Social Worker - Children's Specialist Support Team

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Social Worker to join our disability team, to make a difference to the lives of children and young people with specialist needs.

The Children's Specialist Support team is a multi-professional service delivering a "right help at the right time" approach to children with disabilities and their families.​ The team works with children and young people up to the age of 18 with a range of disabilities and complex needs; we help children with disabilities and their families to live safer, happier lives.

The children and young people we work with have told us they want social workers to:

• be friendly, fun and energetic;
• listen respectfully, take action and stick to deadlines;
• keep promises, be accessible and on time

We would welcome an application from you, if you are:

• A Social Worker who is committed to advocate for children and their families
• A reliable practitioner who can build trusted relationships with children and young people
• Provide stability and ambition during your time working with us
• Experience of working with children with disabilities and their families
• Experience of working with competing demands and prioritising those most vulnerable children
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, including safeguarding and child protection protocols

Key responsibilities ...

You will be responsible for a caseload of children with disabilities, including Children in Need, children subject to Child Protection Plans, Children in Care and those where care proceedings have been initiated.  You will play a crucial role in conducting assessments, developing care plans and ensuring the delivery of appropriate services to meet the individual needs of each child.

Our benefits include ...

• Generous annual leave of 28 days increasing to 33 days after 3 years’ service (pro rata for part time).
• Annual leave purchase policy.
• Opportunities for flexible and agile working, to support our employees’ work-life balance.
• An inclusive and social working environment with a variety of staff networks including sports and social clubs.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and fostering leave.
• Career development through internal and external training opportunities.
• Local government pension scheme.
• Life insurance cover (linked to the pension scheme).
• A great office location next to travel links and the regenerated town centre.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support employees’ health and wellbeing.
• Staff dental and health plans.
• Discounted leisure centre and gym membership.
• Supermarket discount.
• Reimbursement for Social Work England registration fees.

The team is an eclectic mix of different service areas covering a wide breadth of work with children with disabilities, occupational therapy, short breaks (including Larchwood, our short break respite unit).  Our  designated Social Care Officer for SEND works in our team ensuring seamless oversight of children’s SEND needs across all social care services.​

Partnership and collaborative working is the key to our success.

We are a small, welcoming and friendly local authority. Our leadership team knows that it is essential for Social Workers to have a secure physical and psychological base from which to be the best practitioners they can be. We are proud of our connected and inclusive culture, with a strong focus on wellbeing, which will provide you with a strong sense of belonging.

Bracknell Forest Council have a nationally recognised practice model – the ‘Family Safeguarding Model’. We are graded by Ofsted as “Outstanding”.   In June 2022 Ofsted identified during our inspection that

 “Children with disabilities and their families are provided with highly effective tailored support which improves their experiences”.

Inspectors concluded that social workers and other frontline practitioners benefit from manageable caseloads, good training and powerful and highly reflective supervision that ensures children are at the heart of decision making.

In November 2023 our Ofsted monitoring visit highlighted:

• Social workers receive regular supervision from their managers.
• Caseloads are manageable and allow workers to have time to spend with children.
• Social workers are very positive about working in Bracknell Forest.
• The quality and impact of social work practice for children in care, including disabled children, have continued to improve.
• Senior leaders have a detailed knowledge of children’s progress. This enables them to maintain an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development of services for children in care, including disabled children.
• Disabled children have their needs for permanence considered well. They are suitably matched with their carers at panel.
• Effective transition planning takes place with adult services for those children who will need continued support into adulthood.
• The children also receive appropriate life journey work to help them to understand their journey in care. This is provided in accordance with their communication needs.

Everything we do in Children’s Social Care is about improving the life chances of Bracknell’s children, put simply, we change lives for the better.

Interview date 

Shortlisting will be done on a weekly basis, and interviews will be arranged a minimum of 7 days after this for suitable applicants.

Interviews will be conducted in person, providing candidates with the chance to personally meet the team and experience our work environment.

We will be reviewing applications regularly and reserve the right to close the advert early if suitable candidates are identified. To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible.

Please note AI is prohibited during the interview, any candidate using AI will be withdrawn from consideration.

Want to ask us a question? 

For an informal discussion or to ask any questions about this role, please contact:

Catherine Lloyd – Team Manager

Catherine.Lloyd@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

At Bracknell Forest we champion equality, diversity and inclusion. At Bracknell Forest Council, we are always learning, ambition and inclusive. Please see our candidate pack for more details.

Bracknell Forest Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. We expect everyone employed with us to share this commitment. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to a DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check as part of our pre-employment checks process.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience of working within the current Social Care System and Framework.

Social Work England registration fees can be claimed back from the Council. 

We can only accept applications from candidates currently residing in the UK.

Candidates currently residing in the UK who require sponsorship to work are encouraged to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) based on the relevant criteria. Please be aware that sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.

No agencies please.