Social Worker

We are recruiting a 25 hours per week Social worker.

Are you a qualified Social Worker who is passionate about making a positive difference to the lives of disabled children and their families? We are looking for a motivated, thoughtful and compassionate Social Worker to join the Specialist Community Disability Service 0–13 pod.

This is an exciting opportunity to work in a specialist, relationship-based service supporting children aged 0–13 with severe or profound learning and/or physical disabilities, complex medical needs, communication disabilities or disability-related behavioural needs. You will be part of a supportive pod structure where social workers build meaningful relationships with children and families and use these relationships to promote safety, stability and positive outcomes.

About the service

The Specialist Community Disability Service provides specialist social work support for children, young people and young adults with disabilities across Brighton & Hove. The service works across a whole-life pathway, with social work pods supporting children aged 0–13 and young people aged 14–24, alongside wider disability services.

The 0–13 pod works with children and families from early childhood through to adolescence. The pod completes assessments, supports children who are subject to Child in Need or Child Protection planning, works with children who are looked after by the Local Authority, and supports access to short breaks, Direct Payments and Personal Budgets where appropriate.

About the role

As a Social Worker in the 0–13 pod, you will hold a varied caseload and work directly with children, parents, carers and professional networks. You will complete high-quality assessments, develop clear plans, contribute to safeguarding decision-making and ensure that the child’s voice, lived experience and needs remain central to all planning.

You will work in a multi-agency context alongside colleagues in education, health, SEND, CAMHS, residential services, short breaks and other partner agencies. The role requires confident statutory social work practice, strong communication skills and a commitment to inclusive, anti-discriminatory and relationship-based practice.

What you will be doing

• Completing Strengthening Families Assessments and other statutory assessments within required timescales.
• Working directly with disabled children and their families to understand strengths, needs, risks and desired outcomes.
• Developing, reviewing and coordinating Child in Need, Child Protection and care plans where required.
• Undertaking safeguarding work and contributing to multi-agency planning and decision-making.
• Supporting families to access appropriate services, including short breaks, Direct Payments and Personal Budgets.
• Preparing clear, analytical and timely records, reports and plans.
• Participating in duty arrangements and responding to referrals, emerging risks and requests for advice.
• Working collaboratively with professionals across education, health, social care and community services.
• Promoting the child’s voice and ensuring children are seen, heard and understood in all aspects of practice.
• Contributing to a positive, reflective and supportive pod culture.

About you:

We are looking for someone who is committed to excellent social work practice and who can work with compassion, curiosity and professional confidence. You will be able to build effective relationships with children, families and professionals, while managing risk proportionately and making child-centred decisions.

You will need to be a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England and have experience of working with children and families within a statutory social work setting. Experience of working with disabled children or young people is desirable, but not essential. We welcome applications from social workers who are keen to develop specialist knowledge and skills in disability social work.

You will bring

• A professional social work qualification and current Social Work England registration.
• Experience of statutory children’s social work, including assessment, planning and safeguarding.
• An understanding of the Children Act 1989 and relevant child protection processes.
• The ability to write clear, analytical and evidence-based assessments, records and reports.
• Strong relationship-building skills with children, families, carers and professionals.
• Confidence working in a multi-agency environment.
• A commitment to anti-racist, anti-discriminatory and inclusive practice.
• The ability to manage a varied workload, prioritise effectively and seek support when needed.
• An interest in developing specialist practice in relation to disability, communication needs, complex family circumstances and child-centred planning.

Why join us?

You will be joining a specialist service that values reflective supervision, relationship-based practice, professional development and supportive team working. The pod structure enables workers to know each other well, share thinking and build ongoing relationships with the children and families they support.

This is a rewarding role where you can make a meaningful difference to disabled children and their families while developing specialist knowledge in disability social work, safeguarding, direct work, assessment and multi-agency planning.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact

Lorraine Hughes, Head of Service, Specialist Community Disability Service 0–24, at lorraine.hughes@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

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).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
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 provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they 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 Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

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

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

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.