Social Worker - Children’s Social Care

Application closing date

17/07/2026

Working Pattern

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Salary

Grade K. Salary range £46,142 to £49,282 pear year

Contractual hours

Basis

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Job category/type

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Attachments

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Job Title: Social Worker – Children’s Social Care (Exit from Care)

Employer: Derby City Council

Location: Derby

Contract: Fixed Term 12 months

Hours: 37 per week

Salary: Grade K. Salary range £46,142 to £49,282 pear year

About the Role

Derby City Council is seeking an experienced and motivated social worker to join a new, innovative team of Social Workers and Children’s Practitioners. This team will focus on safely:

• Reunifying children with their birth families, and
• Supporting children to exit care through legal routes such as Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) and Child Arrangements Orders,

in line with the outcomes contained within the Children’s Social Care National Framework and reform programme (Families First for Children).

You will ensure that your practice meets regulatory requirements and is firmly rooted in Derby Children’s Social Care’s strengths-based practice model, placing children and families at the centre of all decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

Assessment of children and families

• Undertake holistic, evidence-based assessments of children’s needs, parenting capacity and family functioning.
• Assess risk and protective factors to determine whether children can safely return home or move to special guardianship with their foster carers.
• Complete viability and full special guardianship assessments in line with statutory guidance and local procedures.

Care and permanency planning

• Contribute to and lead on care plans that set out clear goals, timescales and outcomes for reunification or special guardianship.

Direct work with children

• Build trusting, child-centred relationships to understand the child’s wishes, feelings and lived experience.

Work with parents, families and special guardians

• Engage and motivate parents and wider family members to address identified risks and build on strengths.
• Support parents and prospective special guardians to understand the needs of the child and the implications of reunification or special guardianship.

Safeguarding and risk management

• Monitor children’s safety and wellbeing through regular visits, reviews and multi-agency information sharing.
• Implement and review safety plans where there are concerns about harm, neglect or exploitation.

Special guardianship responsibilities

• Complete robust special guardianship assessments and support plans, including financial, practical and therapeutic support.
• Contribute to Court proceedings with clear, balanced and evidence-based recommendations.

Multi-agency working

• Work closely with schools, health services, CAMHS, commissioned services and other partners to coordinate support.

About You

You will be an ambitious, reflective and compassionate social worker, committed to improving outcomes for children and families. You will bring both strong professional practice knowledge and the ability to provide strengths based and evidence-based interventions to support successful and safe transition from care for children.

Essential qualifications and registration

• A recognised Social Work qualification (e.g. BA, MA, DipSW or equivalent).
• Social Work England registration.

Essential experience

• Substantial post-qualifying experience in front-line children’s social work.
• Direct experience of care proceedings and court-related work.
• Experience of working to secure permanency for children (e.g. reunification, SGOs, Child Arrangements Orders, long-term fostering).

Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Strong understanding of safeguarding and key statutory guidance (e.g. Children Act 1989/2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children).
• Clear knowledge of regulatory frameworks, care planning and permanence planning.

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with children, families, carers and partner agencies.

• Proven ability to make sound, evidence-based decisions, balancing risk and protective factors.
• Solution-focused, resilient and able to manage complexity and competing demands.
• Strong commitment to strengths-based, child-centred practice and to working in partnership with families.
• Ability to lead and contribute to service development and innovation.

What We Offer

• The opportunity to be part of an innovative and progressive team at the forefront of Derby’s Children’s Social Care reforms.
• A supportive management and peer network, with access to reflective supervision and professional development.
• Training and development opportunities to support you in your role.
• A commitment to staff wellbeing and a positive, inclusive workplace culture.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact:

Johanna Barker Deputy Head of Service email ***email_hidden*** to arrange a telephone call

Closing date: 17.7.26

Interview date: 7.8.26

Derby City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and other relevant pre-employment checks.

We value diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Who We Are

Here at Derby City Council, we’re dedicated to delivering nearly 250 first-class services to citizens and businesses in the heart of the Midlands. People are at the centre of all that we do, and we have an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing talented individuals by providing them with varied and fulfilling career opportunities. Find out more about what it’s like to work for us.

What We Offer

You too could be part of something brilliant by becoming a colleague at Derby City Council; in addition to making a difference to the lives of people across the city, you’ll also receive:

• Flexible work/life balance scheme
• Hybrid working
• Modern office environment
• Continued professional development opportunities & career conversations
• 27 days annual leave (rising to 32 days after 5 years' service), plus bank holidays
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Team Derby Rewards – retail and leisure discounts
• Tusker Car Benefit Scheme
• Cycle2Work Scheme & free cycle training
• Employee Assistance Programme, Wellbeing Calendar and Support
• Access to our Equality Employee Networks – LGBTQ+, Disabled Employee Network & Carers and our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Employee Support Network and Neurodiversity Network
• Support for colleagues who are carers

Next Steps

If you would like to apply for this vacancy via an application form, please submit an application via the Derby City Council website.

The closing date for this vacancy is at midnight on 7th June 2026. Any applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.

If you would prefer to apply for this job using your CV, then please download the attached Declaration Form and send it to ***email_hidden*** Without a completed declaration form, your application will not be accepted. We also encourage you to download the Equalities Form and return this to [email protected], however this is optional and will not affect your application.

Important Information

Links to the full Job Description and Person Specification are below.

All employees will normally be appointed to the minimum of the grade for the job.

Before you complete your application form please read our guidance on filling in your application form.

Remember to align your personal statement to the essential criteria in the Person Specification.

Please be aware that where there are colleagues within the organisation who are 'at risk' of redundancy, requirements to redeploy to another suitable role will apply and take priority.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. We recruit for diversity and value difference. As many of our roles can now be home-based, we are able to offer more opportunities for people who need this facility.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. If you are a disabled person, you have the choice to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme so long as you demonstrate that you meet the essential requirements for the job.

We feel it is essential that we recruit a talented workforce that is as diverse as the community we work for.

Please let us know of any individual requirements or reasonable adjustments you may have during the application, interview, or onboarding process and we’ll do all we can to help. We strongly believe in social understanding of disability and for us it’s all about removing barriers to equality.

If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or are having difficulty applying, please contact our Recruitment Team on 01332 640844 (Relay UK - 18001 01332 640 844) or at [email protected]. https://www.derby.gov.uk/signing-service/