Salary:
Main Grade: £33,945 to £36,647 per annum, plus recruitment & retention package of £5,000 over six years.
Higher Grade: £40,220 to £44,428 per annum
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time (37 hours per week). Part-time options can be discussed at interview; please mention on your cover letter if you are interested in full-time or part-time. Salary will be pro rata for part-time hours.
Closing date: This advert is ongoing, but applications will be reviewed on a monthly basis.
Portsmouth Local Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment, to improve outcomes for children.
DBS Disclosure at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children’s Board safer recruitment procedures.
Why come to work in Portsmouth?
Portsmouth is a great waterfront city and a vibrant place to live and work. It is an island city with an “inner city” feel, a seaside location packed with attractions and events, and the advantage of fantastic countryside on its doorstep. With fast road and rail links to London, Brighton and major airports, and ferry links to Europe, it is the perfect place to live and work. Portsmouth has a strong history of partnership working and has successfully integrated several local services.
Why work for Portsmouth City Council?
Following our Ofsted inspection in May 2023, Portsmouth City Council Children's Services was judged to be 'Good'. We are now striving to become 'Outstanding' and are committed to promoting a 'think family' approach to safeguarding and reunification in Portsmouth. We want families to bring up their own children, where support may be required to keep families together, we want to work with families to do this in the most helpful way possible and when it is necessary for children to come into our care we want to reduce the number of days that this is for and reunify children whenever it is safe and in their best interest to do so. This is why Portsmouth City Council continues to provide significant investment in social work with children, young people and their families to make this a reality.
The Service:
We have exciting opportunities for qualified social workers to join Children and Families Directorate in one of our Family Support & Safeguarding Teams (geographically based) in Portsmouth City Council. We pride ourselves on providing quality interventions with families using UP2U Family Practice and Trauma Informed Model of Care to empower families to bring about sustained change.
The Role:
We seek talented and curious people who want to develop their professional career as a qualified social worker and to champion best practice.
As a Social Worker in our team's you will work to ensure the children and families we work with maximise their potential and achieve the best possible outcomes available to them. You will do this through:
- The provision of timely, high-quality assessments which generate clear plans that enable services and intervention to be targeted effectively.
- Ensuring that children and families who experience our service receive a quality service that is responsive to the wishes and feelings of children.
- Promoting participation of service users, and respecting difference.
- Ensuring planning results in timely, permanent care arrangements that allow children and young people to reach their absolute potential.
Please read the job profile for the full details of this role.
What you'll need to succeed
You have a Diploma or Degree in social work and be registered with Social Work England. You have a good working knowledge of theory and legislation including the Children Act 89/04 amongst others and are prepared to understand the legislation and guidance which relates to this specialist post. You are an excellent communicator who is equally comfortable speaking with children and other professionals from external partners and agencies; the ability to converse at ease with clients and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post. You have excellent accurate written skills, can write reports and present evidence in a clear and concise way, and enjoy a busy atmosphere. You are motivated to achieve good outcomes for children, and understand anti-oppressive practice and the legislative framework around this.
Please read the job profile for the full details of this role.
What our staff say:
"I have learned excellent time management skills and how to prioritise my work so that I can meet firm deadlines along with the pressure this creates.
I have developed my communication skills to enable me to establish and maintain good working relationships with parents to engage them in social work and support them to achieve the planned outcomes. Managing my own feelings and emotions around this intensive and often challenging work has been crucial in order for me to continue working at this high level. This role has been a huge learning curve and each day brings something new to learn. It is always interesting." (Julie, Main Grade Social Worker)
“What I like about working in Portsmouth is that we are close to senior leadership; they know who we are and are in touch with our cases. Direct line managers are great as we get so much support.” (Chloe, Higher Grade Social Worker)
Ofsted commentary:
"Skilled, joined-up work, delivered through the local authority’s preferred model of practice and involving workers for adults and children, is improving the experiences and progress of children.
Portsmouth’s leaders are ambitious for their workforce to be trained and effective practitioners. The chosen model of practice has become strongly embedded in the work with children and families and workers have been trained and supported in this approach. The multidisciplinary model has improved outcomes for children and reduced harm, and feedback from families to inspectors was overwhelmingly positive.
Portsmouth is a centre for learning and practitioners benefit from a comprehensive workforce development offer.
Social workers talk positively about working in Portsmouth and inspectors consistently heard about their loyalty and commitment to the service."
What you'll get in return
We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:
- Generous annual leave (27 days per year rising to 31, pro rata for part-time hours) with the potential to purchase additional leave.
- Flexible working options including hybrid working with a minimum of two days office based per week pro rata, to enable a better balance of home/office working. Hybrid working is dependent on the role and service needs; exact details will be discussed with you at interview.
- A fantastic pension which allows you the opportunity to pay in more for that greater return.
- Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships.
- Extensive wellbeing support through the Employee Assistance Programme
- Discount on travel, travel loans and the bike loan scheme.
- Discounts on a wide range of goods and services – access a range of discounts and offers from thousands of restaurants, shops and more.
Staff rewards: https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/working-for-the-council/
Additional Information:
The full job profile is attached here.
A commitment to our values
We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.
Application process:
We are a disability confident employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible and welcome applications from all areas of society.
Remember to demonstrate in your cover letter/statement why you are suitable against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. Please upload a detailed cover letter/statement as well as your CV.
Please ensure you provide your full education history from secondary school, include name/address of establishment, details of relevant qualifications & awarding body. Please explain any gaps - this is essential for all safeguarding children's roles.
You may wish to attach an additional letter or document to supplement your application.
We will email applicants from time to time; please ensure you check e-mail folders as sometimes our e-mails may go into spam/junk folders.
We look forward to speaking with you soon.
Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
