Senior Social Worker - Adolescent Family Help

Posted 18th Sep, 2025

Location

Lewisham

Salary/rate

£50,175 – £52,269

Working pattern

Full-time – 35 hours per week

Working arrangements

Blended

Contract type

Permanent

Closing date

1st Oct, 2025

About the role

Main Purpose of the job:
To provide an accountable emergency statutory social work service to all service users across the department, to include children, young people and their families/carers, adults and those experiencing mental health difficulties including formal mental health assessments. You will be an Approved Mental Health Professional and will be required to undertake the statutory duties of an AMHP. Risk management, personalisation and safeguarding will be key parts of the role including assessment, intervention, case planning and review, appropriate to the work of the team and service unit.

Summary of Responsibilities and Personal Duties:

To be responsible for undertaking all social work on duty cases, or those worked with on a short term assessment basis.
To participate in a duty rota covering the periods out of office hours, evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays.
Ensure risk management and adult safeguarding is effectively embedded within practice and responded to appropriately.
Ensure children’s safeguarding is effectively embedded within practice and responded to appropriately.
Liaise as appropriate with Children’s and Adult Social Care Services’ taking into account safeguarding procedures.
Work jointly with Children & Families Social Care Teams when required to provide joint working arrangements, be aware of Team Around the Child actions, be prepared to lead on such.
In professional practice (and that of any supervised staff) promote service user prevention and personalisation, including the promotion of enablement and linking the service user to community based services that enhance personal wellbeing.
Promote the principles of self-directed support and enable service users and their carers to make choices about how their Personal Budget is managed and the services purchased to meet agreed outcomes.
Manage own work and the work of others as delegated by the Team Manager.
Act as “Investigating Officer” in designated cases; ensuring that all aspects of the safeguarding process has been carried out and has been appropriately concluded.
Be aware of current service‘s for Victims of Domestic Abuse, work with MARAC and local Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA) as required. Be mindful of policy and practice relating to Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking, Forced Marriage, and Domestic Homicide.
Carry out any assessments and service user reviews to a high standard and in a timely manner in accordance with procedures reflecting the needs and outcomes of the service user and carer.
Carry out AMHP duties in a professional manner, ensuring that you take responsibility for; continuing to meet the warranting criteria, attendance at mandatory training, completing Social Circumstance reports in a timely manner & regular attendance on the rota. If requested to do so to take on specific pieces of AMHP related work i.e. Nearest Relative displacement.
Attend training, across both LBL and SLaM as agreed with Line Manager and if required AMHP Manager.
To maintain accurate records of all work undertaken on behalf of the Directorate, and to ensure that service users are aware of their right to see such records.
To ensure that service users are aware of their right to complain about the service they receive.
To produce case reports and correspondence for a variety of readership, including meetings, conferences, court, other agencies and service users.
To ensure that all work is undertaken in compliance with policies, procedures, guidance and legislation.
To ensure that the needs of service users/carers from all communities are addressed, and that close attention is paid to equalities issues in all aspects of work.
To develop and maintain effective working relationships at appropriate levels with other agencies relevant to the work of the unit.
To input data, using Information Technology, as required.
To take responsibility for one’s own, and others safety, by ensuring that team members and other staff are not knowingly exposed to risk of violence.
To attend, contribute and participate fully in supervision, in accordance with the Department’s supervision policy.

For Senior Social Workers Only:

To provide supervision, as appropriate, to social workers, students and/or Social Work Assistants.
To undertake such project work as appropriate to the post holder’s service unit.
To undertake cases with complex risk levels.
To take responsibility for decision making on duty on a day-to-day basis as appropriate.

Partnership Working/Team Work

Promote joint working at a frontline level, working in a multi-disciplinary way with colleagues in other departments of the Mental Health Trust, Local Authority and in Health.
Attend team meetings and foster positive team working.

General Duties

Ensure adherence to legislation, guidance, procedure and policy – both in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults and children and as an employee of the council.
Ensure services are delivered in accordance with the Council’s Equal Opportunities and Environmental Policies.
Undertake any other duties commensurate with the level of the post.
Maintain and update own technical knowledge and continuous professional development e.g. take a lead for specific area of practice across services.
To deputise for the Team manager if required.
Maintain registration with the Social Work England.
Adhere to both the Council’s Code of Conduct and the Social Work England Code of Practice at all times.
The post will be based within the London Borough of Lewisham, you may be required to move premises, location within the Borough to meet the needs of the service.

Internal Contacts:
These include maintain contact as necessary with colleagues and managers within the Children’s & Young People’s Division, Adult’s Care Services Division, Resources Division, and Strategy and Performance Division.

External Contacts:
This will include Other Directorates within the Council, other Local Authorities, other agencies, such as the police, probation, health services, and members of the public.

To carry out the duties of the post with due regard to the Council’s Dignity at Work Policy and core values.
All employees are required to participate in the Performance Evaluation Scheme (PES) and to undertake appropriate training and development identified to enhance their work.
All employees are required to comply with the Council's Health & Safety policies and procedures at all times, taking due care for themselves, colleagues and members of the public.
Assist in carrying out the Council's environmental policy within the day to day activities of the post.
Undertake other duties, commensurate with the grade, as may reasonably be required.
Consideration will be given to making reasonable adjustments for a disabled postholder.
THIS JOB DESCRIPTION MAY NEED TO BE AMENDED BY THE DIRECTORATE TO MEET THE CHANGING NEEDS OF THE SERVICE.
Lewisham Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.

About you

Person Specification

Equal Opportunities

Commitment to implement the Council’s Dignity at Work policies.
Awareness of Equal Opportunities issues.

Knowledge

Knowledge of the Children Act 1989 and other relevant legislation.
Knowledge of child protection policy, procedures and practice.
Knowledge of theory regarding best practice in child and family assessment and planning, and the ability to reference research and theory within own work.
Knowledge of issues faced by children and families from ethnic minority communities and other minority groups.
Knowledge of the underpinning legislation for the provision of adult social care services to Vulnerable Adults/Younger Adults/People with Learning Disabilities/Adult with mental ill-health.
Knowledge of personalisation in Adult Social Care and central government guidance for self-directed support for disabled and older people.
Knowledge of preventative and enablement approaches that improve independence.
Knowledge of legislation relating to the social care needs and rights of people with no recourse to public funding.
Knowledge of equality issues effecting the provision of adult services.
A good knowledge of adult safeguarding policy and procedure.
A good understanding of evidence based social work practice and its application with adult social care services.
A knowledge of approaches to risk management in social work and social care.
An awareness of funding systems and eligibility criteria how they are applied.

Aptitude

Ability to analyse data and formulate plans for intervention and service provision for children and their families.
Ability to work in partnership with parents, carers, and other agencies.
Ability to undertake direct work with children, young people, parents and carers.
Able to work effectively on complex casework, securing positive outcomes for service users.
Able to offer professional social work opinion based on an evidence based rationale.
Able to identify risk within individual cases, or that affect a number of service users and apply robust risk management strategies in accordance with local procedures.
Ability to produce clear, literate and appropriate records, reports and correspondence for a wide range of readership electronically.
Ability to organise own work.
Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, and to seek appropriate support, advice and supervision.
Ability to provide supervision and consultation to social workers students or social work assistants.
An ability to use Information Technology, for recording and reporting on cases.
Ability to lead on complex and difficult cases independently.
Ability and confidence to work as a lone worker.
Able in all matters financial in relation to service users and council budgets to follow local council procedures and any statutory requirements.

Skills

Prepare Social Circumstances reports for purpose of MHT, Court and AMHP in a professional and timely manner ensuring the Local Authority statutory duties are covered.
In communicating effectively with members of the public, children and their parents/carers, adult service users, families and other professionals.
In forming relationships with children, young people and parents/carers.
In assessing and planning in a wide range of child care situations.
In represent the Authority in court independently.
In giving advice and making decisions on cases allocated to SWA’s and SW’s and progressing these decisions in ICS.
IT skills across a range of systems and tools e.g. social care client database, e-mail, internet based programmes, word processing, financial database.
Excellent writing skills in order to record casework and prepare complex reports.

Experience

Experience of assessment and planning for children and young people.
Demonstrate post qualifying experience of at least two years of working with children and families or be able to demonstrate expertise at a senior level.
Previous post qualification experience of at least two years of working as a social worker in adult and mental health services.
Experience of working with service users who have complex needs that require frequent interventions to support their changing needs.
Significant experience working in the area of adult safeguarding and managing significant risk.
Experience working with service users who are “difficult to reach” who have been socially excluded.
Experience working with service users and their families where there is an extensive breadth/depth of need and economic deprivation.
Experience of chairing meetings and handling interpersonal conflict.
Experience of working with service users and advocates where the service user does not have mental capacity.

Professional Qualification(s)

Good general education with good standard of literacy and numeracy.
Qualified and Registered Social Worker.
Approved Mental Health Professional.
(Please note qualifications are an essential requirement and ORIGINAL certificates only will be accepted; these will be verified before start of appointment.)
Demonstrate continuous professional development and evidence based practice.
Registered with Social Work England.

Personal Qualities

Self-motivating.
Excellent interpersonal skills.
Flexible.
Able to think and act clearly when working under considerable pressure.
Must be available for duties 5.00pm to 9.00am on weekdays and 9.00am to 9.00am at weekends and on public holidays, plus availability for some regular daytime meetings.

Special Requirements

Ability to work alone.

This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

About Lewisham

Welcome to Lewisham – a vibrant and culturally diverse borough that is bursting with fantastic things to see and do. As a truly international borough with over 170 languages spoken in our homes and businesses, a thriving cultural scene, and a treasure trove of indie shops, bustling markets and more, it’s a great place to start and build a career.

Social work in Lewisham is changing and we have set out our vision and values for how we practice. In Lewisham Children’s Social Care (CSC), we know what good social work looks like and we are passionate about creating the right conditions and culture for good practice to thrive.

Our social workers benefit from working in small, supportive teams with caseloads on average between 15-20 children. Our ‘Signs of Safety’ practice framework means we are committed to working in a relationship-based way with children and families, focussing on strengths in the family network to effect change. A positive learning culture which promotes opportunities for reflection and relationship-based practice is important to us. We are committed to developing our practice using reflective practice spaces such as case mapping, thinking spaces and group supervision.

Our permanent and stable senior management team are visible and approachable. Our dedicated PSW and workforce team supports professional development across the service so that you will;

be supported through our comprehensive learning and development offer, which includes subscriptions to ‘Research in Practice’ and ‘Making Research Count’.
receive regular supervision and appraisal.
have 1-1 practice development coaching as a case holding practitioner, and professional development coaching as a manager.
have access to regular ‘Signs of Safety’ training and the opportunity to become a practice leader through attending our bespoke practice leader course.
have access to external leadership development opportunities such as Pathways and the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI).
have a clearly defined career progression pathway with opportunities for professional development at all levels.

We have a strong working relationship with Goldsmiths, University of London as part of the South East London Teaching Partnership so our practitioners have the opportunity to teach on social work courses as teaching consultants. We host ‘Step Up’, ‘Frontline’ and traditional route students and social workers have the opportunity to become practice educators.

Core CSC Staff Benefits include:

We have been awarded the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard – a benchmark for high employment standards. We are also one of the first London Councils to be accredited a London Living Wage employer and are a Disability Confident employer as well as a Timewise accredited Flex positive employer. We offer a 35-hour working week, and:
The opportunity to work in a thriving, diverse and developing inner London borough with a stable management team, manageable caseloads and a workforce group committed to promoting your development and emotional wellbeing
Generous salary for social workers at all levels
Generous holiday entitlement - starting at 27 days a year (plus public holidays) rising to 32 and 35 days after 5- and 10-years’ continued service.
Oyster card access for travelling in and around London for work and we are exploring initiatives, including Zip cars
Flexible working policies and a variety of hybrid, and flexible working options – we know how important this is to you
Smarter Working with new modern technology and training to support this
Career average pension scheme
Family friendly policies including maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, and special leave for emergencies.
Variety of support schemes including key worker housing, tax-free childcare scheme, access to Civil Service Sports Club which offers financial discounts and savings on days out and entertainment. KAARP activities and entertainment discounts. We offer a shop local discount scheme, volunteering leave, long service awards, membership of the Crownsavers Credit Union and access to Payroll Giving.
Health and Wellbeing support includes a staff support hub and 24/7 employee assistance programme which incorporates mental health support, counselling services and access to the PAM Assist health and wellbeing app.
We have signed the Menopause Pledge and offer gender specific and gender-neutral health and wellbeing support with access to financial advice. We offer discounted gym and leisure centre membership including free lunch time swimming; interest free loans for season tickets, nursery childcare, and bikes, a “try before you buy” bike scheme and cycle training, smoking cessation, free eye tests and money towards glasses.
Active Employee Groups including the Black and Multicultural Forum, Anti-racist Network Group, LGBTQ+ Forum, Disabled Staff Forum, Climate Emergency Staff Forum, Trade Union Memberships, and a staff-led Change Network

Staff tell us they feel valued and enjoy working in Lewisham and are well supported by their managers with regular reflective supervision and good access to training.

“Lewisham has so much to offer any social worker. I feel supported, respected and valued every step of the way”
Lewisham Social Worker

If you have any questions about applying for this role, or if you are interested in having an informal discussion about working with us, please contact our Recruitment and Retention Manager, Angela Main at angela.main@lewisham.gov.uk or Sara Taylor, our Principal Social Worker: sara.taylor@lewisham.gov.uk

Senior Social Worker - Adolescent Family Help

Person Specification

Find out more about working in Lewisham