Senior Social Worker – Children

Job Description

Senior Social Worker – Children

Edge of Care Team

PO5. £57,194 - £60,323 (includes £5k market supplement)

Office based role – Newham Dockside E16 2QU

Closing date: 23:59 on 26/10/25

Job Description here

JOIN US AND HELP BUILD A FAIRER NEWHAM

Newham is a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich London Borough with a young population and limitless potential. As part of our commitment to building a Fairer Newham we are reimagining the way that we serve the families that we support. We are currently looking for an experienced Senior Social Worker to join Newham's new Edge of Care reunification Team.

Our vision is for the London Borough of Newham to be a place where children and families can thrive and through the work that we do with children, their families and communities, we can improve outcomes for children who are vulnerable to harm. Where safe to do so, the Edge of Care Reunification team will work alongside the Children in Care Social Work Team and families to provide support to enable children to remain at home or return home with the aim for families to stay together. The Edge of Care reunification Team follows a Purposeful, Planned and Focused (PPF) approach whilst working within a Relational and Systemic Practice Framework to help families strengthen their communication, relationships and reduce risks.

We understand that social work can be a challenging yet ultimately very rewarding profession that makes demands of you personally and professionally. In Newham we value your wellbeing and we aim to ensure that you have a better work/life balance through a remote working offer when you are not visiting children and families, a modern office space for when you're on site, a flexible working policy where all requests are considered, and a clinical offer to support you to do your best work.

ABOUT THE JOB

The post sits within the Edge of Care Team. The team works alongside social workers in the wider service and will work outside of office hours when required. The Team will be supporting children to remain with their families and kinship networks and supporting children who are in local authority care to safely reunify home.

Applicants will need to evidence their experience of supporting children, families as well as supporting and engaging adolescents. A good knowledge of the factors that can impact on reunifications being successful is required. We can offer you training in our relational model and support to develop systemic practice. We have a wide training offer including safeguarding and systemic training and you will be working within a service were learning and practice development are held in high priority and is supported by a permanent management team.

The Senior Social Worker alongside the Team will be providing an episode of targeted intensive time-limited support to children and families open to an allocated social worker. The Senior Social Worker will be an integral part of the professional network to enable the reunification of children who have recently come into Care, are already in Care, stabilising emergency placements with family member's/kinship carers or to enable children to step down from high support placements to foster care as part of the reunification plan. This exciting role will involve a high level of direct work with children, adolescents and their families, including those placed outside of Newham.

The Senior Social Worker will be responsible for implementing the co-production of bespoke reunification plans jointly with the allocated social workers within the Children in Care Service, the family and the professional network. Where required, this will also include providing written support plans to be incorporated within the Court Care Plans and Statements.

The Senior Social Worker will work closely with social workers within CYPS to keep children with their families or kinship networks. This will include supporting with consultations, advice and direct work with families on the same day that concerns are identified.

The Senior Social Worker will supervise the Coaches within the Team and support the Service Manager in the implementation of consultations, closures and performance led targets. There will be CPD opportunities for the successful applicant.

The edge of Care Team enhances the family-led, relational values that were already at the centre of our practice and will continue the evolution of our firmly embedded Circles of Support practice model. We're keeping children at the heart of everything we do whilst improving the overall experience of the families, partners, and social workers in our sphere. Above all, we want to do the best for Newham's children and families.

ABOUT YOU

We are looking for qualified, Social Work England registered Senior Social Workers with post qualifying experience within a statutory children's social work service. It's essential that applicants understand the value of working with families from first point of contact to completion and are enthusiastic about this way of working. We're also keen to meet practitioners who value their own CPD, will make the most of our academy offer and are excited about the prospect of working with management to embed good practice and support colleagues.

We're looking for conscientious, considerate and empathetic people, who are committed to working relationally with families whilst putting every child's welfare, potential, and future at the heart of their work. Newham is committed to our workforce being representative of the families we work with, to enhance cultural competence and adjust our practice to suit the individuals we serve. We are looking for colleagues who share our values and are passionate about tackling disproportionality wherever they find it and building a Fairer Newham.

You will have demonstrable experience of working with children, young people and families with highly complex and challenging needs and be dynamic and creative.

You will have demonstrable experience of working within a multi-disciplinary environment at a senior level and are able to build effective professional relationships with partner agencies and stakeholders in the community.

You will have experience in undertaking needs assessments and contributing to risk and safety planning and will have experience of working with statutory services.

We are looking for practitioners who are able to keep children at the heart of their practice, who are committed to keeping children safely connected to their family and their community.

You will have a genuine interest in a restorative, relationship based practice model, drawing on systemic thinking to inform your approach to building effective relationships with children, families and communities. We'd love to hear from social workers who are keen on learning and growing with us over a number of years and as an employer we've been working hard to provide the development our practitioners need and want. Our Academy offer has been commended by Ofsted and we promoted 38 internal colleagues in children's social care in 2024.

WHY WORK WITH US?

We've been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise social work.

• A commitment to addressing disproportionality wherever we find it.
• We're a GOOD local authority focused on reaching excellence.
• We offer genuinely flexible/hybrid working as long as children and families are supported.
• Stability: 100% of senior management and 80% of Team Managers are now permanent.
• Our firmly established practice model, Circles of Support, was recently nominated for the prestigious MJ Award for Innovation in Children's Services and allows systemic, restorative practice to flourish.
• Career progression is possible with Newham; within Children's social work we promoted 30 internal colleagues in 2023 and 38 colleagues in 2024.
• Social Care Academy – our academy received significant praise from Ofsted and 50+ social workers have studied for systemic higher education with us since 2020.
• A competitive salary package that rivals capped agency pay.
• Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
• Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits
• Travel season ticket loan, cycle scheme, Local Authority pension.

TO APPLY

To apply please submit your CV through our online recruitment portal .

Our social worker roles are CV only application to make things easier for you; but please ensure your CV is up to date and lists relevant experience in line with the service you're applying for.

Closing date: 23:59 on 26/10/25

*Please apply ASAP as we may shortlist and interview candidates before this closing date*

Interviews:

If you have any questions about the recruitment process or want to discuss joining Newham Children's Services with one of our managers, please contact our Recruitment Team .

Additional Information

We are committed to creating an inclusive, anti-racist environment for all. When you apply for a job at Newham, your application is considered on its merits regardless of your age, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender identity or sexual orientation. If you share our vision and values, and you bring the experience and skills we need, that's all that matters to us.

The London Borough of Newham has important responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. If you are appointed to a job that involves working with these groups, you may be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Please attach your supporting statement, explaining in no more than x2 A4 sides why and how you meet the criteria for this role.

We practice anonymised recruitment. Please ensure that you remove all personal information from any documents that you upload.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by .

About Us

The London Borough of Newham is located only 5 miles east of London. It is well positioned with access to all major networks in London and the south east. It is well connected by public transport with, bus, tube and DLR. When the Crossrail service opens it will call at Custom House close to our council offices and also Stratford station and from there to central London. The London City Airport which serves major European cities is located at Royal Albert Dock. Newham has the youngest overall population in the country. It was one of the six host boroughs for the 2012 Summer Olympics and contains most of the Olympic Park including the London Stadium. It has a thriving arts quarter with the Theatre Royal Stratford East offering excellent entertainment for all the family. There is the University of East London which has two campuses in Newham, one in Stratford and another next to the regenerated Royal Albert Dock. It also has a large Westfield shopping Centre in Stratford which has all the major retailers there.