Senior Social Worker - Wellbeing & Access Hub

Job Posted: 9 September 2024

• Contract Term: Permanent
• Location: Isle of Wight
• Contract Type: Full time
• Salary: Grade 11, £41,548.00 to £44,356.00 per annum
• Industries: Social Work

Senior Social Worker (Ref: 2024_1034)

County Hall, Newport / St Mary’s Hospital, Newport / Island Wide.

Grade 11, £41,548.00 to £44,356.00 per annum

Contact: For further information or an informal discussion, please contact Julie Green at [email protected] or 01983 823900

Vacancy Reference: 2024_1034

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37 per week

These are exciting times on the Isle of Wight within Adult Social Care, the whole service has supported a redesign that enhances strength-based practice, working with the community and our third sector partners.

We currently have two Senior Social Worker vacancies in our Wellbeing & Access Hub:

The first vacancy is based at St Marys Hospital supporting our Wellbeing & Access Hub Duty Team and working closely with our health colleagues.

The second vacancy is based at County Hall supporting our Wellbeing & Access Hub Front Door Team.

Our Wellbeing & Access Hub has moved to new ways of working, the team is made up of multidisciplinary staff; including our Occupational Therapy colleagues, partner agencies from the third and voluntary sector, our reablement service, alongside trusted assessors, social workers and other staff who are able to provide expert advice and guidance to support those we serve.

Our Wellbeing & Access Hub is the front door of Adult Social Care. The focus of these posts will be to support the Wellbeing & Access Hub Team supporting with referrals and daily calls from the public, supporting people to remain as independent as possible in the community and preventing a need for more formal support. We are doing this using a strength based initial screening tool to promote independence and collaborative working with people rather than using a dependency model approach.

The Senior Social Worker will hold a limited caseload which tends to be more the complex and challenging cases for example the role of the Hospital Senior Social Worker would be to support with complex discharges, offering information and advice to patient and family and assessing care and support needs, prior to discharge. Both positions will require you to deal with crisis situations, you will need to have a good understanding of risk and risk management. You will be expected to chair meetings for example Best Interest of MARM. You will be required to quality control and authorisation of assessments and support plans. You will also provide information and advice to staff awhile supporting staff to learn and develop their practice.

Supervision is a key role, and this is cascaded throughout the team with Senior Social Worker supervising several of the qualified Social Workers and Occupational Therapists within the team.

As a Senior Social Worker, we understand the work you do on a daily basis and provide the support you need to make a difference to the people of the Isle of Wight, the role of the Senior Social Worker in the Wellbeing & Access Hub can be very challenging.

The successful candidates will be suitably qualified with a Social Work degree. You will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of The Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Data Protection Act 1998 and evidence of ability to work to practice guidance/procedure. You may be required to take part in the Out of Hours (OOH) stand-by duty rota as and when requested by management on an occasional basis. 

To join us you must:

Enjoy working in a fast-paced environment.

Have experience of chairing meetings.

Be able to demonstrate skills and experience of promoting a person centred and strengths-based approach.

Have an excellent working knowledge of legislation used within Adult Social Care

Have a good knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding, including s.42 Enquiries and Making Safeguarding Personal.

Be confident in decision making, whilst knowing when to seek support.

Understand the importance of data in supporting staff, teams and wider service.

Have the passion to promote people’s strengths and the ability to make a difference in a safe working approach to social work practice.

Have proven ability to work as part of a team and capacity to lead a team that puts the strengths of individuals, families and community at the heart of care and wellbeing.

You will share our ambitions, passion and attitude to ensure the people we serve live the best lives possible. You will be a critical thinker who has competence and confidence in your practice.

You will implement and promote departmental safeguarding procedures and adhere to departmental recording policy as well as attend multi-agency discharge planning meetings to ensure timely discharges. You will also be supporting carers and family members sharing and advising where required as well as offering Carers Assessments in line with the Care Act 2014.

You will benefit from a unique and enriching environment within an organisation that values strong leadership, a good work life balance, quality management and reflective supervision.

You will share our ambitions, passion, and attitude to ensure the people we serve live the best lives possible. You will be a critical thinker who has competence and confidence in your practice as strong advocates for the Isle of Wight Council, Adult Social Care delivering a high standard service to the people of the island. 

Team IWC Values:

Community & Customer focused.

Effective & Efficient.

Working together.

Fair & transparent.

We are proud of our commitment to offer:

Supporting and supervising all our social care workforce.

Providing opportunities for our staff as they develop and progress their professional careers.

Providing regular training opportunities.

We are looking forward to receiving your application if you have what it takes to make a difference and share our vision and values.

For further information or an informal discussion, please contact Julie Green at [email protected] or 01983 823900

PLEASE NOTE: Out of Hours Standby and Call Out

You will be required to take part in the Out of Hours Stand-by Duty Rota as and when requested by management

Standby and call out duties are paid in accordance with the IWC Terms and Conditions 2012 document.

Please click here to view the Isle of Wight Council’s Care Close to Home Strategy.

When you join #TeamIWC you'll receive our staff benefits package, including: 

-  Annual leave entitlement of 32 days p/a PLUS public holidays!

-  Local Government pension scheme

-  Discounted Solent ferry travel

-  Island bus network discount

-  Cycle to work scheme

-  Staff parking permit scheme

-  Discounted island sports & leisure gym membership

-  National and local discounts & benefits schemes

Relocation: For some vacancies (subject to criteria) a relocation scheme of up to £8,000 may be available if you are specifically relocating to the Isle of Wight to work with us, or if you choose to commute to the Isle of Wight daily, you may be eligible to have some travel costs reimbursed.

The Isle of Wight Council currently does not have a license to sponsor overseas workers. 

Find out more about working for the Isle of Wight Council and living on the Island here.

The Isle of Wight Council protects its employees from discrimination and this is supported by the Unacceptable Behaviour Policy, Employee Code of Conduct and Behaviours Framework. We actively promote the diversity of our workforce and we provide flexible working options (where appropriate) to support the different needs of our employees.

The Isle of Wight Council’s Terms & Conditions of employment are available upon request. Please contact our recruitment team via [email protected] if you would like to receive a copy.

The Isle of Wight Council is an equal opportunities employer. We are proud to encourage applications from all cultures, backgrounds and abilities to better reflect the diversity within our local community. We are also a Disability Confident Employer. Along with a number of commitments, this means, providing you meet the basic essential requirements of the advertised role and have declared yourself as disabled, you will be offered an opportunity for an interview within the council.

The Isle of Wight Council is committed to supporting all newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) through the implementation of a robust post graduate competency framework referred to as the Assessed and Supported Year of Employment (ASYE). The ASYE is intended to be the first stage of the continuing professional development for Registered Social Workers, and the framework will be closely allied to the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF).  You will be therefore, be required to satisfactorily complete the ASYE programme within a 12-month period (or 18 months if part time).

If you have difficulty completing your online application or need further information about how to apply, phone 01983 823134 or email [email protected]. Please note: Only applications completed and submitted online by the closing date will be accepted.

We often receive a high volume of applicants for our vacancies. If you do not hear from the recruiting manager within three weeks of the closing date, we regret that your application will not have been successful on this occasion. We actively encourage you to revisit our job page and apply to alternate posts that may be suitable.

Closing Date: Rolling

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