Advanced Social Worker - Children with Disabilities

This role has a starting salary of £46,399 per annum, based on a 36 hour working week.

We also offer a financial package of up to £6,000 which is payable in 3 instalments across your first 18 months in post.

We are excited to be hiring a new Advanced Social Worker to join our Children with Disabilities Service. This is a great opportunity that will support the development of Mental Capacity and DOL across Children with Disabilities, Family Safeguarding and Looked After Children's social work teams.

When not working with our residents in the community, we are keen to support agile working with a combination of home and office working.

Rewards and Benefits

• We pay your Social Worker England Registration fee
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years' service (plus bank holidays) pro-rata for part-time
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the team
The Children with Disabilities Service works with children with severe and complex disabilities. We work across all areas of social work including Children in Need, Child Protection and Looked After Children. Our goal is to do all we can to support families to care for their children in their own families and we work closely with our multi-agency partners to achieve this. We are focussed on the long-term outcomes for children through being aspirational and supporting independence. This includes making timely applications for Continuing Care Funding.

Our work with the Adult Social Care Transition and Health teams is a key part of this work. We have four Social Work teams across the County with a countywide Family Review Team who support stable and settled families. We are a dynamic and creative service, and we pay attention to professional development and progression. Getting it right for disabled children and young people is at the heart of what we do, and welcome practitioners who share our passion for this work.

About the role
We're seeking a qualified and registered Social Worker to take on the role of practice lead for Mental Capacity, Deprivation of Liberty and Continuing Care. As a proactive and motivated professional, you will use your expertise and analytical skills to drive positive change across the service.

In this role you will guide and support staff in achieving and maintaining best practices relevant to their roles. Your responsibilities will include leading Mental Capacity Assessments and Best Interest work, collaborating with allocated social workers to conduct assessments and facilitate decision-making processes. There is an expectation that this role will also be working directly with children and young people as the allocated social worker focusing on our more complex situations.

Additionally, you'll lead practice learning sessions to empower social workers in applying the Mental Capacity Act confidently and the Children's Continuing Care framework . You'll provide guidance on completing Deprivation of Liberty applications and assist in developing paperwork, systems and processes to ensure compliance with the Mental Capacity Act and Best Interest Decision Making.

Your role will extend to creating resources and communication materials for young people, parents/carers and professionals to enhance their understanding of Mental Capacity and decision-making processes. You'll also focus on involving young people in their care planning and decision-making, ensuring evidence of direct engagement.

Importantly, you'll strengthen collaborative efforts with Transition Team colleagues and facilitate timely Continuing Health Care checklists as part of the transition referral process. Upholding the Family Safeguarding model of practice will be integral to your work in assessing young people.

This role is countywide, but there is flexibility in choosing your work base.

Shortlisting criteria
To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:

• Experience and knowledge related to Mental Capacity Act assessments and best interest decision making
• Experience of Deprivation of Liberty work
• Experience of completing Continuing Care Checklists and working with Health.
• You may have an adult social care background, children's social care or both.
• Experience of making applications to court and producing reports to a high standard
• Registration with Social Work England

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and locality based social care workers will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK and access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 6th December 2024 with interviews to follow.

Our Commitment
Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.