Senior Social Work Practitioner - Safeguarding Adults Hub

About Us

The Safeguarding Adults hub is a fast-paced dynamic team who work across different agencies including the police, the fire service, domestic abuse services and health to assess risk, whilst working primarily under the scope of the Care Act 2014 to determine whether further enquiries should be made under section 42 of the Act.

The Safeguarding Adults Hub is an established team who have a vast combined amount of experience, and have developed a successful approach to Safeguarding Adults in West Sussex. We're a supportive team who ensure that our practice is developed and maintained by use of team reflection and continuous learning and development.

About The Job

Salary: £46,731 to £49,764

Working Pattern: Full Time

Contract Length: Permanent

Location: Horsham

The Safeguarding Adults Hub provides the single point of access for all Safeguarding Adults. The referrals and queries that the Safeguarding Hub responds to cover the full spectrum of life across West Sussex. We are looking for a Senior Social Work Practitioner who can bring new skills, knowledge and background to an already diverse team. Could this be you?

You will work as part of a strong and dynamic social work service. In this role you will work with colleagues from all our statutory partners, providers and members of the public when reviewing and making vital decisions in relation to Safeguarding Adults.

An ability to rapidly risk assess situations and engage with people who may be in crisis is key to the role. You will utilise these skills to develop and implement effective plans of support, aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering better outcomes for people as well as contributing to and developing skills in safeguarding. The hub will triage all safeguarding referrals submitted to the Local Authority, initiate all safeguarding enquiries and develop initial safeguarding plans.

Hear from the team:

"The Adult Safeguarding Hub provides a team of highly supportive colleagues who genuinely care for and encourage each other on a daily basis. The team offers a range of training opportunities, with personal and career development promoted within the team. The role is dynamic and fast paced which provides a range of interesting experiences each day, and ongoing learning opportunities for practice."

Experience and Skills

Key Skills include:

1. Ability to work proactively as a member of the team to make an accurate assessment of needs and negotiate and implement effective plans and outcomes, whilst prioritising workload and meeting deadlines.
2. Expertise of managing situations with complex and competing risks, utilising a risk enablement approach, and using evidence-based practice. Solution focused with the ability to analyse complex situations and provide forward-thinking strategies and solutions that consider a variety of possible strength-based solutions, balancing risks, resources and desired outcomes.
3. Highly developed communication skills to influence in a multi-disciplinary setting and communicate clearly and effectively to explain complicated information to a wide range of people and negotiate and persuade others to adopt a particular course of action that they may not otherwise wish to take.
4. Able to model and use social work skills in practice, supervision, mentoring and leadership to develop and maintain an environment in which professionally curiosity, critical reflection and analysis is valued, staff are supported to find their own solutions and practice capability is developed.

*Please see job description for full list of key skills, additional qualifications and/or experience for this role.

Rewards and Benefits

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!