Youth Justice Senior Social Worker

Posted 21st Jul, 2025
Location
Bexley
Salary/rate
£50,355 – £56,586
Hours
Full-time
Working arrangements
Blended
Contract type
Permanent
Closing date
4th Apr, 2025
About the role
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join us as a Youth Justice Senior Social Worker.  You will work with children who have been referred to the service by the Police for an out of court disposal or have been made subject to an order by the courts.
 

We are a high performing service and welcome candidates who share our obsession to help children and young people overcome barriers to achieve and succeed. You will need to have at least 3 years experience of working in Youth Justice and a passion for working with adolescents. You will work within a trauma-informed practice model, as part of which you will have access to clinical supervision. 

It is important that you have a creative approach, plenty of energy, initiative, and the ability to forge effective partnerships with other agencies.

Bexley Children’s Services has adopted Signs of Safety as its practice model.  This strengths and solution focused ethos of working with families and colleagues is threaded throughout all areas of Children’s Social Care.  As part of your role, you will work alongside this practice framework.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information. 

About you

A qualified social worker with at least 3 years experience working in Youth Justice. 

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

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

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