Social Worker Changing Futures Wellbeing Team

About the role

Social Worker Changing Futures Wellbeing Team

Fixed Term, Full Time

From £32,787 to £44,826 per annum - Pay award pending

Location: Countywide

Closing Date: 29th March 2023

Please note that this is a fixed term contract/secondment opportunity up to March 2025.

Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest and most dynamic local authorities in the UK, serving a population of 2 million residents, and has a very successful track record of delivering transformational change. ECC anticipated change was needed in the public sector and has worked to deliver better quality at lower cost. We have an ambitious transformation agenda – one with the scope to reach every part of the council. We are changing the way we think, the way we work, and the ways in which we deliver our services. We are committed to becoming a place where individuals, partners and communities feel proud to play their role and genuinely want to belong. We’re immensely proud of our flexible working options.

About the Role

You will work in the Changing Futures Wellbeing Team with service users who suffer from Mental Health difficulties and who can experience multiple disadvantages next to their Mental Health difficulties, such as homelessness, substance misuse, domestic abuse and / or contact with the criminal justice system. There will be an extra focus on supporting people suffering with substance abuse and mental health in this role.

The team is part of a successful project supported by public health which aims to reach service users who have difficulties with their Mental Health and who can experience multiple disadvantages and complexities in their lives. You will be working closely with partners in other organisations and specialist addiction services.

Managing your own caseload you’ll be a source of specialist advice and enable the mitigation of high levels of risk. You’ll also bring your professional expertise to contribute to the development of practice standards and our four key principles of prevention, early intervention, enablement and safeguarding.

Joining the Changing Futures Wellbeing Team at Essex means you will be working in a supportive and innovative environment enabling you to develop your own ideas to make meaningful changes to the service user’s lives. Working with community groups, family and carers you will ensure advocacy for people with Mental Health, substance abuse and social care difficulties. This role enables you to build meaningful relationships with our service users and make a difference in their lives.

The team will be countywide community based with a mixture of working from home, local office-based working and working directly with adults in community settings.

The Opportunity

ECC Adult Social Care, through effective practice, is moving towards a transformational shift from a focus on long-term care support, to a model with four key principles: - prevention; early intervention; enablement and safeguarding.

This will enable people, their families and carers to access information and tools, live healthily and independently and for our function an opportunity to respond pro-actively to growing service demand in a sustainable way, within the financial constraints of the Council.

Social workers manage a caseload, including assessment of risk and purposeful intervention through direct work, commissioned services and review. Quality assuring interventions and balancing need with finance.

Educated to degree level with current registration and the ability to demonstrate practice in accordance with professional standards. Experience of developing strong working relationships with partners, other agencies and the voluntary sector to deliver improved outcomes.

Accountabilities

· Assess complex social care needs and provide support to vulnerable adults, which enable them to live healthily and independently.

· Develop support plans that gain commitment to solutions that drive the care required for each individual’s needs.

· Accountable for working within the statutory legal framework, policy and guidance and determining when the threshold for statutory intervention has been reached

· Work collaboratively building effective relationships with internal and external partnerships and stakeholders, and the voluntary sector to assist children and vulnerable people in gaining support for inclusivity from within the community.

· Accountable for conducting assessments and plan responses to safeguard a child or vulnerable adult include intervention as required.

· Develop a client centric approach which enables early intervention and prevention and increases independence.

· Pro-actively influences in a range of planning, decision making and case discussions inter-agency.

· Work with families, communities and individuals to help people age well supporting the Council’s wider strategic aims.

· Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

· Educated to degree level i.e. Diploma or degree in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent. Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a registered social worker

· Evidence of continuing professional development and demonstrable capability of practice in accordance with current professional standards e.g. professional capability framework, knowledge and skills statement.

· Experience within a social care setting with evidence of challenging social and family situations.

· Strong communication skills and an ability to develop a rapport and engage with diverse groups of individuals.

· Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies and the local community to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children and vulnerable adults.

· Understand the financial implications of care packages commissioned

· Evidence of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.

To read more about us please visit: Adult Social Care

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community here .

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email sadie.orwell@essex.gov.uk

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