Designated Social Care Officer

Our Children's Services team is committed to supporting young people, ensuring their safety, and creating opportunities for them to thrive. We are currently seeking a Designated Social Care Officer to lead SEND initiatives and strengthen partnerships across social care, health, and education., Are you a skilled social worker passionate about supporting children with SEND? Bexley Council is looking for an experienced Designated Social Care Officer to integrate SEND practices into social care, helping to improve outcomes for young people with SEND and ensuring the Council meets statutory SEND requirements.

Based in a well-established quality assurance and professional standards team you will be working alongside other professionals with a focus on strengthening where you can expect team support and joint work with other key professionals across the partnership.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic SEND Implementation: Develop and oversee SEND action plans within social care, working across multi-agency networks for an integrated approach.

Mentorship & Training: Act as a mentor, supporting colleagues' development and facilitating training.

Safeguarding & Compliance: Ensure the wellbeing of children in residential care, ensuring alignment with legislation under the Children Act and SEND Code of Practice.

Innovative Service Delivery: Build and lead a network of SEND champions to support ongoing improvements.

A Degree in Social Work and registration with Social Work England

Proven experience in SEND legislation, systemic practice, and collaborative service delivery

Strong communication skills, with the ability to lead in complex, multi-agency settings

A proactive, solution-oriented approach to problem-solving, This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages., Disability Confident
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Bexley is an outer London Borough with the best of both worlds, located between the hustle and bustle of London and the Garden of England, Kent. Within the borough, we have award-winning parks, open spaces, and listed heritage sites.