Social Worker

Social Worker (Child Protection Resource)
Howdenhall Edinburgh Secure Services - City Wide

Salary: £44,257 - £52,373
Hours: 36 per week

We believe that every child and young person deserves the best possible start in life. Our aim is for Edinburgh's children to be safe, healthy, nurtured, educated, active and respected. A Social Worker vacancy has arisen in our Child Protection Resource, which is a city-wide team undertaking initial child protection assessments for children not already involved with social work services for whom there is a new child protection concern. 

The post-holder will be working with children and young people who need protection, working in strengths based and restorative ways to get alongside children and their families, to build positive relationships, identify what they need to keep them safe and put in place plans which improve wellbeing for children, young people and their families. 

The post-holder must have experience of working in a Children & Families team, including experience of undertaking assessments of need and risk for children. 

We work within a culture of continuous improvement and it is vital for the applicant to be able to demonstrate flexible thinking and the ability to approach change and practice development with positivity. 

The applicant must have: 

• Proven communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Experience of direct work with children and families. 
• Experience of undertaking assessments within a children and families setting. 
• An understanding of the national legislative and policy context.
• Drive and determination to support Edinburgh to keep The Promise. 
• Knowledge about child development, attachment and identity.
• Ability to work closely with partners to share information and negotiate effective plans for children to promote their safety and wellbeing. 
• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise tasks in a context of competing demands. 
• Commitment to maintaining knowledge of current research developments. 
• Ability to work within a team and contribute to team discussions.
• ICT and keyboard skills. 

This post is regulated work with children and/or protected adults under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. The preferred candidate will be required to join the PVG Scheme or undergo a PVG Scheme update check.  Where an individual has spent a continuous period of 3 months or more out with the UK in the last 5 years, an Overseas Criminal Record Check will be required. You will be required to provide this check. An unconditional offer of employment and commencement in the post will be subject to the outcome of both these pre-employment checks being deemed satisfactory.

We're committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits that a diverse workforce with different values, beliefs, experience, and backgrounds brings to us as an organisation.

As part of our goal to improve our organisational culture and create a great place to work together for the people of Edinburgh, we want to make sure that we're bringing the best people into our roles, not just in their skills and experience but also in their approach to work.

To help achieve this, we're changing the way we interview and assess candidates by moving from a competency-based interview approach to a behavioural and technical (skills for the job) based approach. This new way of interviewing will allow us to assess how you think and how you would bring Our Behaviours of Respect, Integrity and Flexibility into your ways of working.

You can find out more on Our Behaviours web page Our Behaviours – The City of Edinburgh Council

Our salary range typically reflects the initial starting salary and annually increases until it reaches the top of the range.

Happy to talk flexible working.

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