Experienced Children’s Social Workers (Dorset)

Salary details: £ - £42503

Experienced Social Workers

Full time flexible working

Up to £42,503 (depending on level and experience)

Dorchester, Blandford, Sturminster Newton, Ferndown,  Wareham, Weymouth  

Do you want to work for a Children’s Services where our approach to how we work with our children, families and communities is absolutely embedded in wanting to ensure Dorset is a place where all children thrive?

We passionately believe that strengthening families and communities - 'working with', not 'doing to' is the key to unlocking potential and aspiration.

Our Dorset Childrens Thrive model brings together many services and support for children and families into 6 integrated locality teams across Dorset, supported by a central team of specialist services.

Services are based in:

• Chesil
• Dorchester
• East Dorset
• North Dorset
• Purbeck
• West Dorset

And include:

• Early Help
• Children's Social Care
• Educational Psychology
• special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

As a Social Worker working in the locality teams you will be supporting children and their families through assessment of their needs and planning at a child in need, child protection or care level to enable better outcomes. 

We want to hear from you if you have a Social Work qualification, are registered with Social Work England and are able to fulfil the travel requirements of the post. If you have completed your ASYE and/or have experience of working in statutory social care services we invite you to join an organisation that values your contribution. That supports your professional growth and development and that cares about your personal wellbeing.

Dorset Council: A great place to work

Our work and the way we do it is shaped by our behaviours and our practice model.

Within Children's Services we work as One Team and our Dorset Academy is central to making sure you have everything you need to excel in your role.

What our people say:

“Dorset is a great place for children to thrive - I am very proud to be part of an organisation that recognises the strengths of our staff and the creativity we have in achieving great outcomes for our children, young people and families.”

You will:

• have access to a range of employee benefits
• be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression

We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.

This post involves working with children and having access to significant information about them and will therefore be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service check. See our policy on the employment of ex-offenders. 

Friends & Family Referral Scheme

The friends and family referral scheme applies to this post. If an employee recommended this post to you mention them when asked on your application form. They'll give you all the information you need.

Employees can share this advert by using the button links alongside the job title.

Relocation expenses package  

A generous relocation package is payable, of which up to £8,000 (of HMRC eligible elements) are free of tax. We can offer you help to move whether you are looking to buy or rent, depending on your circumstances.

Our package includes:

• an initial advance of up to £2,500 payable when you start
• help towards fees associated with buying/selling (up to £6,500)
• an option to receive help towards your rent or mortgage in the first two years

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

Nb. Once this post has closed, the job description and person specification will no longer be available to view.

We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.

Find out more about how to apply. 

Interviews will be held on 15th June 2023. 

Contact details 

Please click here for further information, or for an informal discussion please call  Liz Wood, Consultant Social Worker on 01305 225638 (email liz.wood@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk).