Social Worker Adult Safeguarding

Social Worker – FIXED TERM CONTRACT

Adult Safeguarding & Duty Team

Brighton & Hove City Council | Homes and Adult Social Care

Are you passionate about safeguarding adults, promoting independence, and making a real difference in people's lives?

At Brighton & Hove City Council, we're committed to supporting adults to live safe, fulfilling and independent lives. We're looking for an enthusiastic and skilled Social Worker to join our Adult Safeguarding & Duty Team, where you'll play a key role in protecting adults at risk while delivering high-quality, strengths-based social work practice.

About the Team

Our Adult Safeguarding & Duty Team is at the heart of adult social care, responding to safeguarding concerns, undertaking Care Act assessments, and supporting adults with care and support needs across the city.

This is a fast-paced and rewarding service where no two days are the same. You'll work collaboratively with individuals, carers, health professionals, providers and partner organisations to ensure adults receive the right support at the right time while promoting choice, control and wellbeing.

The team works in accordance with the principles of Making Safeguarding Personal, ensuring that adults remain at the centre of all decisions affecting their lives.

About the Role

As a Social Worker within the Adult Safeguarding & Duty Team, you will:

• Undertake Care Act Assessments
• Triage and risk assess all safeguarding concerns received by Adult Social Care and mitigate immediate risks
• Assess and manage risk while promoting individual strengths, independence and wellbeing.
• Apply legislation including the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Mental Health Act and associated statutory guidance.
• Work closely with families, carers, health partners, housing providers and voluntary organisations.
• Prepare reports, assessments and recommendations for professional meetings, tribunals and court proceedings where required.
• Maintain accurate and professional records in accordance with legislative and organisational requirements.
• Contribute to service improvement, learning and quality assurance activities.

What We're Looking For

You will be a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England and have a strong commitment to person-centred, strengths-based practice.

We are looking for professionals who can demonstrate:

• Experience of working with adults with care and support needs and their carers.
• Sound knowledge of adult social care legislation, particularly the Care Act 2014 and Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Experience of safeguarding adults and managing complex situations involving risk.
• Excellent assessment, communication and report-writing skills.
• The ability to balance competing priorities and make informed professional decisions.
• A commitment to partnership working and achieving positive outcomes.
• A strong understanding of equality, diversity, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice.

Applications are welcomed from:

• Social Workers

Why Join Brighton & Hove?

At Brighton & Hove City Council, we value and invest in our staff. We offer:

• A supportive and collaborative team environment.
• Regular professional supervision and reflective practice opportunities.
• Comprehensive learning and development programmes.
• Career progression pathways within adult social care.
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements where service needs allow.
• A commitment to wellbeing, inclusion and professional growth.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Brighton & Hove City Council is proud to be an inclusive employer. We are committed to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We actively promote anti-racist, anti-discriminatory and inclusive practice and strive to create a workplace where everyone can thrive.

Join Us

If you're an ambitious social worker who is passionate about safeguarding adults, promoting independence and delivering excellent social work practice, we'd love to hear from you.

If you would like an informal chat about the role please contact Lou Shillingford Lou.Shillingford@brighton.hove.gov.uk Service Manager for Adult Safeguarding and Duty Service

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.

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