Exhibitors

Hampshire County Council

We're pioneering some changes to social care practice in Hampshire and radically changing the way we work. The transformation of our service has led to us being one of a handful of children’s services authorities in the country to be rated ‘outstanding’ across all areas by Ofsted. This means children in Hampshire’s care are safe and well looked after and that it continues to be a great place to practice as a social worker.

Inspectors reported how the County Council’s social workers are highly skilled at building meaningful relationships with children and that children in care benefit from high-quality support, which is making a real difference to their lives. Alongside this, Ofsted credited the County Council’s strong political and corporate support – and how the well-targeted financial investment has enabled the Service’s leadership team to implement an ambitious programme of change. All of which has led to strengthened services, ensuring that the right help is available at the right time from the right people.

However, the hard work does not stop here, as we look to continue to innovate the way we practice social care, to provide the best possible outcomes. It's an exciting time to join us as we have invested £6.5 million in social workers to continue to drive this transformation. We have enabled Hampshire social workers to be more agile in their role, leaving them more fulfilled professionally and able to enjoy a positive work-life balance by adopting remote working practices and technologies. All while working and training alongside some of the very best in the profession.

Achieving for Children, Windsor & Maidenhead

‘We want social workers who are funny, friendly and can give good advice’- Young People from Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Kickback group.

The children and young people of Windsor and Maidenhead are looking for “amazing, passionate and dedicated “ social workers to join social work teams within Achieving for Children (AfC). Our young people have said that they want social workers who are genuinely invested in them, listen to their views, act on them and are able to champion and support them to improve their lives

It’s a genuine team effort in AfC and this was recognised by Ofsted which rated the organisation as ‘Good’ after our inspection in January 2020. If you are an enthusiastic and passionate social worker who has the drive to make a positive difference to the lives of our children and young people, then we want talented people like you to join us. We want Windsor and Maidenhead to be the best place to be a child or young person.

About AfC

We are a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us click here.

About our services

As a social enterprise we are able to provide bespoke children’s social care and education support services to our three local authorities, schools and partners in the education, health, social care and criminal justice sectors. We are responsible for the entire range of children’s social care services which provides plenty of opportunities for our workforce to work with colleagues from across a wide range of services, enhancing skills and creating excellent partnerships.

We use a Signs of Safety approach and ensure the voice of the child is at the heart of everything we do. To make sure we get this right our social workers have access to a range of learning and development to support them in their roles. Visit our training portal to take a peak at what we offer.

About you

We are seeking dedicated, friendly and non judgemental social workers to join our team. Our children and young people have also shared that they would like social workers with the following qualities;

1. Social Workers who are good listeners and can exercise patience

2. Social Workers who are organised and come prepared to meetings and visits

3. Social Worker who ‘go the extra mile’ for children and young people

4. Social Workers who show passion and enthusiasm towards their work

Our children and young people understand that Social Workers have a challenging role and they want social workers to have adequate training and the support they need to continue to make a difference in their lives. In return for your dedication, Achieving for Children will offer you a wide range of benefits!

About our benefits
We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to work remotely. In AfC you will also have access to

1. Laptop, phone and systems so you can work remotely

2. Local Government salary and pension scheme

3. Really good holiday package (up to 34 days per year!)

4. Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance

5. A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme, offering support for the whole family

6. A range of staff benefits and discounts managed via your own app

7. Positive and supportive working environments

8. A fantastic learning and development offer

 

9. A career pathway supporting you with next step career opportunities

To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here

There’s never been a better time to AfC, we are growing our workforce, implementing new flexible working arrangements and have increased our virtual wellbeing offer. So get in touch with your CV to find out more. Email: [email protected]

www.achievingforchildren.org.uk/work-for-us/

Bournemouth University

Bournemouth University has long history of delivering CPD (continuing professional development) to the health and social care sector. Our large portfolio of workforce development and CPD opportunities reflects current workforce transformation across the sector and is constantly updated to ensure that it meets the needs of our stakeholder organisations and students.

Our programmes are designed and implemented in collaboration with service colleagues, supporting the development of a workforce that is not only fit for the here and now, but will be able to lead and innovate into the future.

The academic team at BU teaches across the qualifying Social Work degree courses and CPD and we are proud to have been rated the best Social Work course 2020 by The Guardian University league table. All of our lecturers are registered Social Workers and have strong links to front line practice. We are research active and understand the issues faced in day to day practice in Children and Adult Social Care as well as management and leadership in large organisations. The shared ethos and passion of the team is to provide space to think, reflect and develop through CPD.

We embrace online learning and have taken on the opportunities that this offers for practitioners. We understand that fitting study in and around your busy working life can be a challenge, so we have a number of flexible courses that allow you to study bite-sized units at your convenience, while working towards a final qualification, such as a Master’s award. You may wish to try one unit at a time or more, or enrol on a full programme – the choice is yours. We also run bespoke provision tailored to your specific personal and organisation needs, which can be requested upon demand from the CPD team. We take pride in our approach which facilitates flexible partnerships with employers, and meets the needs and requirements of candidates, workforce development managers and agencies. Delivering tangible and measurable results in our courses is rooted in all that we do!

For More information and CPD enquiries please visit our Online Course Information: https://www.applycpd.com/bu

Brighter futures for children

Brighter Futures for Children is a not-for-profit company, owned by, but independent of, Reading Borough Council. We took over the responsibility for the delivery of children’s services in Reading in December 2018.

We work closely with partners in the local community and key organisations including the council, police, public health and voluntary groups.

We are responsible for the delivery of children’s social care, early help & prevention, education services (including SEND). This also includes fostering and adoption, the Youth Offending Service and traded services with schools.

Company values

In every aspect of our work, we will be:

• Honest – transparent and open about how we work

• Creative – not bound by convention

• Caring – every decision made in the best interest of the child

• Quality-driven – efficient, effective, and professional

• Respectful – we will value diversity and respect the perspectives, behaviours and needs of everyone we work with

• Responsible – We will work in partnership where possible and be mindful of our duty to use our limited resources wisely

Our improvement Journey

There is real determination at all levels to continue to make Brighter Futures for Children a success – and to carry on improving the lives of children in Reading. and we recognise there is still much work to be done.

We’ve put the chronology of our improvements in order, with the latest achievements appearing first.

July 2021: Finding of the Ofsted & CQC Local Area SEND inspection were sent to us and showed how much services had improved. You can read the report on the Ofsted website.

June 2021: Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a local area SEND inspection in Reading, looking at the effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of, and improving outcomes for, children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)

February 2021: Our continuing improvement journey reached a major milestone when it was officially confirmed that we had been removed from Government intervention.

In a letter to Reading Borough Council Leader Jason Brock, Vicky Ford, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, confirmed she was lifting the Government direction with immediate effect.

The letter acknowledged ‘significant improvement’ since Ofsted’s inspection 5 years ago and the ‘hard work and commitment of all involved.”

March 2020: BFfC’s Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) moved out of its ‘Inadequate’ Ofsted status in its first inspection since the company took over the service in March 2019. The IFA was judged as ‘Requires improvement to be good’ in all three inspection areas (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/readings-fostering-service-no-longer-inadequate/).

February 2020: Cressingham became BFfC’s second children’s home to receive an Outstanding Ofsted judgement (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/outstanding-rating-for-our-short-breaks-childrens-home/).

October 2019: Reading’s children’s social care service moved out of its ‘Inadequate’ status, just 10 months after BFfC had taken over its operation. Inspectors rated the service as ‘Requires improvement to be good’ in all four judgement areas (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/readings-childrens-services-no-longer-inadequate/).

August 2019: One of BFfC’s children’s homes, Pinecroft, was judged Outstanding by Ofsted following an unannounced inspection visit (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/outstanding-rating-for-our-childrens-home/).

December 2018: Brighter Futures for Children was created as an independent, not-for-profit, company wholly owned by the council and took over the provision of education, early help and children’s services in Reading.

https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/join-us/

Community Care

Community Care helps social workers stay up-to-date with the latest and most significant developments in practice, law and policy to help them to change lives for the better and flourish in their careers. We also support social work employers and leaders to recruit and retain high-quality practitioners and develop their staff to the best of their abilities.

Communitycare.co.uk

Our main website provides practitioners and leaders with critical news and information. The social work community can visit at any time for the most up-to-date news, and also sign up to our e-newsletters to have the latest information mailed direct to their inbox.

Community Care Inform

Our online subscription-based service delivers expert-produced practice guidance in a quick and accessible format to help social work professionals make and evidence their decisions. More information can be found by contacting [email protected]

Community Care Jobs

Our recruitment site helps support employers to recruit the right staff and practitioners to find the right opportunities.

In addition to a jobs listing platform, the Jobs team develop bespoke partnerships with organisations to help senior leaders understand and overcome the issues surrounding social worker retention

You can find out more by contacting [email protected]

Community Care Live

This two-day, annual event brings the whole sector together to learn, debate and network. It is full of CPD and essential learning, covering key topics across children and families’ social work, adult social care and social work management.

This year’s event takes place on 12-13 October, and full details can be found at www.communitycarelive.co.uk

Isle of Wight Council

You already know you want to be a Social Worker, you’ve done the training, you have the skills, but have you considered WHERE you want to be, to make a real difference?

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest and second-most populous island in England. It is in the English Channel, between two and five miles off the coast of Hampshire, separated by the Solent, 11 minutes by Hovercraft. The island is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and over half is designated an area of outstanding natural beauty.

On the Isle Of Wight, the overall average house price means you get more for your money compared to many other places in the South East. On a starting salary of £32k, a relocation grant of up to £8k makes buying your first home affordable or moving up to a bigger house achievable. Our market supplement provides up to an additional £4k a year as you progress. You have 31 days annual leave a year to enjoy all what the Isle of Wight has to offer. In a recent poll with social workers across the South East, work life balance was their top priority when deciding on a job. We will invest in you and your career by providing you with five extra days for you to take to focus on your professional development with our support. We operate a nine-day fortnight which means you get an additional 26 days’ time off in lieu a year. You will have a state-of-the-art laptop, SMART phone and an online SW toolkit plus we are implementing a brand-new ICS system.

https://www.iow.gov.uk/jobvacancies/job_details.aspx?jobId=3173

Kent County Council

At Kent County Council we recognise that social work is both one of the hardest jobs in the public sector. We need our social workers to build effective relationships with families in very difficult circumstances and we make sure we give them the best tools and support available to enable those relationships to bring about change for children and young people, making Kent a county that works for all children.

Since 2018, we have travelled an exciting journey through our Change for Kent Children Programme which has shaped and guided the integration of our services. We are now refreshing this programme against the backdrop of new and emerging factors, not least the impact of Covid, but with new initiatives to improve better outcomes, deliverables and improve access for children and families in Kent. The programme aims to transform the practice and delivery model of Integrated Children’s Services improving outcomes and life chances for the most vulnerable children and young people in Kent.

We are achieving this by:

Recruiting, supporting, and retaining more social workers through our Kent Academy

Quality of practice – consistent training and support model county-wide

A whole family approach that supports the needs of parents and carers by embedding adult focused practitioners in children and family teams, focusing on mental health, domestic abuse, substance, and alcohol misuse

Integrated adolescent teams using innovative contextual safeguarding approaches to manage adolescent risk

To be the best corporate parent we can be by working with young people in care to help change and shape our services

We have a very clear vision within our children's services for all Kent children to feel safe, secure, loved, fulfilled, happy and optimistic.

Opportunities

We have opportunities whatever the stage of your career to grow and develop;

• Newly Qualified Social Workers
• Experienced Social Workers
• Senior Practitioners
• Team Managers

Our Offer

We can offer you a competitive salary, staff benefits package and excellent career development that comes from working for an authority as large as Kent. As part of our team, you will enjoy an attractive benefits package and training opportunities to help you achieve your full potential.

Professional Development & Training

Kent is changing and it’s an exciting time for us as we turn our ambitions into realities. We work hard to provide our social workers with a fully supportive environment. We are proud to be able to offer leadership and development opportunities which empower them to make a real difference to children’s lives.

Contact Us

Contact one of our specialist advisors for friendly advice and support.

Telephone: 03000 411118

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.kent.gov.uk/jobs/careers-with-us/careers-in-childrens-work-care

Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth Children, Families and Education Department is part of a City Council that has big ambitions to achieve consistently good and better outcomes with local children, young people and families. Currently judged to be a 'Good' local authority children's service by Ofsted. We have much to offer and are keen to attract newly qualified and experienced social work practitioners and managers who share our values and ambition.

We deliver early help support and statutory social work with children and young people in need of support, protection and care across the whole of the child's journey including a 'front door' Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub, Locality Teams in the north, south and central parts of the City as well as Adults Family Safeguarding Team providing interventions to parents to bring around sustained change for families. In Portsmouth we have also have Through Care Teams, a Youth Offending Team and Fostering, Adoption and Residential Care.

Portsmouth won the first 'Restorative Award' in 2019. The senior leadership team and wider management group provide 'high challenge' and 'high support' to create the optimum conditions to deliver best practice. We provide accessible, responsive and skilled supervision, manageable caseloads, and lots of opportunities for learning, development and progression.

The Model of Family Practice is based upon the principle that the worker’s relationship with the child and family is the most effective approach to achieve change. In order for the practitioner to have a helpful and restorative relationship with the family they need to have effective, helpful, restorative relationships with their manager and with others within PCC. We are implementing Motivational Interviewing from September 2021 to our workforce which is hugely exciting alongside Trauma Informed Model of Care, UP2U Family Practice and Informed by Difference.

Portsmouth is a city where integration and multi-agency working is real and tangible, providing a strong framework for making a difference to children and families. So, if you're a qualified social worker looking to be part of a powerful team - we'd like to talk with you.

https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/working-for-the-council/

Social Work England

Social Work England is a specialist body taking a new approach to regulating social workers in their vital roles. We believe in the power of collaboration and share a common goal with those we regulate—to protect the public, enable positive change and ultimately improve people’s lives.  

Social work is about people. Our purpose is to regulate social workers in England so that people receive the best possible support whenever they might need it in life. We are committed to raising standards through collaboration with everyone involved in social work.

Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council is very much a learning organisation where evidence-based practice is at the heart of our work with children and families. We offer a well-supported, progressive career pathway no matter what your future aspirations look like including stepping up to a management role or to be a leader of advanced practice by taking on more complex cases.

We’re really pleased and very proud to have launched Family Solutions Somerset- a new way of working in Children’s services in Somerset, designed to support sustainable change to help families thrive.

Family Solutions Somerset includes our Family Safeguarding teams, Family Drug & Alcohol court (FDAC) PAUSE and Safe Families. It’s based on our existing principles of systemic working, strength, and relationship-based practice.

‘I have now worked for Somerset County Council for 10 months. Somerset is by far the best LA I have worked for. The culture is supportive and promotes physical and emotional well-being’
- Assessment Team Social Worker

 

The way we work and how we support you

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, within a friendly team who are passionate about the work that they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We are continuing to develop our use of motivational interviewing and mindfulness to support families with identifying opportunities for change and working to achieve and sustain this alongside them, with the support of our multi-agency partners.

We're supporting flexible working arrangements to suit the needs of our employees, service, and families whilst up-to-date technology is being utilised to help our colleagues to stay connected with their peers and management team.

Living and working in Somerset

Somerset is special. A county with a lot to offer. Beautiful stretches of sandy coastline, caves, moors, the unique Somerset Levels, get-away-from-it-all areas of outstanding natural beauty, cool-list towns, internationally renowned art galleries, the world’s largest green-field music festival and great local food and produce. And yes, that includes copious amounts of cheese and cider! What's not to love?

It's all here on your doorstep. Somerset enjoys good road, rail and air travel networks. With easy access routes to the rest of the country, you can get to London by train in less than 2 hours, and you'll find national and international flights from and to Bristol and Exeter airports, both easily accessible from the M5 motorway.

Find your place with us

We have a range of social work opportunities across a variety of teams and locations. From Social Worker roles to Advanced Practitioner and Team Manager positions. These include roles within our new Family Drug and Alcohol Court Team and Social Workers in Schools project.

See our current opportunities: Social Care (somerset.gov.uk)

We're always pleased to hear from talented people. So, if you don’t see the position, you’re looking for, or you've got any questions about the opportunities that we have available, or if there's anything else you'd like to know before you apply (or even during the application process), please get in touch with our Recruitment & Engagement Officer for Childrens services: Sarah Collard-Baker: 07384 818513 or [email protected]

Southampton City Council

We’re on a journey to make Southampton City Council among the best places in the country to practice social work. We’re growing our teams and are recruiting to range of social worker roles at all levels. Achieving our high ambitions for children and young people starts with our people. We encourage a learning culture, invest in our people, and provide development opportunities to enable our skilled workforce to be the best they can be.

That’s why we’re launching an in-house Early Help and Children and Learning Academy in 2021 that will provide staff with structured learning and development opportunities and help us all deliver the very best early help support and social work to children, young people, and families.

We know that our social workers perform best when they are happy and fulfilled in their roles. This means we are committed to helping you achieve a healthy work-life-balance by prioritising manageable caseloads, providing flexible working hours, maternity, paternity and special leave, adoption leave and time off for dependants.

Southampton is a vibrant and diverse city, and in common with other cities we have areas that are affected by deprivation and present challenges. This means that our work isn’t always easy - though it is always rewarding and if you join us you will get excellent support, a learning environment and some real opportunities to make significant impact. We want our staff to join us at the start of their occupation but want to stay with us for a career. If you join us as an ASYE we do not ask you to sign any contracts or be tied in with us for a certain amount of time. We invest in our staff and we want you to stay with us because you believe in our ethos and believe that all children and Young People really do deserve to get a good start in life.

Why not find out more about joining our journey? Southampton is a city that is increasingly an exciting place to be - the third highest ranking city in the UK for good growth and the world’s leading business incubator for UK tech entrepreneurs. Southampton boasts a city centre that is easy to travel around by foot, bike and public transport and offers a range of retail outlets, restaurants, bars, cinemas and theatres, as well as a wider variety of parks and open spaces to enjoy within the city. All of this and the New Forest National Park on its doorstep!

https://www.southampton.gov.uk/jobs/.

Swindon Borough Council

Join Swindon and make a difference for children and their families.

There has never been a better time to join our Children’s Services teams as following a recent inspection, we have been rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted.

Our transformation journey

Like all other local authorities we are experiencing an increase in demand. As an organisation we know our Children’s Services have not been good enough in recent years which is why we started making big changes across the service to provide the best care for children and great conditions for our staff. This started with us recruiting an entirely new leadership team of experienced, forward thinking managers who are driving changes in the service and we aim to be one of the best Children’s Services in the country.

We are now working to implement the Family Safeguarding Model in 2022.

Improvements include:

• Multi-million pound investment in staff and support

• Significant restructure creating smaller social worker teams

• New intuitive IT system to cut down on desk time and make mobile working the norm

• A separate 'Children Looked After' team to make sure we provide the best service for children in care

• High standards for management practice, support and supervision for staff

• Listening to our social workers by holding regular social work forums.

At the heart of it all is our desire to promote and cultivate a strong learning culture combined with outstanding leadership and supervision. Here is what you can expect to find when you arrive:

• Early help and community health practitioners co-located with our social workers, providing great working relationships

• Fantastic relationships with partner agencies such as the police and Swindon CCG

• Teams located within communities, providing a closer connection to the people we work with.

To find out more visit: https://jobs.swindon.gov.uk/info/29/childrens_services

West Sussex County Council

Vision

The West Sussex approach puts the child first. We work with children, families, communities, our partners and schools in a restorative, strength based way. Strong relationships are at the heart of what we do.

Children First in West Sussex

West Sussex is a beautiful county located on the South Coast of England. Within easy reach of sandy beaches and rolling hills, West Sussex also boasts a perfect balance of cosmopolitan towns such as Crawley and Horsham, and flourishing market towns like Chichester. West Sussex has so much to offer and is a wonderful place to live, work and play.

At West Sussex County Council, we see the workplace as an environment where people can be themselves, perform to the best of their ability and achieve their potential to deliver services to our residents living in West Sussex. Our staff are our greatest asset and we are committed to the employment, retention and career development of talented individuals.

Social work is a challenging career and we recognise that to achieve excellent outcomes for our residents, our people need to feel supported, developed, and recognised. Our Social Workers change lives, supporting children and families from the very start and at every step of the way.

Family Support and Protection Team

We are particularly interested in hearing from Social Workers interested in joining our Family Support and Protection Team. This team work with children and families at the point in their journey where there are safeguarding concerns and act to reduce those risks. They play a key role in child protection, child in need cases and safety planning for children.

Family Support and Protection undertake meaningful, transparent direct work with children and their families ensuring the most positive outcomes and our diverse practice teams work within a nurturing environment where successes are celebrated and individuals within the team are supported to grow and develop.

There are 5 practice groups working geographically, with each managed by a Service Manager. They in turn support 4 to 5 practice teams led by Team Managers. We have a Court Progression Officer leading on our improvement plan for our children within the public law outline. There is a cohort of approximately 1200 children in Family Support and Protection, from pre-birth to 18 years, and children subject to child protection plans and within the public law outline. Some child in need work is undertaken as children step down from child protection planning and transition on to our universal or Early Help service.

What we can offer you

Recognising the improvement journey we are on in West Sussex, we have an exciting new and fair pay structure which includes an extended career progression scheme. Our starting salary for a Social Worker who has completed their ASYE is now £37,024 up to £49,339 for an Advanced Social Worker.

We are creating the right environment where good social work can flourish with the correct structure and support in place to ensure this happens. In order to fully deliver on our commitment, we need more great social workers to join us and be part of the positive improvement work already taking place, and help shape the way we work in the future.

If you are passionate about delivering excellent social work and making a difference, have a look at some of the exciting opportunities we currently have in Children’s Services.

Interested in finding out more about West Sussex? Please visit our website: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/childrenfirst