Social Worker

Cambridgeshire County Council is currently seeking a Social Worker to join our Family Support & Safeguarding Team.

Our Vision:

• Creating a greener, fairer, and more caring Cambridgeshire.

Our Corporate Outcome:

• Every decision we make and every action we take contributes to reducing our carbon emissions and improving nature. We make a difference through our climate-conscious decisions each day.

Our Values:

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do:

• Lives Over Services: We put people and our communities at the heart of everything we do.
• Collaborative: We respect and value people equally and work together through a shared purpose.
• Creative and Aspirational: We use our bravery, boldness, and curiosity to challenge and innovate.
• Accountable: We take ownership for our outcomes and responsibility for our behaviours.

Children’s Services:

Children, young people, and their families are at the heart of everything we do. We believe that delivering Children’s Services well has the potential to transform the lives of children, young people, and their families across Cambridgeshire. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and their families. We help children, young people, and their families to build their resilience and community connections and empower them to find their own solutions to problems. We understand that children and young people are not all the same, but they all deserve outstanding services. We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of the communities we serve in Cambridgeshire. We have identified six practice methodologies that are used within Cambridgeshire to enable practitioners to work with children, young people, and their families. Every case record will contain at minimum the following up-to-date areas of practice:

• Genograms
• Chronology
• Voice of the Child (incorporated into assessments plans and visits)
• Meaningful and planned visits
• Plans or review of plans and Planning

These are what we call The Big 6. They form the basis of all of our practice standards, and they are integral to the records we keep.

Overall purpose of the job:

Under the general direction of a Team Manager, provide a high-quality and effective social work service to respond to the needs of vulnerable children and their families in a timely manner and within statutory guidelines. Work in partnership with families using the Family Safeguarding model, taking a strengths-based approach to assess need, plan, and deliver focused interventions to safeguard children and promote positive outcomes. Build meaningful working relationships with children and young people that enable their voice to be heard and their lived experience to be understood. Work with multi-agency colleagues and partners to ensure holistic engagement with children and their families.

• Response to need: Provide professional leadership, specialist social work practice skills, and knowledge to make independent decisions and support situations in which the risk of significant harm, ambiguity, or complexity is greatest. Through the intervention of assessment, identify and respond to needs, build on strengths, ensuring that analysis is robust and leads to clear outcomes that can be met through appropriate SMART plans. Demonstrate good analytical, interviewing, and observational skills to ensure the voice of the child is heard and is used to inform all assessments, decision-making, and interventions. Using our practice methods, engage with children, young people, and their families to develop effective and empowering working relationships that facilitate change and improve outcomes for children and young people. Ensure legislation and statutory guidance are adhered to and challenge decisions where appropriate. Act as the lead professional and ensure all matters in respect of safeguarding are dealt with promptly, effectively, and in line with child protection procedures and escalated as necessary. Demonstrate sound written skills through the provision of coherent, analytical, and evidence-based reports and plans for a variety of forums, including court, which are child-focused and reflect the impact of the child’s lived experience.
• Partnership Working: Represent Cambridgeshire County Council at a community level and by working jointly with key partner agencies, develop effective multi-agency plans to enable independence, formulating appropriate solutions together with children and families. Contribute to the development of integrated services and policy and to promote new ways of developing service user care, taking account of national initiatives and practice standards. Share information about children with other agencies to safeguard them and promote their welfare as appropriate.
• Professional Development: Maintain and update knowledge regarding social policy and social work practice, be fully informed of organisational policy and procedures, relevant legislation, and statutory guidance. Maintain professional registration with Social Work England, engage in a range of training and development opportunities, and take responsibility for own Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in line with Social Work England registration requirements. Share knowledge and expertise with peers to support the development of a confident and skilled workforce.
• Professional Values, Behaviours, and Standards: Carry out duties in a timely and responsive manner, in line with Social Work England Professional Standards, the Professional Capability Framework, and Cambridgeshire County Council’s values; Lives over services, Collaborative, Creative and Aspirational, Accountable. Keep and maintain accurate service user records, in line with professional requirements and departmental recording methods. Take a key role in promoting and developing service user empowerment, recognise and celebrate diversity, demonstrate commitment to anti-racist, anti-discriminatory practice in all professional practice. Be an ambassador for the social work profession both internally and externally.

Person Specification:

Qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experience:

Qualifications Required:

• Recognised professional Social Work qualification (Degree/Masters/Post Graduate Diploma/Social Work fast track qualifying programme)
• Relevant specialist post-qualifying and/or post-graduate training

Experience Required:

• Experience of identifying and assessing need, formulating and implementing effective social work interventions in partnership with children and families.
• Experience of recording, summarising, analysing, and evaluating complex information.
• Experience of social work with children and families, building effective helping relationships and overcoming challenges in doing so.
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team or alongside multi-agency colleagues.

Knowledge Required:

• Proven knowledge and understanding of child development, parenting capacity, environmental factors, and risk and protective factors.
• Knowledge of relevant safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance, and procedures.
• Knowledge of key children’s agencies.
• Knowledge and awareness of issues relating to racism, discrimination, and equality of opportunity.

Skills Required:

• Ability to maintain high-quality records, writing clear, concise, child-centred reports and plans.
• Ability to create a rapport and build relationships with children/young people and their families using a person-centred, strengths-based approach.
• Ability to prioritise tasks, be accountable for managing own caseload and work to tight deadlines and targets.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills including the ability to deal with complex issues in a sensitive and appropriate manner.
• Commitment to and understanding of anti-racist, anti-discriminatory social work practice. Ability to positively challenge discrimination and oppressive behaviours.
• Ability to thrive in a complex, fast-paced, and demanding environment.
• Ability to lead, chair, or participate in a range of multi-disciplinary meetings.
• Ability to work as part of a team.

If you believe you’re the perfect fit for this role and are ready to join our dynamic team, we’d love to hear from you. We look forward to reviewing your application.

Why Cambridgeshire County Council?

Work-life balance, support, and innovation

Cambridgeshire County Council offer excellent professional development opportunities and access to ongoing training for all Social Workers. The council fosters a collaborative and supportive environment, promoting teamwork and innovation to deliver high-quality services. With a strong focus on work-life balance and flexible working arrangements, Social Workers are able to manage their personal and professional commitments effectively. This makes it a rewarding place to grow a career while making a truly meaningful difference in the community.

A comprehensive wellbeing package covering all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work – also accessible by your family.

Get 28 Days Annual Leave. You can also buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme.

Professional Growth and Development

Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth.

IDEAL Staff Equality Access

CCC is committed to inclusivity, so you get access to Peer Support Groups through the IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.

Work, live and thrive in Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a wonderful county to live and work as a social worker due to its blend of vibrant communities, beautiful landscapes, and rich history. The county offers a diverse range of urban and rural settings, providing social workers with the opportunity to serve a wide variety of populations and needs. Excellent transport links, fantastic schools, and access to cultural amenities make it the perfect place to be. Moreover, the county’s commitment to social care and community support ensures that social workers are valued and able to make a real impact on the well-being of residents, all while enjoying a great quality of life.

We are a flex-first employer, valuing work-life balance and the wellbeing of our Social Workers, and all other staff. We are dedicated to family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements that accommodate both formal and informal needs. Cambridgeshire provides an environment where social workers are supported in their career development and feel truly valued.

Apply Now

Start your journey with Cambridgeshire County Council.