Designated Social Care Officer

Posted 1st Nov, 2024
Location
Bexley
Salary/rate
£52,896 – £60,693
Hours
Full-time
Working arrangements
Blended
Contract type
Permanent
Closing date
29th Nov, 2024
About the role

Our Children’s Services team is committed to supporting young people, ensuring their safety, and creating opportunities for them to thrive. We are currently seeking a Designated Social Care Officer to lead SEND initiatives and strengthen partnerships across social care, health, and education.

Are you a skilled social worker passionate about supporting children with SEND?

Bexley Council is looking for an experienced Designated Social Care Officer to integrate SEND practices into social care, helping to improve outcomes for young people with SEND and ensuring the Council meets statutory SEND requirements.

Based in a well-established quality assurance and professional standards team you will be working alongside other professionals with a focus on strengthening  where you can expect team support and joint work with other key professionals across the partnership.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Strategic SEND Implementation: Develop and oversee SEND action plans within social care, working across multi-agency networks for an integrated approach.
  • Mentorship & Training: Act as a mentor, supporting colleagues’ development and facilitating training.
  • Safeguarding & Compliance: Ensure the wellbeing of children in residential care, ensuring alignment with legislation under the Children Act and SEND Code of Practice.
  • Innovative Service Delivery: Build and lead a network of SEND champions to support ongoing improvements.

For more details on the role, please refer to the attached Job Description.

About you

To be successful, candidates will need:

  • Degree in Social Work and registration with Social Work England
  • Proven experience in SEND legislation, systemic practice, and collaborative service delivery
  • Strong communication skills, with the ability to lead in complex, multi-agency settings
  • A proactive, solution-oriented approach to problem-solving

For the full list of essential and desirable criteria for this role, please refer to the attached Person Specification within the Job Description.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

As a Disability Confident Employer, Bexley welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria. For reasonable adjustments in the recruitment process, please contact recruitment@bexley.gov.uk.

Additional Information

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages.    

About Bexley

Bexley is well connected, there are good transport links to central London, the Kent countryside and the Coast! It is the best of both worlds. Our residents and workers can benefit from the new high-speed Elizabeth Line which goes from Abbey Wood, here in Bexley and all the way to Reading, Southeast England.

We are a diverse and growing borough. By 2030 our population will be over 260,000 and almost 300,000 by 2050. Almost 25% of our population is Black and Asian Multi-Ethnic. Bexley is one of London’s greenest boroughs and has recently been awarded Public Sector Campaign of the year by Sustainable City’s prestigious annual awards.

Our Approach to Children’s Social Care in Bexley

We believe that everyone in Bexley Children’s Social Care should have the opportunity to grow and develop, in every role and at every stage of their career and offer a wide variety of social work roles, both for qualified and unqualified practitioners. Bexley Children’s Social Care offers the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in different areas of Children’s Services: we offer a comprehensive range of professional development opportunities and are committed to ensuring that Bexley is a welcoming and enjoyable place to work.

The children and families we work with, are always kept at the centre of our practice.  We believe: 

  • children should stay with their families whenever it’s in their best interests and safe to do so

  • where it’s not, we must act quickly through the courts to help children find a safe space 

  • success depends on positive, respectful relationships with families and with each other 

  • working with families is unpredictable, so we have to create a supportive environment for our teams 

  • the most effective practice is based on â€˜showing your working out’ â€“ so that even when things don’t go to plan, the thinking behind decisions is clear and defensible 

Working in social care in Bexley is endlessly rewarding. As well as helping some of the most vulnerable people in our borough, we invest in looking after you and your career. 

We offer excellent benefits, from competitive salaries and generous leave to flexible working and a wealth of health and wellness programmes. 

Our offer:

  • flexible working - including opportunities for hybrid working, job sharing, compressed hours, and career breaks 

  • a comprehensive range of training and professional development opportunities including access to research, group and e-learning, coaching and group supervision for colleagues in all roles and at every stage of their career

  • clear career progression pathways, within a nurturing environment, which allows social work to flourish. From opportunities to undertake social work qualification; our dedicated ASYE Academy; to our Leadership Academy offering bespoke development for our aspiring and existing leaders. There are also opportunities for practitioners to be involved in university research & academic delivery with our partner universities and students.

  • family leave - includes maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave 

  • mental health and physical wellbeing - including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, help to quit smoking, access to private healthcare, free eye tests and discounted leisure offers 

  • financial wellbeing - excellent pension scheme, charitable giving options 

  • generous annual leave - 25 to 33 days, with the option to purchase extra leave plus an extra bank holiday at Christmas 

  • competitive pay - performance assessments with the opportunity for salary increments and transparent salary scales 

  • transport offers - cycle to work scheme, carpooling, subsidised parking and interest-free season ticket loans 

  • recognition - Thank you messaging to celebrate staff success and sharing of compliments received 

  • professional and personal development - training and workshops to help you thrive and a discount on most Learning and Enterprise College Bexley courses 

  • staff support networks - our networks support and encourage networking between staff with various events throughout the year 

  • employee volunteering - get out of the office and help a local project blossom 

  • MyChoice benefit scheme - your pick of perks from vouchers to car leasing 

  • local authority discount scheme - attraction and theme park discounts and local offers in partnership with KAARP .

We work together in a modern, well-equipped, energising environment that supports team working and collaboration across the service and with partners