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Job Title: Consultant Social Workers (All Children's Teams)
Starting Salary: £49,817 per annum + £7,146 market enhanced payment, progressing to £55,224 per annum + £6,984 market enhanced payment PLUS £1k one off welcome payment* - pay award pending
Hours: 37
Location: Base locations in Stevenage (East) and Apsley, Hemel Hempstead (West).
Whilst you will have a base, each team has a geographic area they cover which will require regular access to a vehicle in order to travel to meetings.
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

All roles are full time and permanent unless otherwise stated below under 'about the role'

About the service

At Hertfordshire County Council, we believe that the children and young people in our care deserve the best. And that means ensuring the social workers who work alongside them are trained, supported, and highly motivated.

As an innovative authority, we are committed to developing motivational social work practice and you will be trained to work in this way. You will be working at the forefront of best practice to deliver first class support to vulnerable children and families which will expose you to managing complex and diverse caseloads.

By changing our approach to families, they are changing their approach to us and we are managing to keep far more children at home safely with their families.

With dedicated Diversity & Inclusion strategy and focus groups, we promote diversity and inclusion across the delivery of services and within our workforce.

We will offer a stimulating working environment, regular supervision meetings and training opportunities to help you to reach your full potential with the assistance and guidance of our specialist L&D teams.

The pandemic has brought about changes in the way we work and having learnt from this and from feedback from our staff and communities, we are embedding important principles around ‘Our Way Forward’. The overarching vision for Children’s Services is that we work in a ‘flexible and balanced’ way with a focus on ‘continuous improvement’; this is underpinned by a ‘mix and blend’ approach by adopting hybrid ways of working, balancing the need for collaborative workspaces with the right technology for staff to work from home and touchdown areas where this is right for you and for our families.

About the role

Each Team is made up of; a Team Manager, Consultant Social Worker(s), Senior Practitioners, Social Workers, Children's Practitioners and Family Practitioners.

This role will include holding a small caseload of complex work and supports development into a management role in the future.

This will include conducting supervision meetings and supporting other members of the team and providing management cover in the Team Manager’s absence.

We have vacancies in the following teams:

• Children Looked After, based in Hemel Hempstead
  37 hours | Permanent
  Closing 21st September | Interviews 28th September

About you

We are pleased to offer sponsorship of eligible roles that met the UKV&I requirements for candidates who currently reside in the UK at the time of application.

It is essential that all Consultant Social workers who apply have the following:

• Qualified and Social Work England Registered
• Comprehensive knowledge of the challenges associate with working with Children and their Families
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of legislation, guidance, policy, and procedures
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft IT package
• Full UK Driving Licence
• Regular Access to a vehicle

Please note there may be additional specific criteria depending on the team.

Children Looked After:

• You will have experience of care planning, assessments and reviews and a track record of working alongside challenging families.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care, level 12 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To read more about our service and opportunities available visit our Childrens Social Work page

Recruitment timeline: we are checking applications regularly and will arrange ad hoc interviews - please check your emails for updates.

Benefits of working for us

Additional Benefits for Social Work roles include:

• Monthly Market Enhanced Payment
• One off £1k Welcome Payment* (terms & conditions apply)
• Lease Car Scheme
• Up to £6k relocation expenses (terms & conditions apply)
• Hybrid working model
• 5 Days additional annual leave entitlement
• SWE Registration Fee paid

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

We are changing

Hertfordshire County Council is undergoing Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). If you are employed by Hertfordshire County on 1 April 2028, it is expected that most roles will transfer to the newly-created unitary councils on existing terms and conditions under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment) principles.

LGR is one of the biggest changes we will face in a generation. It will reshape how we work and how services are organised and gives us a real opportunity to build something better. To find out more, visit https://www.hertfordshire-lgr.co.uk/

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.