner Social Workers to join us on this journey.

This role is subject to holding a full UK Driving Licence.

This is an exciting opportunity for qualified Social Work Senior Practitioners to join the OOHs Service KIU team, who have responsibility of responding to children following their arrival at Dover. The team completes assessments with children before placing them in local authority accommodation. The nature of the work requires a dedicated team who can complete this work, plus the new and urgent work that comes into Out of Hours, when there are no arrivals in Port. The KIU team will provide cover for all hours from 9pm each weekday and cover for each weekend Friday 9pm through until Monday 6am. The post holder will work on a rota basis covering 37 hours per week, which will be worked late evenings/overnights and weekends.

We support our Senior Practitioner to ensure they have the resources they need to make a difference where it counts; as a Social Worker in the service, you will have the opportunity to enhance and develop your social work knowledge, expertise, and skills. We are also invested in supporting you to progress in your career; there are opportunities to apply your skills to a variety of scenarios and use your social worker theories and tools to achieve the best outcomes for vulnerable children.

You will have the opportunity to consider your career progression.  Working in the OOHs service will allow you to have the opportunity to act as a duty senior to enhance your management skills. You will further develop skills in assessments, working directly with children after their arrival at Port, manage child protection concerns, hold Strategy Meetings, develop OOHs interagency working with key partners and develop skills working within the Adult social care arena, which is covered by the Kent and Medway Out Of Hours Service.

You will be part of a diverse and supportive team, committed to providing a high-quality initial assessment service, with a clear focus on protection and the wider safeguarding agenda.

You will be able to evidence resilience and flexibility in working with a diverse cohort of children and circumstances to deliver good outcomes. Above all, you’ll be focused on helping unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at the start of their pathway to resettlement in the UK.

Kent is the ideal place to progress your career.

You will also receive the excellent training and all the great benefits that come with working for Kent County Council.

KCC offer an attractive benefits package.

Our Offer:

- Full induction

- A minimum of 5 day's training each year

- Basic salary of between £43,810 and £49,989

- Annual leave allowance of 29 days rising to 30 days after 5 years service (Plus bank holidays and an additional stat day which are added to your leave sheet)

The following market premiums are subject to criteria:

- £3,000 golden hello (welcome) payment

- Up to £2,000 car market premium

- £3,000 annual market premium

- Fixed Out Of Hours market premium

- Relocation packages up to £8,000

In addition:

- Excellent local government pension scheme

- Opportunities to develop in your career

- The opportunity to develop knowledge in niche areas of social work and expand your knowledge and skills of working with children seeking asylum

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For further information on this role, please contact:

Ross Hymas – ross.hymas@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.