Social Worker - Children's

A bit about us

Somerset County Council have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Social Worker to join our Taunton team. The Key purpose of the role is to improve the outcomes for our most vulnerable young people and families in Somerset to encourage positive change. 

About us….

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, within a team who are passionate about the work that they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset. We offer great training and development opportunities, along with a very supportive management team.

What we can offer you…

• Generous annual leave and flexible working options
• Local Government pension scheme
• Optional pension enhancement through our additional voluntary contribution scheme
• Employee assistance and support offering a variety of wellbeing services to support a healthy work/life balance and lifestyle
• A flexible benefits platform including cycle to work and health screening schemes
• ‘My staff shop’ which offers excellent discounts at a variety of retailers including; cinemas, restaurants, clothing stores and insurance providers
• Gym discounts
• Discounted lease car options via salary sacrifice, along with discounts on fuel
• Generous relocation allowance

Here's what you can expect to be doing

Core responsibilities…

• Make on-going assessments of allocated cases to reflect individual circumstances including assessment of risk, and the need to ensure that children are protected from significant harm.
• Responsible for a caseload of varying complexity, commensurate with experience, ability and qualification; receive and respond to referrals from various sources.
• Assess the needs of children and facilities under the appropriate statutory frameworks.
• Enable individual’s families and carers to address issues which affect their health, financial, emotional and social wellbeing.

A few things about you

What we’re looking for…

You will be passionate about relationship-based social work, proud of your profession, and able to reflect and think creatively about how you can build relationships to make a difference to children and families.

Access to/ use of a vehicle is an essential requirement for this role.  You will need to be a qualified social worker registered with Social Work England and have substantial experience working with children and families in social work. 

Additional information

The team for the west of the county are based in County Hall in Taunton, although we are very open to flexible working options. You will hold a full driving licence and have access to your own vehicle as travel is required.

Due to the importance of the role we recommend applying as soon as possible. Depending on the level of response, we anticipate conducting interviews ahead of the closing date.   All interviews are being held virtually via MS Teams.

For an informal chat about roles within our assessment team please contact Cathy Jones CZJones@somerset.gov.uk.

Why choose Somerset County Council

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset. We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave.
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more.

DBS information

Please note this post requires a criminal check via the disclosure procedure.