In Worcestershire we are working together to ensure all our children and young people are healthy, feel safe and have opportunities to enjoy their lives and reach their full potential. 

In partnership with our frontline staff and the people we support, we have developed a detailed plan of improvement which has children at its heart and which is built around eight points. 

To drive this plan forward we recognise that we need a committed, stable workforce. We will offer you inspiring leadership, clear goals, excellent training and learning opportunities, and high quality support and resources. We need social workers who can in turn inspire and safeguard their clients and residents, and who aspire to reach the highest standards. 

Are you up to the challenge?

As a member of Worcestershire Children's Services, depending on where you are on your career journey, we promise to deliver:

• High level placements for students; and worthwhile work experience opportunities  
• A solid start to your career through our Assessed and Supported Year in Employment Programme (ASYE)  
• Continuous professional development, regular individual and group supervision, training and work based learning experiences   
• Access to our Talent Management Programme, growing our own talent for future Team and Service Manager roles   
• Access to our Social Work Academy, which will be your one-stop shop for all practice knowledge and skill-based resources, tools and learning to ensure you are confident in your professional work
• An inspirational Principal Social Worker who will represent your feedback and ideas for improvement
• Committed leaders who believe that our social workers are crucial to improve the lives of children and young people

We are organised into teams as follows:

Family Front Door

Working in a multi-agency environment, the contact and referral and community teams act as the first point of contact for all new contacts about children, young people and their families. You will need to be able to demonstrate excellent partnership skills, as well as experience in the understanding of and applying thresholds. 

Locality Teams

Working in a case management team you will be responsible for child protection, care proceedings and LAC care planning as well as Child In Need work. 

Looked After Children

The majority of children who are looked after by the local authority are placed with foster carers, as it is believed to be best for children to live within a family environment. For some children however, residential care may be more appropriate.

Purpose of role

A Newly Qualified Social Worker is employed as a Social Worker and is part of the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment programme (AYSE).  This is a twelve month programme of support against the Knowledge and Skills statement for Social Workers.

As a newly Qualified Social Worker you will work in a Social Work Team with the additional support of an Advanced Social Work Practitioner and the Social Work Academy Team – this is to consolidate your practice from your placements.

By the end of the ASYE Social Workers should have consistently demonstrated practice in a wider range of tasks and roles, and have become more effective in their interventions, thus building their own confidence, and earning the confidence of others. They will have more experience and skills in relation to a particular setting and user group, and have demonstrated ability to work effectively on more complex situations. They will seek support in supervision appropriately, whilst starting to exercise initiative and evaluate their own practice.

To attain this role you will

• be Social Work England (SWE) registered
• hold a relevant Social Work qualification 
• be willing to undertake the 12 month newly qualified ASYE programme

Key knowledge, skills and abilities to be successful in this role

• to be able to explain the role of the Social Worker in a range of contexts, and uphold the reputation of the profession
• to make proactive use of supervision to reflect critically on practice, explore different approaches to your work, support your development across the nine capabilities and understand the boundaries of professional accountability
• to understand the ASYE portfolio, assessment process and the Knowledge and Skills Statement
• to demonstrate workload management skills and develop the ability to prioritise.
• to recognise and balance your own personal/professional boundaries in response to changing and more
• to identify your own learning needs as part of the Personal Development Plan; assume responsibility for improving your practice through appropriate professional development

Download: Newly Qualified Social Worker Job Description (PDF)