The Role

An exciting opportunity has arisen to work in the Supporting Disabled Children Service (SDCS). The SDCS covers the range of children’s social work with disabled children and their families from birth to their eighteenth birthday, including assessments, working with children who have child in need and child protection plans, children subject to pre proceedings under the PLO, care proceedings and those who are looked after by the local authority.

About you

You will be responsible for delivering a high-quality and responsive social work service for disabled children and their families.

It's a role that will see you work collaboratively with allied professionals both through external partner agencies and with the internal domestic abuse, mental health, substance misuse and social care practitioners, bringing together and coordinating the team around the child to ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to safeguarding and working with disabled children.

We want social workers who share our values and who want to make a difference for children and their families, empower families and who can show compassion and empathy while respecting and promoting the rights of children and families in Wandsworth. 

You will need a relevant social work qualification and Social Work England membership, along with the experience of social work across voluntary and/or statutory agencies. A good communicator, you will be confident and understand the needs of disabled children and young people. You will also have applied knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance.

Our Vision

Here in Wandsworth, we are on an exciting journey of transformation. We have developed Systemic Practice as our model of intervention that supports our core value that a family is the best place for a child or young person to thrive and meet their potential. Systemic practice promotes those families and individuals within it, have the capacity to make positive change and improve their circumstances. It focuses on relationships within a wider family context rather than a sole individual.

We have also implemented the Family Safeguarding Approach. Family Safeguarding is a way of keeping families together where it is safe to do so. Family Safeguarding brings together the professionals working with a family into multi-disciplinary teams where specialist adult practitioners in domestic abuse, mental health and substance misuse are co-located with social workers to facilitate improved dialogue and shared decision-making. The multi-disciplinary teams will use a range of tools, including motivational interviewing, to work with families. It was developed and promoted by Hertfordshire and is funded by the Department for Education. Wandsworth is the first Local Authority in London to implement this new way of working.

Motivational Interviewing is a key component of the approach and all staff will be able to undergo training with the aim of working collaboratively with families, empowering and engaging parents to make positive changes for their children and themselves. Outcomes for children in Hertfordshire since 2015 have shown consistent improvement, with significant reduction in child protection plans, care proceedings and domestic abuse incidents.

We are investing massively in all our staff, our leaders as well as partners to enable us to make our engagement with families and communities in Wandsworth a success. We passionately believe that if we invest in new ways of thinking and working, you will have everything you need to do the job you trained for. We have incredibly sound, solid and strong leadership in Ana Popovici and Nick Pendry, who have an exciting vision to transform our approaches to the most vulnerable in society.

Contact details

For more information and discussion please e-mail Liisa Jordan, Service Manager: Liisa.Jordan@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 39 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities. In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

• Closing Date: 11:59pm on Sunday 2nd October 2022
• Interview Date: week commencing 3rd October 2022

​Useful Information: The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible. Your health and wellbeing is our top priority. Should you become unwell due to Covid-19 during the recruitment process we would very much appreciate receiving an update from you as soon as possible.

Equality Statement

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Important Information

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

How to apply?

To be considered for interview your application must highlight your knowledge, skills and experience listed in the Job Profiles located at the bottom of the advert.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils