Grade H/I, £30,507 - £37,849 per annum
1 x permanent post
37 hours per week
Interviews will be held at the Castle Hill Centre, Castleton St, Bolton Lancs, BL2 2JW, week commencing 7th September 2020.
Exciting opportunities have arisen to join Bolton’s Children’s Services as a Social Worker.
Bolton 2030 is our long term vision for our Borough. In Bolton our vision is to support people to Start Well, Live Well and Age Well. This includes supporting our children to get the best possible start in life, so they have every chance to succeed and be happy.
Here in Bolton we keep children and young people at the centre of all the work we do; we strive to offer families the support and intervention they need to make and sustain positive change so they can safely meet the needs of their children wherever this is possible, and when children cannot remain with family that they have timely plans of permanency.
Bolton’s Children’s Services were judged as ‘GOOD’ in an Ofsted ILACS inspection in 2018
Ofsted commented:
“Children who need help and protection are supported by timely and effective services, delivered by skilled social workers, with decisions that are made by managers.”
“Good management oversight from experienced team managers, who have manageable spans of control, allows for regular formal and informal supervision and provides staff with effective support to ensure that their work with children and families is purposeful and effective.”
The Looked After Children’s service comprises of 3 Social Work Teams. Each team includes 5.5 Social work posts, a part -time Social work assistant, access to an education learning advisor & a full-time Team Manager.
The three teams work collaboratively to meet the needs of our Looked After Children.
We aim to achieve permanence & stability for all our Looked After Children & strive to achieve the best possible outcomes for them all.
We place a strong emphasis on re-unification for our Looked After Children with their birth families when it is safe & appropriate to do so.
The successful applicant for this post will be a qualified Social Worker who demonstrates an ability & a strong commitment to working with Looked After Children.
If you require further information please contact Nikki Litchmore, Head of Service or Geoff Fenton, Team Manager for Looked After Children on 01204 337400.
You will be a motivated and enthusiastic practitioner with the ability to build professional relationships with children and their families, to ensure their participation in your social work practice.
You will have good knowledge and experience in safeguarding children, as well as being able to produce high quality assessments and understand the current changes within children’s social work.
You will be resilient, adaptable and capable of working effectively with colleagues from other professional disciplines.
You will be an excellent communicator, efficient in time management, report writing and completing assessments as well as a strong team player who values the strength of working in a person-centered manner. All roles require Social Workers to be able to write reports to an excellent standard and deliver accurate and concise information verbally, in written form and also where necessary in court.
“My name is Ian Walker and I have been Assistant Director in Bolton for only 4 months and most of those in the most unique of contexts.
Not for one minute have I regretted my decision to join the Bolton Family and I don’t think you will either.
So, what will you gain from an application to work in Bolton?
Working with a manageable caseload and in small teams ensuring readily available line management support.
A stable and accessible senior management team (including the Assistant Director) who are passionate about improving services for the children and families in Bolton.
A newly formulated Advanced Social Work Practitioner post in every team to support your personal development and the continuous practice improvements across the service.
A Restorative Practice approach that actively encourages imaginative and family focussed interventions.
A strong commitment from partners to work collaboratively.
An organisation that genuinely care for its workforce and the community in works with.
We may be rated as ‘Good’ but we aspire to be even better.”
Staff benefits –
Generous Annual Leave – a minimum of 27 days annual leave, rising to 31 days after 5 years service.
Essential Car User Allowance
Flexible Working and access to remote working and mobile technology
Access to Gym Membership and Cycle to Work Schemes
Local Government Pension Scheme
Relocation scheme
Employee Assistance Programme
Our offer to you –
Regular informal and formal supervision from experienced Managers
A clear progression pathway
Access to learning and development training and activities for your Continued Professional Development
Opportunities to shape practice and service delivery with the Principal Social Worker Team
Full access to Research In Practice learning resources
Support to achieve accreditation with the National Assessment & Accreditation System
All NQSW’s will receive regular high quality supervision and be supported by strong visible leadership.
The ASYE Assessor is a qualified and registered Social Worker.
NQSW’s will be subject to a 12 month probationary period to support completion of the ASYE Programme.
The ASYE programme in Bolton
Your ASYE Assessor will provide fortnightly supervision for your first six months and then monthly supervision until the end of the programme. This is alongside supervision with your line manager.
Your ASYE Assessor will undertake your assessments in collaboration with your line manager.
There will be three direct observations completed of you within your first year. One of these is completed by your ASYE Assessor and two by your line manager.
You will have the opportunity to co-work cases in order to learn from more experienced practitioners.
You will hold a reduced caseload that is linked with ASYE reviews at 3, 6 and 10 months during the ASYE Programme. This will ensure you have the time to develop your potential and enable theory and practice to become aligned.
You will receive an induction and attend monthly workshops that offer time for reflection and opportunities for learning and development. This also gives opportunity to be part of a group with other practitioners who are in their first year of practice.
You will receive allocated study time to enable you to complete the evidence required for the portfolio, and will complete a taught module for NQSW’s with Manchester Metropolitan University.
You will be assessed against the Knowledge and Skills Statements (KSS) at three, six and twelve months.
Progression to Grade I for existing Grade H Social Workers in Bolton will be achieved by successful completion of the Post Qualification Specialist Award or the Post Graduate Certificate in Professional Practice (or equivalent).
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. A DBS check is therefore required for this post.
This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English as per the person specification.
This organisation has signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. That means we will recognise your continuous or ‘unbroken’ service in any Greater Manchester local authority or NHS organisation, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or Greater Manchester Combined Authority, giving you access to our service-related benefits.
For more information please see the Work with Us page on greater.jobs
Please see the job description, BN DBS.pdf, BN Privacy Notice.docx and BN Right to Work.docx for further details