Slough is officially the best place to work in the UK*!
Slough Children First is an exciting place to be. We want to be the best and we’re looking for people with the skills, drive, energy and ambition to help us get there! We are looking for people with a passion for children’s social care and a desire to help protect the more vulnerable members of our society.
*Glassdoor survey 2020
Manageable caseloads, great rewards, excellent training and progression opportunities and generally just a great place to work. Click here to find some of the many reasons our existing staff love working for us.
OPEN ADVERTS:
These positions are open adverts and applications are shortlisted every two weeks.
Director of Finance & Resources
Salary: £104,521 - £119,233 per annum
Hours: Full time
Contract: Permanent
Are you a visionary finance professional with a passion for strategic planning and a commitment to making a positive impact on the lives of children? We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Finance Director to join our team and play a pivotal role in shaping the financial future of our organisation.
As the Finance Director, you will work closely with Slough Children First’s Chief Executive, driving the development and execution of Slough Children First’s financial strategy. Collaborating to develop and embed our company's strategy supported by robust plans, targets, and business drivers, as well as creating strategic financial plans for the medium term, ensuring alignment with our company's overall strategy and business plans.
You will also be a key member of Slough Children First’s Board ensuring our company meets its strategic plans, managing risk and compliance appropriately.
As well as all corporate finance functions, you will be responsible for Slough Children First’s Commissioning and Placement arrangements, ensuring value for money and suitability for all placements in line with children’s needs; the organisational administrative function; making sure GDPR regulations are adhered to; and the monitoring of various SLA’s within the company.
You will be a qualified accountant, with proven experience in a senior finance role, preferably with experience of working at Board level. You will have strong strategic planning and financial analysis skills, excellent leadership and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively at all levels.
You will need to be in the office 3 days per week.
If you are a forward-thinking finance professional with a passion for strategic planning and a commitment to making a difference in the lives of children, we would love to hear from you.
In return, we can offer you:
- Agile working supported by technology
- Friendly working environment and great colleagues.
Slough is one of the most diverse places in the country outside of London and a great place to live or work. In fact it's the best place to live or work according to a survey by Glassdoor. Pleasant environments, above average salaries and a lower cost of living, mean an increased quality of life for employees. We're also one of the most accessible places to be, nestled on the corner of the M25, M4 and M40, and less than 20 minutes by train to Central London.
To view the job description, please click here – Job Description and Person Specification - Director of Finance & Resources Mar 2024
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
The deadline for submitted applications 1st April 2024. Interviews will be held on Friday 5th April 2024.
Good luck!
Senior Social Worker - MASH
Salary: £49,467 - £54,357 (including local weighting and market supplement)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Are you passionate about promoting and safeguarding the wellbeing and interest of the child? Then we have a Senior Social Worker role available for you in the MASH team in the Referral & Assessment service.
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is the first point of contact for all potential safeguarding concerns in relation to children. MASH is a co-located team which brings together agencies and their information, in order to identify risks to and needs of children at the earliest possible point and respond with the most effective and joined up actions. The purpose of MASH is to make the right decisions for the right families at the right time. This in turn will ensure timely and necessary actions to improve the outcomes for vulnerable children.
If you're looking for a new challenge and want to be part of an exciting time for children's services in Slough, then come and join us.
Main Accountabilities
- Promote and safeguard the wellbeing and interests of the child/young person at all times and throughout all aspects of work.
- Be responsible for managing an independent workload, ensuring legislative requirements are met to a high standard and within required timescales.
- Act as a senior professional, using knowledge and experience in a specialist area and from own professional experience to provide advice, support and ‘critical friend’ challenge on cases to colleagues to support them in their work.
- Take responsibility for a student working in Slough Children First, carrying out their supervision alongside the Assistant Team Manager
- Be willing to work towards the Practice Educator Professional Standards for social work, especially stage 2.
- Management of the team duty rota.
- Take a strong role in team meetings so that they are efficient and effective, leading team meetings as required in place of the Assistant Team Manager and Team Manager.
- Thoroughly assess, critically analyse, plan and implement suitable interventions for complex cases that fulfil statutory regulations, instigating proceedings and taking cases to court as required whilst effectively managing risk at all time and seeking support from senior team members when required.
- Produce concise, well-structured assessments, plans and reports, clearly recording and reporting analysis and judgements and ensuring that all recommendations are followed.
- Where cases are to be transferred to another service or partners, ensure that there is a clearly recorded transfer plan.
- Maintain accurate, up to date, evidence-based records safely and confidentially, in line with statutory requirements.
- Work with children, young people and families/carers to develop effective relationships through meaningful and purposeful direct work, actively seeking and understanding their needs and views to promote their participation in decision making and inform practice in assessment and planning in individual cases.
- Work in partnership with colleagues and other agencies to deliver accessible and effective services, empowering parents and carers to develop and maintain safe parenting practices, leading meetings to achieve outcomes for children.
- Be responsible for own individual performance in line with national standards, service and team specific performance indicators and actions required to address areas for improvement.
- Be responsible for own professional development keeping pace with national, regional and local policy initiatives, attending training to maintain professional development and ensuring the receipt of regular supervision.
- Participate in and learn from routine observation, review and auditing activity conducted by the Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager to secure the highest possible standards of social work practice.
- With the agreement of the Assistant Team Manager, identify resources where required and available to promote child/family well being.
- Develop and maintain effective internal and external working relationships to achieve optimal outcomes for children and young people, ensuring a joined-up approach to relationships to other team members and managers.
- Represent Slough Children First’s values and be part of setting a positive culture within your team, service and Slough Children First; challenge behaviour when it is not aligned with our values and take appropriate action; support a professional in a respectful and child-focused environment which supports Slough Children First’s vision.
- Ensure all interventions are conducted within an anti-discriminatory framework, and take into account issues such as race, gender, sexuality, disability etc, and deliver appropriate services to the diverse communities of Slough.
- Provide cover for the work of other team members and take on other additional duties, as required.
Person specification
- Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
- At least 3 years post qualifying experience as a social worker with demonstrable experience in complex or specialist casework (Essential)
- Social Work England registered (Essential)
- Knowledge and application of the legal framework and assessment process in Children’s Social Care (Essential)
- Knowledge and understanding of the values and principles underpinning the involvement of children, young people and families/carers, including the right to access independent advocacy and complaints processes (Essential)
- Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, to a range of audiences including children, young people, parents and carers and professional colleagues (Essential)
- Knowledge and application of social work interventions in at least one area of practice (Essential)
- Ability to gather and assess information to inform judgement in complex situations and in response to challenge, clearly reporting and recording analysis (Essential)
- Ability to use a range of interventions effectively and evaluate them in practice to ensure that the correct outcomes are achieved (Essential)
- Ability to manage and prioritise own workload independently, maintaining professionalism in challenging circumstances and seeking support and suggesting solutions for workload difficulties (Essential)
- Acceptance and commitment to the principles of human rights and equality and how they underpin practice (Essential)
- Computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft Office packages (Essential)
- Evidence of continued professional development to enhance own knowledge and skills (Essential)
- Enhanced electronic case management skills (Essential)
- Current UK driving license and access to a vehicle (Desirable)
- Specialist knowledge of one or more key issues affecting children and their families. E.g. Domestic Abuse, Mental Health, Radicalisation, Neglect, Contextual Safeguarding (Desirable)
- Practice Education Stage 2 module (PEPS2) (Desirable)
- Post Graduate qualification in a relevant discipline or equivalent (Desirable)
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Senior Social Worker (Assessment & Intervention)
Salary: £49,467 - £54,537 (including local weighting & market supplement)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
At Slough Children First we offer exceptional support, flexible working and a chance to do things differently. We are proud to have created a place where social work can flourish. Our young people are looking for social workers who are down-to-earth, honest, approachable and who can be themselves. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.
As a senior social worker within our Referral and Assessment Service, you will be responsible for undertaking social work on allocated cases and producing outcome-based plans that reflect the needs of and risks to children and their families. You will develop effective relationships with children, young people and their families to improve the impact of work and determine the level of service available.
For this role you will need to be a Social Work England registered social worker with a professional social work qualification, or equivalent, and at least four years' experience. You will need to have direct management experience within children's social services where you can demonstrate strong and successful leadership and the ability to maximise the potential of others and implement service improvements.
Main Accountabilities
- Responsible for undertaking social work on allocated cases producing outcome based plans, having regard to the needs of, and risks to, children and their families.
- To develop effective relationships with CYP and their families to improve impact of work and determine the level of service available ensuring written plans are agreed with the CYP and their families and reflect their views.
- To determine, using evidence based practice how these needs will be met subject to resources, statutory responsibilities, within the framework of council policies and procedures.
- To be responsible for effective Individual performance in line with national standards and performance indicators, including receiving regular supervision.
- Responsible for participating in routine auditing activity across the service to secure the highest possible standards of social work practice and record keeping and to act in accordance with requirements of the Quality Assurance Framework.
- To ensure that the needs of service users/carers from all communities are addressed, and that close attention is paid to equalities issues in all aspects of work. To ensure access to translation and interpretation services as necessary.
- To complete financial assessments and, where appropriate, to determine contributions and levels of need/service.
- With the agreement of the Social Work Team Manager/Practice Manager, to identify resources required and available to promote child/family well being.
- To develop and maintain effective working relationships at appropriate levels with other relevant partner agencies e.g. voluntary, community, schools, police, health other statutory agencies/local resource networks and internal partners.
- To maintain, monitor and review accurate records of all work undertaken ensuring recording information is accurate and up to date, including comprehensive use of the Integrated Children’s System.
- To work effectively move casework to other areas of service as appropriate with a clear transfer plan.
- To contribute to the development of services to children and families and to attend and contribute positively to team meetings to promote the delivery of integrated and effective services.
- To identify own individual learning needs and ensure that practice reflects contemporary thinking. To ensure regular reflection of skills and abilities and use supervision and approval to identify future and plan to meet future needs.
- To provide cover for the work of other team members and undertake projects and other additional duties commensurate with the level of the job. (The nature of these will vary according to experience, competencies and the grade of the post).
Person specification
- Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
- Social Work England Registered (Essential)
- DBS Check (Enhanced)
- Indicative post graduate experience (2+ years)
- Professional Standards (Essential)
- Knowledge and Skills for Child and Family Social Workers – issued by DfE (Essential)
- Ability to write reports to a high standard (Essential)
- Understanding of children and families legal framework and assessment process (Essential)
- Understanding and experience of child protection procedures (Essential)
- Current UK driving licence (Desirable)
- Access to own vehicle (insured for work purposes) (Desirable)
- Management experience (Not required)
- Postgraduate qualification in relevant Social work discipline (Desirable)
Apply Online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Senior Social Worker - Safeguarding and Family Support
Salary: £49,467 -£54,537 (including local weighting & market supplement)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
At Slough Children First we offer exceptional support, flexible working and a chance to do things differently. We are proud to have created a place where social work can flourish. Our young people are looking for social workers who are down-to-earth, honest, approachable and who can be themselves. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.
As a senior social worker within our Safeguarding and Family Support Service, you will respond to urgent Priority 1 and 2 child protection referrals with the aim of keeping children and young people safe from the risk of significant harm. You will gather information, assess and prioritise all decisions about the most appropriate response under S47 of the Children Act. You will carry out assessments on children and young people who have been sexually abused, as well as those who use sexually abusive behaviour. You will work to secure permanency within the family, either in the community or through court processes. The most vital aspect of your role is to help make the child’s journey as smooth and safe as possible, whether that’s through PLO, court, adoption and post adoption and to prevent a ‘cycle’ of being in and out of care.
For this role you will need to be a Social Work England registered social worker with a professional social work qualification, or equivalent, and at least four years' experience. You will need to have direct management experience within children's social services where you can demonstrate strong and successful leadership and the ability to maximise the potential of others and implement service improvements.
Main Accountabilities
- Responsible for undertaking social work on allocated cases producing outcome based plans, having regard to the needs of, and risks to, children and their families.
- To develop effective relationships with CYP and their families to improve impact of work and determine the level of service available ensuring written plans are agreed with the CYP and their families and reflect their views.
- To determine, using evidence based practice how these needs will be met subject to resources, statutory responsibilities, within the framework of council policies and procedures.
- To be responsible for effective Individual performance in line with national standards and performance indicators, including receiving regular supervision.
- Responsible for participating in routine auditing activity across the service to secure the highest possible standards of social work practice and record keeping and to act in accordance with requirements of the Quality Assurance Framework.
- To ensure that the needs of service users/carers from all communities are addressed, and that close attention is paid to equalities issues in all aspects of work. To ensure access to translation and interpretation services as necessary.
- To complete financial assessments and, where appropriate, to determine contributions and levels of need/service.
- With the agreement of the Social Work Team Manager/Practice Manager, to identify resources required and available to promote child/family well being.
- To develop and maintain effective working relationships at appropriate levels with other relevant partner agencies e.g. voluntary, community, schools, police, health other statutory agencies/local resource networks and internal partners.
- To maintain, monitor and review accurate records of all work undertaken ensuring recording information is accurate and up to date, including comprehensive use of the Integrated Children’s System.
- To work effectively move casework to other areas of service as appropriate with a clear transfer plan.
- To contribute to the development of services to children and families and to attend and contribute positively to team meetings to promote the delivery of integrated and effective services.
- To identify own individual learning needs and ensure that practice reflects contemporary thinking. To ensure regular reflection of skills and abilities and use supervision and approval to identify future and plan to meet future needs.
- To provide cover for the work of other team members and undertake projects and other additional duties commensurate with the level of the job. (The nature of these will vary according to experience, competencies and the grade of the post).
Person specification
- Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
- Social Work England Registered (Essential)
- DBS Check (Enhanced)
- Indicative post graduate experience (2+ years)
- Professional Standards (Essential)
- Knowledge and Skills for Child and Family Social Workers – issued by DfE (Essential)
- Ability to write reports to a high standard (Essential)
- Understanding of children and families legal framework and assessment process (Essential)
- Understanding and experience of child protection procedures (Essential)
- Current UK driving licence (Desirable)
- Access to own vehicle (insured for work purposes) (Desirable)
- Management experience (Not required)
- Postgraduate qualification in relevant Social work discipline (Desirable)
Apply Online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Social Worker (Assessment & Intervention)
Salary: £42,262 - £47,460 (including local weighting & market supplement)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
At Slough Children First we offer exceptional support, flexible working and a chance to do things differently. We are proud to have created a place where social work can flourish. Our young people are looking for social workers who are down-to-earth, honest, approachable and who can be themselves. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.
As a social worker within our Assessment & Intervention Service, what we call the front door, you will be responsible for undertaking social work on allocated cases and producing outcome-based plans that reflect the needs of and risks to children and their families. You will develop effective relationships with children, young people and their families to improve the impact of work and determine the level of service available.
We are looking for candidates whose CVs reflect but are not limited to the following experience/knowledge:
- Completing assessments of the needs of children and their families
- Knowledge and ability of multiagency working
- Ability to explore and assess risk
- Drawing up plans of intervention in the lives of children and their families
- Knowledge of family network meetings/family group conferences to draw up family support plan
- Knowledge of the Children’s Act; particularly sections 17 and 47
- Presenting cases in multiagency meetings/settings
- Writing professional reports
- Ability to work collaboratively with families
- Court work experience is an added advantage
- Ability to effectively communicate with children and actively involve them in the assessment of their needs
For this role you will need to be a Social Work England registered social worker with a professional social work qualification, or equivalent, and possess demonstrable experience.
Main Accountabilities
- Responsible for undertaking social work on allocated cases producing outcome based plans, having regard to the needs of, and risks to, children and their families.
- To develop effective relationships with children, young people and their families to improve impact of work and determine the level of service available ensuring written plans are agreed with the CYP and their families and reflect their views.
- To determine, using evidence based practice how these needs will be met subject to resources, statutory responsibilities, within the framework of council policies and procedures.
- To be responsible for effective Individual performance in line with national standards and performance indicators, including receiving regular supervision.
- Responsible for participating in routine auditing activity across the service to secure the highest possible standards of social work practice and record keeping and to act in accordance with requirements of the Quality Assurance Framework.
- To ensure that the needs of service users/carers from all communities are addressed, and that close attention is paid to equalities issues in all aspects of work. To ensure access to translation and interpretation services as necessary.
- To complete financial assessments and, where appropriate, to determine contributions and levels of need/service.
- With the agreement of the Social Work Team Manager, to identify resources required and available to promote child/family well being.
- To develop and maintain effective working relationships at appropriate levels with other relevant partner agencies e.g. voluntary, community, schools, police, health other statutory agencies/local resource networks and internal partners.
- To maintain, monitor and review accurate records of all work undertaken ensuring recording information is accurate and up to date, including comprehensive use of the Integrated Children’s System.
- To work effectively move casework to other areas of service as appropriate with a clear transfer plan.
- To contribute to the development of services to children and families and to attend and contribute positively to team meetings to promote the delivery of integrated and effective services.
- To identify own individual learning needs and ensure that practice reflects contemporary thinking. To ensure regular reflection of skills and abilities and use supervision and approval to identify future and plan to meet future needs.
- To provide cover for the work of other team members and undertake projects and other additional duties commensurate with the level of the job. (The nature of these will vary according to experience, competencies and the grade of the post).
Person specification
- Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
- Social Work England Registered (Essential)
- DBS Check (Enhanced)
- Demonstrable post graduate experience (Essential)
- Professional Standards (Essential)
- Knowledge and Skills for Child and Family Social Workers – issued by DfE (Essential)
- Ability to write reports to a high standard (Essential)
- Understanding of children and families legal framework and assessment process (Essential)
- Understanding and experience of child protection procedures (Essential)
- Current UK driving licence (Desirable)
- Access to own vehicle (insured for work purposes) (Desirable)
- Postgraduate qualification in relevant Social work discipline (Desirable)
Apply Online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Social Worker (MASH)
Salary: £42,262 - £47,460 (including local weighting and market supplement )
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Are you passionate about promoting and safeguarding the wellbeing and interest of the child? Then we have a Social Worker role available for you in the MASH team in Referral & Assessment service.
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is the first point of contact for all potential safeguarding concerns in relation to children. MASH is a co-located team which brings together agencies and their information, in order to identify risks to and needs of children at the earliest possible point and respond with the most effective and joined up actions. The purpose of MASH is to make the right decisions for the right families at the right time. This in turn will ensure timely and necessary actions to improve the outcomes for vulnerable children.
The structure of the MASH Team includes one Team Manager, two Deputy Team Managers, three Senior Practitioners ,four Social Workers and four team administrators.
If you're looking for a new challenge and want to be art of an exciting time for children's services in Slough then come and join us.
Main Accountabilities
- Promote and safeguard the wellbeing and interests of the child/young person at all times and throughout all aspects of work.
- Be responsible for managing an independent workload, ensuring legislative requirements are met to a high standard and within required timescales.
- Thoroughly assess, critically analyse, plan and implement suitable interventions for complex cases that fulfil statutory regulations, instigating proceedings and taking cases to court as required whilst effectively managing risk at all time and seeking support from senior team members when required.
- Produce concise, well-structured assessments, plans and reports, clearly recording and reporting analysis and judgements and ensuring that all recommendations are followed.
- Where cases are to be transferred to another service or partners, ensure that there is a clearly recorded transfer plan.
- Maintain accurate, up to date, evidence-based records safely and confidentially, in line with statutory requirements.
- Work with children, young people and families/carers to develop effective relationships through meaningful and purposeful direct work, actively seeking and understanding their needs and views to promote their participation in decision making and inform practice in assessment and planning in individual cases.
- Work in partnership with colleagues and other agencies to deliver accessible and effective services, empowering parents and carers to develop and maintain safe parenting practices, leading meetings to achieve outcomes for children.
- Be responsible for own individual performance in line with national standards, service and team specific performance indicators and actions required to address areas for improvement.
- Be responsible for own professional development keeping pace with national, regional and local policy initiatives, attending training to maintain professional development and ensuring the receipt of regular supervision.
- Participate in and learn from routine observation, review and auditing activity conducted by the Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager to secure the highest possible standards of social work practice.
- With the agreement of the Assistant Team Manager, identify resources where required and available to promote child/family well being.
- Develop and maintain effective internal and external working relationships to achieve optimal outcomes for children and young people, ensuring a joined-up approach to relationships to other team members and managers.
- Represent Slough Children First’s values and be part of setting a positive culture within your team, service and Slough Children First; challenge behaviour when it is not aligned with our values and take appropriate action; support a professional in a respectful and child-focused environment which supports Slough Children First’s vision.
- Ensure all interventions are conducted within an anti-discriminatory framework, and take into account issues such as race, gender, sexuality, disability etc, and deliver appropriate services to the diverse communities of Slough.
- Provide cover for the work of other team members and take on other additional duties, as required.
Person specification
- Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
- Post qualifying experience as a social worker working with children and families (Essential)
- Social Work England registered (Essential)
- Knowledge and application of the legal framework and assessment process in Children’s Social Care (Essential)
- Knowledge and understanding of the values and principles underpinning the involvement of children, young people and families/carers, including the right to access independent advocacy and complaints processes (Essential)
- Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, to a range of audiences including children, young people, parents and carers and professional colleagues (Essential)
- Knowledge and application of social work interventions in at least one area of practice (Essential)
- Ability to gather and assess information to inform judgement in complex situations and in response to challenge, clearly reporting and recording analysis (Essential)
- Ability to use a range of interventions effectively and evaluate them in practice to ensure that the correct outcomes are achieved (Essential)
- Ability to manage and prioritise own workload independently, maintaining professionalism in challenging circumstances and seeking support and suggesting solutions for workload difficulties (Essential)
- Acceptance and commitment to the principles of human rights and equality and how they underpin practice (Essential)
- Understands and has experience of the statutory framework underpinning social work (Essential)
- Computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft Office packages (Essential)
- Some experience in using electronic case management skills (Essential)
- Current UK driving license and access to a vehicle (Desirable)
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Social Worker - CLA
Salary: £42,262 - £47,460 (including local weighting and market supplement)
Hours: Full time
Contract: Permanent
The Slough Children Looked After Teams are looking for passionate and dedicated Social Workers who want to make a real difference to the lives of our children.
You’ll receive exceptional management support, flexible working, bespoke training opportunities and a chance to do things differently. We’re proud to have created a place where social workers can flourish and develop to their fullest potential and feel listened to. Our young people are looking for social workers who are honest, approachable and can be themselves. If this sounds like you and you’re looking for a challenge, we’d love to hear from you.
Our Children Looked After teams work with children from 0 to 18 years of age whose care plan is to achieve permanency via adoption or long-term care. As a Social Worker in the Children Looked After Teams, this provides an opportunity for you to develop good relationships with children and young people and have a positive impact on their lives. You would have an allocation of children and young people with whom you care plan, safeguard and support to achieve their best potential. You would also have the opportunity of working with Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children and be supported to develop your skills and knowledge in completing age assessments. We, as a Service, actively listen to the child’s voice and promote children and young people’s choices, safety and fulfilment.
For this role, you’ll need to be a Social Work England registered social worker with a professional social work qualification, or equivalent, and have demonstrable experience of working within a busy service.
Main Accountabilities
- Promote and safeguard the wellbeing and interests of the child / young person at all times and throughout all aspects of work.
- Be responsible for managing an independent workload, ensuring legislative requirements are met to a high standard and within required timescales.
- Thoroughly assess, critically analyse, plan and implement suitable interventions for complex cases that fulfil statutory regulations, instigating proceedings and taking cases to court as required whilst effectively managing risk at all time and seeking support from senior team members when required.
- Produce concise, well-structured assessments, plans and reports, clearly recording and reporting analysis and judgements and ensuring that all recommendations are followed.
- Where cases are to be transferred to another service or partners, ensure that there is a clearly recorded transfer plan.
- Maintain accurate, up to date, evidence-based records safely and confidentially, in line with statutory requirements.
- Work with children, young people and families/carers to develop effective relationships through meaningful and purposeful direct work, actively seeking and understanding their needs and views to promote their participation in decision making and inform practice in assessment and planning in individual cases.
- Work in partnership with colleagues and other agencies to deliver accessible and effective services, empowering parents and carers to develop and maintain safe parenting practices, leading meetings to achieve outcomes for children.
- Be responsible for own individual performance in line with national standards, service and team specific performance indicators and actions required to address areas for improvement.
- Be responsible for own professional development keeping pace with national, regional and local policy initiatives, attending training to maintain professional development and ensuring the receipt of regular supervision.
- Participate in and learn from routine observation, review and auditing activity conducted by the Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager to secure the highest possible standards of social work practice.
- With the agreement of the Assistant Team Manager, identify resources where required and available to promote child/family wellbeing.
- Develop and maintain effective internal and external working relationships to achieve optimal outcomes for children and young people, ensuring a joined-up approach to relationships to other team members and managers.
- Represent Slough Children First’s values and be part of setting a positive culture within your team, service and Slough Children First; challenge behaviour when it is not aligned with our values and take appropriate action; support a professional in a respectful and child-focused environment which supports Slough Children First’s vision.
- Ensure all interventions are conducted within an anti-discriminatory framework, and take into account issues such as race, gender, sexuality, disability etc, and deliver appropriate services to the diverse communities of Slough.
- Provide cover for the work of other team members and take on other additional duties, as required.
Person specification
Education, Training and Experience
Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (essential)
Demonstrable Post qualifying experience as a social worker working with children and families (essential)
Social Work England registered (essential)
General and Specific Knowledge
Knowledge and application of the legal framework and assessment process in Children’s Social Care (essential)
Knowledge and understanding of the values and principles underpinning the involvement of children, young people and families/carers, including the right to access independent advocacy and complaints processes (essential)
Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, to a range of audiences including children, young people, parents and carers and professional colleagues (essential)
Knowledge and application of social work interventions in at least one area of practice (essential)
Ability to gather and assess information to inform judgement in complex situations and in response to challenge, clearly reporting and recording analysis (essential)
Ability to use a range of interventions effectively and evaluate them in practice to ensure that the correct outcomes are achieved (essential)
Ability to manage and prioritise own workload independently, maintaining professionalism in challenging circumstances and seeking support and suggesting solutions for workload difficulties (essential)
Acceptance and commitment to the principles of human rights and equality and how they underpin practice (essential)
Understands and has experience of the statutory framework underpinning social work (essential)
Computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft Office packages (essential)
Some experience in using electronic case management skills (essential)
Current UK driving license and access to a vehicle (desirable)
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Team Administrator
Salary: £25,741 - £27,640 (including local weighting)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Are you passionate about supporting a high functioning team with administrative tasks? If so, then we have a great opportunity for you as a Team Administrator in our MASH team. This is a fast-paced service working within tight timescales and if you are thriving for a challenge, this could be the role for you!
For this role, attention to detail is crucial as is the ability to produce high quality minutes of meetings. You’ll be required to take accurate minutes of a variety of meetings, some which can be complex.
You’ll be accurately dealing with correspondences which at times may contain confidential information. You'll provide high quality administrative support to the work of a team, so the team can deliver its statutory and legislative duties and requirements.
You'll promote, deliver and embrace our values – child focussed, honest and respectful, improving constantly, looking ahead and delivering together – to your team and peers to help deliver our vision of making our children safe, secure and successful.
If you're looking for a new challenge and want to be part of an exciting time for children's services in Slough, then come and join us.
Main Accountabilities
- Organise and co-ordinate support from external agencies to ensure effective multi-agency meetings within the team. To include booking rooms, sharing reports and key documents in advance and making sure the meetings are run effectively, ensuring all attendees know the location and are made aware of any changes and minutes are typed up and circulated promptly
- Arrange appointments for visits on behalf of social workers, Case Managers and Personal Advisors, including organising travel out of borough, purchasing tickets in advance to save costs and organising for an interpreter where required
- Have oversight of individual’s and the team calendar, checking all visits and meetings are covered, arranging cover for visits or meetings when staff are off or unable to attend by prioritising remaining staff’s calendars and duties
- Support the team manager and assistant team manager with their diaries
- Support the senior social worker to arrange and maintain a duty calendar for the team, dealing with changes to duty as required
- Scan and upload relevant casefile documentation to ICS/Child View/Charms and complete notifications and actions relevant for case files, liaising with other agencies as required to address individual case file actions
- As the first point of contact for the team, taking calls and screen for appropriate action to be taken, answering queries from families open to the team as appropriate
- Act as a point of contact and liaison for the team with other teams across SCF, and with organisations externally as appropriate
- Review team level data e.g. visits, assessments due and court dates, reminding social workers /relevant team members when actions are about to go out of timescale and escalating to managers as required
- Keep track of initial and review health assessments, dental assessments and immunisations for any Looked After Children in the team, being clear on the status of each child and supporting social workers to remain within timescale on actions
- Process invoices for the team and raise requisitions on Agresso as required
- Support the Service Co-ordinator and team managers by providing and circulating team level statistics as required
- Support the team manager to effectively track sickness and absence within the team by assisting with timely recording on Agresso
- Support panels and meetings as directed by the service co-ordinator, ensuring minutes are circulated promptly
- Know where all IT kit is for the team and provide information to the Service Co-ordinator upon request
- Work with the service co-ordinator to ensure all new starters receive a local induction as well as a corporate induction
- Use own initiative to identify actions and activities to support the development of a high functioning team
- Support the Team Manager and Service Co-ordinator with any necessary duties as commensurate with the level of the role, including providing cover for the work of other team administrators during annual leave and take on other additional duties, as required
Person specification
Experience
- High level administrative skills including experience of diary management (Essential)
- Knowledge and understanding of the services provided by children’s social care (Essential)
- Knowledge and understanding of legislation, policy and guidance relating to Children and Young People’s service work including Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 (Desirable)
Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrable understanding of appropriate verbal communication skills, including the ability to deal with members of the public and staff in a sensitive and professional manner both over the phone and face to face (Essential)
- Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately (Essential)
- Good information technology skills to include but not limited to: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook), Agresso (or equivalent) and electronic casefile management systems (Essential)
- Can deal with data and analyse it accurately to inform the work of the team and ensure statutory deadlines are met (Essential)
- Flexible, adaptable and able to work using own initiative to ensure both self and others are organised (Essential)
- Ability to prioritise own and work of the team managing conflicting priorities and multiple pieces of work to achieve targets and statutory deadlines (Essential)
- Understanding of what good customer service looks and feels like to both to colleagues within SCF and externally (Essential)
- Clear understanding of and commitment to equality and diversity. (Essential)
Qualifications/Training
- Educated to GCSE or equivalent level with a good level of numeracy and literacy (Essential)
- Commitment to personal and professional development (Essential)
- Office skills based qualifications such as RSA, Pitmans, NVQ Business Administration Level 3, BTEC or equivalent (Desirable)
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First (talosats-careers.com) to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Assistant Team Manager (MASH)
Salary: £56,351 - £58,402 (including local weighting and market supplement)
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Are you passionate about providing appropriate support and challenge to ensure the delivery of high quality services that safeguard the welfare of children and young people? Then we have a Assistant Team Manager role available for you in the MASH team in Referral & Assessment service.
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is the first point of contact for all potential safeguarding concerns in relation to children. MASH is a co-located team which brings together agencies and their information, in order to identify risks to and needs of children at the earliest possible point and respond with the most effective and joined up actions. The purpose of MASH is to make the right decisions for the right families at the right time. This in turn will ensure timely and necessary actions to improve the outcomes for vulnerable children.
The structure of the MASH Team includes one Team Manager , two Deputy Team Managers, three Senior Practitioners ,four Social Workers and four team administrators.
If you're looking for a new challenge and want to be art of an exciting time for children's services in Slough then come and join us.
Main Accountabilities
- As a member of Slough Children First’s management team, provide day to day management of the team, providing appropriate support and challenge to ensure the delivery of high quality services that safeguard the welfare of children and young people.
- Make effective day to day use of all available professional resources and use a range of theoretical, evidence based and practical approaches including systemic practice to develop and implement effective interventions and support for children and families both within and outside of the family home.
- Manage the distribution of caseloads to ensure that the child or young person’s needs are met appropriately.
- Support and challenge the team to meet the requirements around thresholds for cases, managing the preparation of high quality reports for court or other purposes, challenging, providing expert advice to guide the team through legal and organisational processes as required
- Support and challenge the team in the completion of assessments, plans, toolkits based on identified need, ensuring at each point risk is evaluated, decisions and management oversight are recorded on the case file and any issues or concerns are escalated to the Team Manager to address.
- Chair the first and transfer core groups and CIN meetings to a high standard, supporting social workers in further meetings as required.
- Co-work complex cases with team members as required without taking on a specific caseload of their own.
- Supervise social workers and non qualified staff in the team as per Slough Children First’s supervision policy, supporting and supervising social work students, acting as a mentor to support them through their professional training.
- Lead hub / group supervision to a high standard ensuring that all team members are aware of progress on cases.
- Provide day to day supervision on case work to a high standard.
- Understand what performance information, and audit outcomes are saying to positively impact on individual cases and support staff development.
- Promote direct work with children and young people, supporting all members of the team to actively seek the views of children and families to inform practice in assessment and planning in individual cases.
- Participate in quality assurance activities to support professional development of staff and improve the consistency of practice.
- Support the Team Manager to tackle under-performance, sickness absence and conduct both informally and formally and within Slough Children First’s policy frameworks.
- Contribute to Slough Children First’s development with knowledge of an area of specialist practice and to provide consultation, coaching and mentoring within the Team, and across the service as a whole as required.
- Develop and maintain own professional links and leads with partner agencies and the voluntary sector and support those of the Team Manager.
- Maintain own professional development through training and other suitable mechanisms and keep up to date with changes in national, regional and local policy initiatives that will impact on the delivery of services and respond accordingly.
- Represent Slough Children First’s values, leading by example in the delivery of these and setting a positive culture within your team, service and Slough Children First; challenge behaviour when it is not aligned with our values and take appropriate action; support a professional in a respectful and child-focussed environment which supports Slough Children First’s vision
- Ensure all interventions are conducted within an anti-discriminatory framework, and take into account issues such as race, gender, sexuality, disability etc, and deliver appropriate services to the diverse communities of Slough.
- Deputise for the Team Manager, undertake projects and other additional duties as required. Undertake work outside office hours as necessary.
Person specification
- Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
- Working knowledge of the legislative framework and relevant guidance and procedures as appropriate to the post. (Essential)
- Experience of managing newly qualified social workers and/or unqualified staff (Essential)
- Social Work England registered (Essential)
- Experience of delivering high quality services to children and in assessment of needs, case planning and/or case management, including complex cases. (Essential)
- Ability to analyse risk relating to child protection and to plan appropriate interventions.(Essential)
- Acceptance and commitment to the principles of human rights and equality and how they underpin practice (Essential)
- Demonstrable understanding and application of the statutory framework underpinning social work (Essential)
- Specialist knowledge of one or more key issues affecting children and their families. E.g. Domestic Abuse, Mental Health, Radicalisation, Neglect, Contextual Safeguarding (Essential)
- Evidence of continued professional development to enhance own knowledge and skills ad encouraging others to develop theirs (Essential)
- Computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft Office packages (Essential)
- Significant experience in the use of electronic case management systems (Essential)
- Post graduate qualification or equivalent, or the willingness to work towards (Desirable)
- Experience of co-ordinating and managing the work of a tea, balancing needs and resources to achieve a high quality service (Desirable)
- Experience in conducting appraisals/supervision that are reflective and strive towards the successful achievement of department/business objectives (Desirable)
- Experience of managing budgets (Desirable)
- Current UK driving license and access to a vehicle (Desirable)
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
Good luck!
Volunteers (Exploitation and Youth Justice Service)
Slough Children First is looking for committed volunteers who want to work within our Exploitation and Youth Justice Service, previously known as the Youth Offending Team. This role will give you the opportunity to improve your knowledge, learn new skills and also to develop positive partnership working with the local community.
We are looking for volunteers in these areas:
- Panels for young people who are on court referral orders
- Appropriate Adult (representing young people)
- Activities and programmes
- Mentoring (young people)
- Supervising (reparation projects)
If you are enthusiastic, keen to learn and work with the local community, you can benefit from this opportunity.
Apply Online
If you would like to apply for this post, please use the application form to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted we will be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk. This is an open advert with no end date. Applications will be shortlisted every two weeks.
Good luck!
Volunteer for NYAS (external vacancy)
Do you want to make a difference to a young person’s life? Do you have 2- 4 hours per month to spare?
The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) urgently requires more volunteers, so why not volunteer as a mentor/befriender for NYAS as an Independent Visitor for children and young people in care? As a volunteer you will:
- Have fun, take young people on outings and maybe share a hobby, sport or interest
- Offer support and a listening ear and be a positive influence in a young person’s life and help build self- esteem and confidence
You don’t need any special qualifications. NYAS is looking for reliable and dependable people from all walks of life and they will provide training and ongoing support. They will also pay expenses to a set limit
Here is what some of their young people and volunteers have to say about this rewarding role:
- I like how my Independent Visitor isn’t anything to do with social services and is here to support me
- They have boosted my confidence, now I feel like when I go places I can just relax and have fun
- My young person always looks forward to me coming, they have had such a disjointed life, I am a stable figure in their life and this has to be important for them, as everything else changes around them a lot.
If you are interested, please visit the NYAS website or call Linzi Bagshaw on 07484 075165.
CURRENT ADVERTS:
These positions are currently open but have a deadline date for application.
If any job role is re-advertised, previous applicants should not re-apply. Thank you.
Team Manager - Assessment & Intervention (Maternity cover)
Salary: £60,267 - £62,405 (including local weighting and market supplement)
Hours: Full time 37 hours per week
Contract: Fixed term contract for 12 months (maternity cover)
Join our Assessment & Intervention Service as a Team Manager!
Are you a dynamic and compassionate leader with a passion for making a positive impact on the lives of children and families? If so, we invite you to consider an exciting opportunity as a Team Manager within our Assessment & Intervention Service at Slough Children First (SCF).
At SCF, we are dedicated to creating a safe and nurturing environment for children in need. Our Assessment & Intervention Service plays a crucial role in ensuring the well-being of children and families.
As one of our Team Managers, you’ll lead a team of Senior Social Workers and Social Workers in the delivery of our statutory and legislative duties, fostering a supportive and collaborative working environment, whilst promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and young people in Slough whilst effectively managing risk.
You will need to be a Social Work England registered social worker with a professional social work qualification. And you will have substantial post-qualification experience in children and families social work, with a collaborative and supportive approach.
If you’re looking for a new challenge and want to be part of an exciting journey to turn children’s services around in Slough then come and join us. In return, we can offer you:
- Training and development opportunities
- Agile working supported by technology
- Flexible working policies
- Friendly working environment and great colleagues.
Slough is one of the most diverse places in the country outside of London and a great place to live or work. In fact it's the best place to live or work according to a survey by Glassdoor. Pleasant environments, above average salaries and a lower cost of living, mean an increased quality of life for employees. We're also one of the most accessible places to be, nestled on the corner of the M25, M4 and M40, and less than 20 minutes by train to Central London.
To view the job description, please click here – Team Manager Job Description and Person Spec
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online.
The deadline for submitted applications is Thursday 14th March 2024.
Interviews to be held Friday 15th and Monday 18th March 2024.
Good luck!
Senior Social Worker - Connected Persons Team
Salary: £46,967 - £52,037 (including local weighting and market supplement)
Hours: Full time 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
A fantastic opportunity for a Senior Social Worker has arisen in our Independent Fostering Agency (IFA)!
As a Senior Social Worker within the Connected Persons Team, you’ll be the central point of contact, responsible for the collation and completion of SGO and Connected Persons assessments, as well as viability assessments. You’ll work with the allocated child’s Social Worker, undertaking SGO and Connected Persons assessments, including private assessments and SGO/child arrangement orders, reviewing case records and assessing children’s’ needs. You would also be completing non-agency adoption assessments.
For this role, you’ll need to be a Social Work England registered Social Worker with a professional social work qualification, or equivalent, with proven post qualification experience in a similar role within Fostering. You’ll need to understand the SGO process and have experience of undertaking SGO assessments.
Main Accountabilities
- Be the central point of contact, collation and completion of SGO, Kinship and Connected Persons assessments, following a positive viability assessment
- Conduct joint viabilities with allocated social worker
- Undertake SGO and Connected Persons assessments, including Private assessment and SGO/child arrangement orders
- Review case records and the assessment of the child/ren needs
- Undertake assessment visits
- Observe contact with applicants and child/ren
- Propose transition plan with allocated social worker
- Undertake referee visits for the applicants, child/ren and adult child/ren within the home
- Prepare the court report and SGO support plan
- Attend associated professional meetings as required, including Court
- Organise and deliver trainee preparation workshops for prospective Special Guardians, family and friends
- Work with child care teams, IRO and fostering teams
- Record details of assessments on ICS
- Undertake duty, as allocated
- Collate cohort and trend data, monitor outcomes and respond to data requests
- Preparation for Fostering panel and attend
- Plan and hold SGO forums on 6-8 week basis
- Plan and hold 2 fun days per annum
- Write SGO newsletter twice per annum
- Wherever possible, generate leads for potential new foster carers and home from home carers
- Ensure the safeguarding of children/young people in line with the role and responsibilities
- Deputise for the Connected Persons Practice Manager as and when required
- Undertake any other duties as commensurate with the level of responsibility of the role
- Attend all mandatory training in line with the requirements of the role as advised by your manager and other training as and when required
- Adhere to all SCF policies and procedures at all times
- Positively demonstrate the values and behaviours required by SCF at all times
- Ensure own Health & Safety while carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the role and report any issues, accidents or near misses appropriately
- Adhere to all legislation in terms of practice, policies and procedures for the role including the National Minimum Standards for Fostering and the SWE standards
Person specification
Education, Training and Experience
Professional Social Work Degree or equivalent (Essential)
Social Work England registration – this role is a Regulated Activity (Essential)
Have worked in a similar role within Fostering (Essential)
Have worked with families and children (Essential)
Understand SGO/kinship process and procedure (Essential)
Minimum 2 years post qualification experience (Essential)
Commitment to continued CPD (Essential)
General and Specific Knowledge
Undertake SGO/kinship assessment (Essential)
Build professional working relationships with other services (Essential)
Prepare documentation and write reports required for various reviews, meetings, panel and court to a high standard (Essential)
Ability to hold forums (Essential)
Ability to prepare and deliver training (Essential)
Good observation skills (Essential)
Good verbal and written communication skills (Essential)
Understanding of and commitments to equality and diversity (Essential)
Satisfactory enhanced DBS (Essential)
Full clean UK driving licence (Essential)
Access to own vehicle (Desirable)
Apply online
If you would like to apply for this post, please apply at Vacancies | Slough Children First to submit your CV and apply online. Once submitted, we’ll be in touch shortly to discuss your application. If you have any questions, please email recruitment@sloughchildrenfirst.co.uk.
The deadline for submitted applications is 31st March 2024.
Good luck!