Job Description

About the BoroughIn Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We've set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There's also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.About the Service and TeamThe London Borough of Sutton Children's Services offers a supportive and inclusive environment for its Qualified Social Work staff. Specialist support on challenging cases, regular structured supervision, and an environment that encourages all those to take part and ensure their voices are heard.The Fostering Team provides placements for children who cannot live with their birth families. The core tasks for the position of a Supervising Social Workers are to provide guidance, support and feedback to foster carers to enable carers to provide high quality care for our children. The tasks would also include ensuring foster carers comply with policies and procedures, promptly dealing with any safeguarding concerns, complaints or allegations, involved in meetings and foster carers reviews.
This is achieved by working in partnership with relevant agencies, children and young people and their families. We provide a supported working environment that ensures manageable caseloads, regular supervision, daily management support and an abundance of learning and development opportunities for our Social Workers to grow and flourish. In addition we have a creative and flexible approach to the working week which allows for both home and office working which promotes a work/life balance.Working with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP). The partnership offers staff a wide range of pre- and post-qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development. This includes staff being encouraged to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE). Staff are also given the opportunity to attend conferences, and workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.Sutton Council also has a number of staff network groups such as the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic +A Network, LGBTQ +A Network and Women's +A Network to ensure staff have a voice to drive positive change in the organisation.About the Role and Our Ideal CandidateJoin Children's Social Care as s Social Worker and receive a Welcome Bonus and Retention Bonus:

• xc2xa31000 paid in your first month's salary
• xc2xa31000 paid for your first completed year in service
• xc2xa32000 paid for your second completed year in service
• xc2xa33000 paid for your third completed year in service and every year thereafter

We've got an exciting opportunity for you as Social Worker as part of our Fostering Service within Children's Social Care. Our mission is to empower children to live independently as possible and provide the necessary support in safeguarding their well-being. We need your expertise to make it happen. In this role, your responsibility will include:

• Provide support and supervision to foster carers.and the importance of cultural competency
• Ensure foster carers understand and adhere to policies and standards
• Work closely with the Placements team, children's social workers and other relevant professionals to match children with fostering households.
• Complete annual review reports on fostering households.
• Present reports to the Fostering Panel
• Managing allegations and complaints against carers
• Providing all foster carers with a required training and development programme, which is linked to the Training, support and development standards (TSDS).
• Undertake such other duties commensurate with the grade and nature of the job.

We aim to deliver a Fostering Services that recruits a range of foster carers who can meet the diverse needs of children who are looked after. This role will challenge you in a dynamic and diverse environment whilst helping you to expand your knowledge and skill set in the practice of children social care. Our teams are renowned for its ability to craft outstanding care plans that prioritise the needs and voices of service users, integrating input from various professionals, families/carers, and external agencies to ensure the best outcomes are achieved.Are you ready to take the next step? We are here to support your growth as you begin your career at Suttons Children's Social Care. Apply now and join us.This position offers an excellent opportunity for individuals with outstanding communication skills and a compassionate manner capable of effectively managing high levels of emotional distress. We encourage applications from candidates with experience in Childcare and those passionate about delivering person-centred care. You'll join a welcoming, supportive, and energetic team dedicated to providing first class supervision and ongoing professional development opportunities.In addition, we would expect the following from all suitable candidates:

• To be registered with Social Work England and hold a degree in Social Care or similar.
• Have experience of working in a multidisciplinary team setting.
• Have sound knowledge and ability to deliver social work support to service users and their families.
• Ability to communicate complex social issues clearly to both patients and professionals.
• Ability to plan and coordinate social care plans and aspects of patient discharge.

For more information about the role and/or an informal conversation, view the Role Profile or contact Geeta Rath, Service Lead for Special Guardianship, Kinship and Fostering Recruitment and Assessment Team on geeta.rath@sutton.gov.uk or the Recruitment Team on recruitment@sutton.gov.ukOur Offer to YouAs an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we're committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We're constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Three volunteering days per year in Sutton
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application ProcessPlease apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.Additional InformationWe pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.#LI-SR1

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