Our Family Safeguarding Teams exemplify how Children’s Safeguarding work can support families and secure the best outcomes for children and young people.  

Bracknell Forest Council Children's Social Care were graded as Outstanding by Ofsted in June 2022.

“Leaders lead by example and are available to all staff when needed for case exploration and discussion.” ​ Ofsted ILACS Inspection, June 2022.

“Children with disabilities and their families are provided with highly effective tailored support which improves their experiences.” Ofsted ILACS Inspection, June 2022.

We have an exciting opportunity to join our disability team.  The team works with children and young people up to the age of 18 with a range of disabilities and complex needs – we help children with disabilities and their families to live safer, happier lives.

If you are looking for a team that is inclusive, ambitious, and always learning, we’d welcome your application to join us.

We are a small and friendly local authority.  The leaders and managers know that it is essential for social care workers to have a secure physical and psychological base from which to be the best workers they can be.  Working collaboratively with families to keep them together, where it is safe to do so, is at the heart of our embedded Family Safeguarding Model and our approach is underpinned by Motivational Interviewing (MI) across all of our social care teams.

What it's like working in our team...

The Children’s Specialist Support Team (CSST) is a highly skilled team working with children who have disabilities and/or complex health needs. We are an experienced, friendly and supportive team who focus on ensuring that children are at the centre of all we do.

The team is an eclectic mix of different service areas covering a wide breadth of work with children with disabilities, Occupational Therapy, Short Breaks (including Larchwood, our short break respite unit), Access to Records and Missing Children and Child Exploitation. Taking a child first and social model approach – partnership and collaborative working is the key to our success.

The team is well integrated with local partners and co-located with and joint work with specialist workers in domestic abuse, mental health and substance misuse, meaning no lengthy waits for much needed services for our families and interventions that help build resilience and mitigate risks.  We receive positive feedback from children and their families.

Everyone comes together once a month for group supervision and we have dedicated admin support.

Our workforce tells us:

• There is a supportive and approachable leadership and management team
• All teams offer each other good peer support; there is a strong focus on shared problem solving
• They feel appreciated and their development is prioritised
• Supervision is of high quality, reflective and routinely provided

You will be supported to carry out the following responsibilities and training...

Social Workers are equipped with the tools to build meaningful relationships and make lasting changes for families. To further support you to provide high quality consistent social work, we have a comprehensive learning and development offer, driven by our passionate Principal Social Worker.  We have resilience groups, well-being events, regular, reflective one to one and group supervisions and peer support. Bracknell Forest is a great place to learn and develop your practice.

The benefits you will experience are...

• Flexible working opportunities including working remotely for part of the week
• Following probation period, an opportunity to take part in a 9-day fortnight trial
• A comprehensive induction and excellent ongoing training programme
• Annual retention bonus, market premia and relocation package
• Funded Social Work England annual registration fee.
• Generous holiday allowance with the option to buy, sell and bank annual leave
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• An interest free loan for a rail season ticket
• Access to Cycle to Work Scheme
• Internal sports and social club opportunities with discounted leisure centre and gym membership
• Supermarket discount
• A great office location next to travel links and the regenerated town centre (Lexicon)

What we're looking for...

We are looking for practitioners who can engage with children and their parents, be reliable and provide stability and ambition for children and their families during the time they are working with us.

To be successful, you must have current registration with Social Work England and have experience of working within the legal frameworks that support our work. You must have a commitment to facilitating better outcomes for children, be organised and skilled in effective engagement of families.

If applying for a Senior Practitioner position, you will have a highly developed specialist knowledge of social work practice. Your skills and expertise will enable you to take the lead with the most complex situations and be able to support your less experienced colleagues.  You will be expected to share up to date research and practice developments working alongside the Principal Social Worker. You will need to understand and have experience of permanence/PLO/ legal processes and an in-depth knowledge of what works for children and families, relevant legislation, and know what good looks like in practice.

Interview date

Interviews will be held on Friday 5th August 2022 and Monday 22nd August 2022

Want to ask us a question?

If you would like an informal discussion, please contact:

Catherine Lloyd, Team Manager, tele 01344 351680 or email:

Catherine.Lloyd@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

Or

Lou Richer, Head of Service, tele 01344 353112 or email:

Lou.Richer@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

For more information on working for Bracknell Forest Children’s Social Care visit our micro-site www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/childrenssocialcare

Successful applicants will be required to complete a full application form as part of our safer recruitment.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience of working within the current Social Care System and Framework.

Any candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the role by assessing their circumstances against the relevant criteria.

As part of the Council’s ongoing commitment to redeployment, please note that this vacancy may be withdrawn at any stage of the recruitment process if a suitable redeployee is identified.

No Agencies

Equal Opportunities

Bracknell Forest Council – Working for Equality. We welcome applications from all sections of the community.