Social Worker - Adult with Learning Disabilities
About the Borough
The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.
Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.
The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.
About the Service and Team
In 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.
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.
We're implementing wide-ranging changes to improve care for adults and create positive working environments for our staff. We have new leaders and experienced managers who bring innovative ideas to the service and are driving meaningful changes throughout service delivery. Our goal is to deliver exceptional care that enhances outcomes for our community whilst providing an inclusive, diverse and stable environment for staff to grow their career.
The adults with Learning Disabilities team is a high performing team with strong person centred values, focussing on strengths based social work with residents who have lived experience. The team is motivated and stable, with experienced managers and senior managers being on site and available. Our team meets our statutory duties under the Care Act and provides an opportunity to contribute to our strength-based approach, focused on achieving the best outcomes for our service users
Sutton LD Team has strong peer support, visible leadership and a culture of psychological safety. You will be valued, protected, and empowered to make autonomous decisions. The team provides emotional containment and formal and informal peer debriefing.
Managers practice active listening, advocate for their staff, and are accessible for regular, reflective supervision. There is a collaborative culture and opportunities for meaningful multi-disciplinary collaboration (e.g., working alongside healthcare professionals or therapists).
You will be given opportunities for professional development with manageable workloads & autonomy.
When joining the team, you will have the opportunity to work in an inclusive environment that is warm, welcoming, and has long-serving members. This contributes to the team's experience and knowledge base, as well as the supportive nature of management and team members. We have a buddy system to help new members settle in so no one feels left behind. We also encourage growth through training opportunities, an open-door policy and access to management across teams to tap into all the information you will need.
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
- Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
- Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
- Subsidised gym membership
About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate
Reporting to one of the assistant team managers, you will be involved in team operations to support Sutton residents with Learning disabilities.
- You will be completing assessments and reviews using the statutory framework of the care act
- You will maintain exceptional standards of casework using supervision and case trackers to ensure timeliness of throughput of work.
- You will support the development of the team by your attendance in team development sessions and peer group supervision
- You will contribute to ensuring that commissioned services are cost-effective and, where appropriate, participate in the co-production of service improvements with service users and family carers.
- You will be involved in the rota to cover duty on an ad hoc basis if the main duty worker is on leave
- On a rota basis you will take on the role of enquiry officer for statutory safeguarding enquiries,
If you are a dedicated, passionate and innovative Social Worker looking to join a fantastic team and progress in your career, we encourage you to apply.
Join our service and make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.
Our Offer to You
As 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.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:
- A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-32 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
- Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
- Two volunteering days per year
- Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
- Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
- Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
- Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
- Interest free season ticket loans
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
- Electric vehicle leasing scheme
- Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support
Application Process
Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.
We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.
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, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.
Additional Information
We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.
To support our workers and their families 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.
We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.
The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.
Salary range
- £42,060 - £50,085 per year