Senior Social Worker

Job introduction

We are looking for a motivated and committed Senior Social Worker to join our Hospital Discharge and Response Team (DART).

Brighton and Hove is a vibrant and exciting place to live and work and an opportunity has arisen to join our high performing team. It is a friendly and supportive team but also a fast paced place to work with a need to perform in a flexible and autonomous manner, working closely in a fully integrated health and social care service to support our service users, health colleagues and facilitate safe timely discharges across several sites in the city.

Please do not apply if you are not a qualified Social Worker and registered with Social Work England. Unfortunately, if you are not qualified and registered, your application will not be read.

For an informal discussion, please contact Marcus Brooks - (General Manager) on 07825862557

Fixed term/Secondment until: 9th October 2026

Contracts will be offered as fixed term to external candidates and maybe offered as secondments to internal candidates.

Internal candidates - efore applying, please ensure you have read the Secondment policy to ensure you are eligible to apply. In accordance with the policy, please ensure you have the written approval of your line manager before applying. Evidence of this must be included with your application.

About the role

The DART team is based over several sites in the city and as the role will involve direct supervision and support of staff across the sites, flexible working is necessary and can offer variety and autonomy to the Senior role.

We are looking for someone with strong leadership skills, relevant experience supporting often complex short term casework, someone who has high professional standards, a commitment to supervision and who is keen to continue their professional development. An excellent knowledge of current legislation such as the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and Safeguarding Procedures is essential.

You will need experience of undertaking Safeguarding enquiries and will be expected to both undertake and supervise these, and be able to manage complex and crisis situations using professional judgement, leading practice and promoting a range of interventions including strengths based practice. You will need experience of Mental Capacity assessments and Best Interests decision making.

As a team we are committed to professional development and you will supervise and support colleagues, including ASYE, student Social Workers, and experienced staff. You will receive regular supervision and support and have opportunities for ongoing development and specialist training.

Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to upload your Application Form and a supporting statement. Your supporting statement is the most important part of your application as it will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our guidance here (Application Form guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) and (Supporting statement guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us

Company information

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.