Social Worker - Children with Disabilities

We are looking for passionate and skilled Social Workers to join our Children with Disabilities (CWD) service.This is a rewarding opportunity to support children and young people with complex needs and their families, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team alongside social workers and an occupational therapist.

Our Approach – Family Help

We work within our innovative Family Help model, which:

• Delivers a whole-family approach
• Provides a single, joined-up assessment and plan
• Focuses on early intervention and prevention
• Promotes family-led solutions and resilience
• Ensures the right support at the right time

Role and Responsibilities

As a Social Worker within the Children with Disabilities team, you will manage a caseload of children and young people with complex needs, ensuring they receive appropriate, timely, and high-quality support.

You will carry out proportionate assessments and develop effective plans that promote safety, independence, and positive outcomes while encouraging maximum participation from children and their families

In this role, you will use your professional judgement to balance risks and rights, making informed decisions and delivering a range of interventions, including preventative work, safeguarding, and protective responses where necessary.

You will take a lead role in safeguarding activity for complex cases, ensuring that children at risk of abuse or neglect are protected, and that interventions support their health and wellbeing.Building strong, effective relationships will be essential, as you will work closely with children, families, and partners across education, health, social care, and the voluntary sector to deliver coordinated support.

You will contribute to a culture of continuous learning by supporting colleagues, sharing your expertise, and participating in the development of good practice within the team and wider service.

The ideal candidate

We are looking for someone who is:

• Qualified Social Worker and registered with Social Work England
• Experienced in working with children and families, ideally in complex cases
• Knowledgeable in legislation (e.g., Children Act 1989/2004)
• Skilled in assessment, analysis, and report writing
• A confident communicator with children, families, and professionals
• Resilient, adaptable, and able to manage competing demands
• Passionate about child-focused, strengths-based practice
• Committed to restorative and anti-oppressive practice
• A supportive team player who can also mentor others
• IT confident (MS Office, databases)

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

Hybrid working arrangements:

Attendance requirements to the designated workplace will be 3 days required in the office for full time post.

Interviews will be held on 20th & 22nd July 2026

Contact Details for an Informal Discussion: If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact: Gill Noble - Gill.Noble@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under our corporate commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Safeguarding

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.