Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!
We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.
Introduction
Through 2019 Lewisham Children’s Social Care has been changing, we know what good practice looks like and our improvement plan is all about creating the right conditions and culture for good practice to thrive. Our vision is….
- Families are respected and supported to stay together, whenever there is safety.
- Families will tell us they understand why we are involved.
- Children will tell us their social worker has made a difference to their lives.
- Children who are in our care know we care and we won’t give up on them.
- Young people who have been in our care feel confident about their future.
We know that describing good practice is easy, the challenge is making your vision a day to day reality. This requires inspiring leadership, resources and a clear, realistic plan for how to get there. That’s why our improvement plan takes a whole system approach and we have introduced Signs of Safety as our relationship-based practice framework. We have made significant progress in year one which Ofsted recognised when they inspected us in June 2019. But we know there is a lot more to do and we need more good, creative, energetic social workers and managers to join our team to get us where we want to be.
We are recruiting to a range of posts in Children’s Social Care. But why choose Lewisham? There’s lots of reasons and here are just a few; we have an established and committed management team. We have a dedicated Principal Social Worker and workforce team developing a comprehensive training offer including subscription to Research in Practice and close working links with our local university. We have a variety of career progression options. Our LCS case recording system is being stripped back because we think its important social workers spend most of their time with families, not form filling. In our last health check the feedback from the majority of our staff was… they felt “valued and enjoyed working in Lewisham”, they felt “well supported by their managers” with “regular reflective supervision”, they had “good access to training” and their “development was promoted”.
What’s the role?
We are looking to recruit sessional Contact and Outreach workers to join our team at the Meliot Family Centre. This is an exciting opportunity to join our newly redesigned service. Within the role, you will be supervising family time between children in care and their parents and/or other family members. This may be centre based or within the community and/or family homes. Some of the family time arrangements may also be out of borough. The successful candidate will will need experience in supervising family time arrangements, an understanding of child development and experience in writing reports as these may be used to inform professional decision making.
As a Contact and Outreach worker, you will be working with families, providing practical support, advice and guidance to children and families with a wide range of needs. This support mostly takes place within the family home but also includes supporting parents to link in with vital services which may include you travelling/attending with them. Some of the work may also be out of borough. We require people who are able to work during mornings, evenings and weekends. The successful candidates will have experience of working with families and supporting parents to develop their parenting skills. As with the family time, experience of writing reports is essential as often the reports provided are used to inform professional decision making.
It is likely that the successful candidates will be required to work across both roles as per the demands of the service and so it is essential that candidates have the ability to work flexibly. We are particularly looking for people who can work early mornings, evenings and weekends as much of work takes place during these times. We are looking for applicants who can bring skills, enthusiasm, and the capacity to work with children and families who are subject to statutory intervention in their lives, who are confident in lone working. They will be working alongside social workers and family practitioners across Children Social Care.
The Service
The Meliot Family Centre works with children and families known to Children Social Care providing family support, contact supervision and undertaking parenting capacity assessments.
We have redesigned and expanded the Meliot Family Centre to establish an enhanced Edge of Care Family Support Service. This service will help create more sustainable family resilience, to reduce the need for long term or repeated periods of statutory CSC services and support more children and young people to stay safely within their naturally occurring networks, avoiding the need to be, or stay, in care.
What’s in it for you?
Excellent training and development opportunities, plus a range of benefits including:
- Generous holiday allowance
- Local Government Pension scheme
- Flexible working and family friendly policies
- Season ticket and bicycle loans
- A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
- Supportive staff networks
Location
The Meliot Family Centre, New Cross, London, SE14 6JQ
Special conditions
- Ability to work some evenings and weekends on occasion.
- The job is subject to an enhanced DBS check
The recruitment process is anonymous and we don’t accept CV’s.
Applicant handbook- please read the guidance in this handbook when applying. It is essential that you complete the application fully and that your supporting statement covers how you meet each of the person specification criteria listed.
For an informal discussion about the role and recruitment process, please email LewishamWorkforceDevelopmentGroup@lewisham.gov.uk with your contact details and we will call you to discuss the role in more detail.
Please click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification
Please click here for our Vision and Values
Please click here for the Letter from the Director
Salary
£29,859 - £30,771 per annum pro rata (Scale 4)
N.B: All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role. The only exception to this will be when matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale), which is subject to evidential proof.
Diversity
Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply
The Council has a dedicated employment support service, Lewisham Works, which offers Lewisham residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you want to join Lewisham Works, please email JobsAndSkills@lewisham.gov.uk and an advisor will be in touch with you.
The Council reserves the right to close adverts early if there is a large response.
Let’s stay connected, follow us on social media:
36 jobs found