Social Worker

We are looking for experienced Social Workers who are passionate about providing a high-quality social work service to vulnerable children, young people and their families that positively promotes their welfare and life changes. We currently have vacancies across the service, including our Children with Disabilities Teams, based in our modern offices at the Bluebell Centre, Chelmsley Wood. As an experienced Social Worker in children with disabilities and special needs, you will integrate one of our social work pods supported by their line manager and will be expected to focus their work on good quality assessment and dynamic planning and work alongside families and partners to deliver a timely and intensive intervention to children and families in need of support. You will be working with children who have complex needs and require intensive intervention to ensure that their needs are met, and they can achieve their full potential. You will have significant experience and knowledge in working with children with complex needs and undertaking varied and diverse case management activities. Each of our teams has an experienced family support worker who will undertake direct work, and a range of practical tasks to support the families you work with. You will be joining a hardworking and dedicated team of social workers working with some of our most vulnerable children and families. Our social workers are passionate and committed to making a difference in the lives of children.

You will be a Professional Social Worker, holding a Qualification and Social Work England registration. You will have significant post qualifying experience and you will be looking for a new challenge in a caring forward-thinking organisation. You will be a solution-focussed and capable worker, with a sound knowledge of current national and regional social work policies/practices. Knowledge of relevant childcare legislation, including a clear understanding of 'Working Together to Safeguard Children'. You will hold a driving licence and own your own vehicle, as this is an essential car user post due to the demands of the job. For disabled applicants, reasonable adjustments will be made where required. You will also be committed to delivering a high-quality transparent service and ensuring the wellbeing of children, young people and their families., This post will require a DBS check. This post is covered by the Fluency Duty, as outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers.

• Earn one of highest salaries in the region. In a recent independent analysis of pay data across the West Midlands, comparing our maximum grade salaries to 13 other local authorities we were proud to learn that our offering is in the top three for both Social Worker and Senior Social worker. Earn up to £45,441 per annum as a Social worker.
• Manageable workloads - giving you the time to give dedicated support where it is needed.
• You will receive guaranteed supervision every 5 weeks, to ensure you feel supported and are on the right track.
• Local government pension with 6.8% (subject to annual review/change) section contribution.
• 25 days annual leave rising to 30 days after 5 years of service. We also offer the opportunity to buy up to 10 days of additional leave per year.
• Flexible working in our modern refurbished offices.
• Our Children's Social Care Academy provides training and coaching for practitioners, with year-round training to progress in your career. Working in partnership with Bournemouth University, we deliver academic programs in-house to help you attain the Practice Education Award at either Honours or Masters level.
We are ambitious in Solihull and are building a stronger Solihull for our children, families and workforce. Connecting Families is the name of Solihull Children's Services practice framework. At its core Connecting Families demonstrates the beliefs, values and principles of restorative practice and gives us a consistent relationship-based way of practicing to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families. We believe that families and their connected networks are of primary importance and are the most important influence on improving outcomes for children. We believe that children and their family networks are experts in their own lives and that children and their family networks have strengths, on which they should be empowered to build and draw on through effective family decision making., We place children and young people at the heart of all we do to enable them to achieve their potential and lead fulfilling lives. This means our workforce needs to be effectively led, supported, and well trained. It's our aim to offer high-quality supervision and guidance to all team members. This includes supporting you, as you support others in the team., We've implemented a new system from Monday 4th March which will improve your candidate experience! To access your candidate portal for our new system, head to https://solihull.wm-jobs.co.uk/members/ About Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Solihull is regarded as a popular and vibrant place to live in the UK. As one of the most prosperous towns in the Midlands, almost two thirds of our borough is designated as green belt. We have over 1,500 acres of parks across the borough, with 16 Green Flag Awards. Solihull is very well connected, with great transport links such as the M40, M42 and M6 all close by, and an excellent rail network, plus, of course, an international airport. We are home to the award-winning Touchwood Shopping Centre, National Exhibition Centre, Resorts World Birmingham, and the Resorts World Arena. It is an exciting time for Solihull, although we are a relatively small local authority (c. 6000 employees), we still have ambitious plans including the development of UK Central and HS2. Here at Solihull Council, we want to ensure that all our citizens have an equal chance to share in Solihull's success. We do this by putting our customers at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our employees are the key factor in achieving our vision and as such, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals, who want to make a real positive difference to people's lives and can help us to continue building on our success. The transition to Smarter Working has presented us with the opportunity to re-think how and where we work. With the option to access portable technology, dependent upon the requirements of the role, a lot of our people are not bound to a single workplace or traditional ways of working, with many choosing to spend a good proportion of their week working from home. Our people told us that they value flexibility, and that choice enables them to have a better work-life balance, manage family responsibilities, enhance their personal wellbeing, and continue to deliver excellent outcomes for the residents of Solihull. Our people are our number one asset, and our aim is to have a healthy, happy engaged and thriving workforce. Wellbeing is at the heart of our employee offer and we are a bronze accredited West Midlands Combined Authority Thrive at Work employer. This recognises our commitment and action in support of employee wellbeing. Unpaid carers carry out a key role within our community and know that this can be challenging when combined with employment. Our Carer's Policy, Employee Carers Network and the ongoing support we give to our employees has resulted in us winning Employer of the Year 2022 at the Carer Friendly Awards.


• Competitive salaries including, for those at the top of their scale, the opportunity to receive a non-consolidated lump sum;
• A range of flexible working options;
• Annual leave starting at 25 days and rising to 30 days after 5 years' service in addition to public holidays with an opportunity to purchase up to 10 additional days' holiday per year;
• A generous flexitime scheme (available for most roles);
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme;
• A wide range of learning and development opportunities;
• A range of family friendly policies;
• Employee benefits including subsidised travel passes, Cycle 2 Work Scheme, confidential Employee Assistance Programme and staff discounts.
Solihull Council is proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. As users of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who demonstrate they meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy. Solihull Council has a responsibility for, and is committed to, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. For roles eligible for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check this will be indicated in the advert and supporting recruitment documents. Where the post involves working with children, other vulnerable groups or in a position of trust it is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Further guidance is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945449/rehabilitation-of-offenders-guidance.pdf Please note, where sufficient numbers of applications are received, we reserve the right to close a vacancy before the advertised closing date. We therefore advise that you submit your application as soon as possible.