Social Worker Role Profile
Qualified and experienced Social Workers in our Child Protection Teams currently receive a £3000 welcome payment and a £3500 annual retention payment (paid in instalments) which will be reviewed in October 2025.
Since the ILACS in January 2023 we have continued to improve. We have stabilised our leadership and management posts and delivered a comprehensive workforce development programme on the core areas of practice. We have a strong partnership commitment to early help and a comprehensive Family Hub offer in place providing support to families across Plymouth.
We are building on this further this year, responding proactively to the opportunities the Families First Partnership reforms give us to further improve outcomes for children and families – enhancing our Targeted Help offer to families who need more help and refocusing our statutory social work offer into Child Protection Teams.
Our Child Protection Teams are made up of qualified and experienced social workers who are responsible for our work with children, young people and families subject to child protection plans (CPPs), and children newly in care where the permanence plan is being agreed. This includes children and young people subject to the Public Law Outline (PLO) and our specialist Children’s Disability Team. The CP Teams work very closely with our Targeted Help Teams for families who are ‘in need’ of more help to ensure children and families get the right help at the right time.
The redesign is enabling us to reduce caseloads to 14 across the service so that all practitioners are able to deliver high quality relationship-based practice with families to support them to make sustainable change and to strengthen how we work with partners across Plymouth to ensure children and families benefit from multi-disciplinary approaches.
We work in a trauma informed, restorative and strengths-based way with families to support sustainable change. We are implementing ‘Rethink Formulation’ into our practice model to support reflective supervision and practice with families and have recently enhanced our Family Group Conferencing Service so that every family benefits from a family led support plan. You will be working creatively, undertaking assessments and utilising family networks to put in place strengths-based plans to empower families to affect sustainable change. You will have experience of using evidence-based interventions and relationship-based practice to work with families to address multiple and complex needs.
We would like to hear from experienced qualified social workers who are interested in joining our teams. The ideal candidates will be able to demonstrate extensive experience of direct work, interventions with families and assessment skills alongside a strong-values based practice approach rooted in empathy, kindness and compassion.
You will be committed to strong relationship driven practice and have experience in working directly with children and families to enable risks to be identified and managed and to bring about improved outcomes. In return we offer supportive teams, working to a ‘High Expectations, High Support, High Challenge’ culture bringing together teams across our children’s services to improve outcomes for children, and a service where we offer access to excellent learning and development from our Academy and well supported career progression opportunities. This includes opportunities for practitioners to progress their careers in Plymouth through progression as an Advanced Practitioner, support expert practice, or to access a management development programme for those who want to develop their career in this way.
As an experienced social worker in Plymouth, you will have a great opportunity to take your career to the next level by making a difference to our children and families through our practice improvements.
We offer up to £8k support to relocation.
The Disclosure & Barring Service Check requirement for this post is: Enhanced Child & Adult Check
Plymouth City Council is an equal opportunities employer. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion/belief, sex or sexual orientation.
As part of our commitment to promoting equality we offer guaranteed interviews to those who meet the essential criteria and are considered disabled, have been in Plymouth City Council care or are an Armed Forces Service Leaver within the last two years.
For more information on how to attend one of our online recruitment events please email Poppy Carroll on contact
[email protected]Closing date: Sunday 03 August 2025
