Social Worker - West Kent Children in Care

Role Responsibility

Social Worker for West Kent Children in Care Service – based at West Malling

Please note the shortlisting for this role will be based on 'How you meet the requirements of the role'

About the role

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the West Kent Children in Care Team for a Social Worker to play a vital role in the delivery of services to our vulnerable children and their families.

You will be supported with good quality supervision and have excellent opportunities for professional development enabling you to manage a varied caseload working with children and their families.  We will support you to grow your skills and knowledge through secondments with a cross-section of social work teams.   As you continue to develop your expertise, there will be new challenges and opportunities both with case work but also as part of the wider organization, e.g., developing specialist links with partner agencies. You will also build close working relationships with statutory, voluntary, and private sector agencies, and could be required to represent Children’s Services in court.

Acting as a role model and mentor to less experienced colleagues, you’ll contribute to training initiatives and in-house core training courses. And, proactively maintaining your awareness of changes in child development and related theories, legislation, policies and practices, you’ll share your knowledge and play an active role in maintaining, team-wide, high standards of social work.

About you

With a degree in social work – CQSW, DipSW or equivalent – you must be registered with the appropriate professional body and have a variety of post-qualification experience of working with children and families. Your experience should cover systemic practice, and you will need an in-depth understanding of legislative and policy frameworks, along with a willingness to learn and develop as a practitioner; being a team player is essential in any social work team.

In return, we offer an attractive, a competitive salary, £3000 Golden Hello payment, £3000pa retention payment after qualifying period, £2000 car allowance and a good pension scheme.

About us

We want the best for the children of Kent, and this can only be delivered as a team effort with everyone playing their part. So we’re creating a culture that fosters excellence and collaboration – a place where social workers are empowered to be creative and share ideas and advice. And, with Ofsted recently rating our services as “good”, Kent County Council’s Children’s Services teams are working together, stronger than ever, to deliver strengthened services and improved outcomes.

Kent is a large and diverse county, offering a broad range of challenges and opportunities to support children and young people from a variety of backgrounds and circumstance. Our social workers also have the opportunity to work across a range of locations and environments.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wide operational area including travelling around the county of Kent and beyond to transport children and their belongings and be available to do so in an emergency. You should note that public transport is rarely a viable option as your role will involve you transporting people and equipment to venues in very rural areas, often with limited public transport.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service and up to date registration with the appropriate professional body as a qualified Social Worker.

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.

Applications will be reviewed on a weekly basis. Please do not re-apply if you have been interviewed for this post in the last six months.

Contact Details

For further information regarding this role, please contact:

Paul Meggitt, Service Manager, West Kent Children in Care Team

paul.meggitt@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.

KCC is transitioning to a new pay structure from 1st April 2025.  More details can be found here - Pay - Jobs & Careers - Kent County Council 

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