Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council are delighted to share that we have an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and creative Social Worker to join us in the Regional Adoption Agency.

As part of the government changes to improve the adoption process they have asked local authorities and Voluntary Adoption Agencies working in the same areas to join together to form Regional Adoption Agencies (RAA). The Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) which is a joint venture between Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, brings together the very best talent, experience and energy to increase the number of adopters across the county and give children loving & stable families.

We have permanent vacancies based in Huntingdon and Peterborough, but will be working across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, as well as our neighbouring local authorities.

Our social workers throw their heart and soul into transforming the lives of young people and their families. They genuinely love the challenge that every day brings.

And we love them for it.

But we aren’t what you might think a typical local government organisation looks like. We understand the work you do on a daily basis and we provide the support you need to make a difference to children throughout Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact Christine Clipston on 01733 864370 or 07721118002 or emailing Christine.clipston@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to reflect this diversity, which we believe is beneficial for our employees, the organisation, and the communities we serve.

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits:

• Flexible and creative working arrangements
• Flexible Bank Holidays
• A comprehensive wellbeing package
• Our Cambs Rewards employee discounts
• A comprehensive pension scheme
• IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• CamWeb - our staff intranet helping keep you informed
• An employee recognition scheme
• We offer a generous mileage allowance

For our Social Workers, we offer more specific benefits like:

• Generous annual leave provision (28 days, plus bank holidays)
• A supportive management team that will champion your learning and development
• Employee Assistance Programme – access to free support 24 hours a day
• A relocation package of up to £8000 for eligible candidates
• Plus, 6 days of protected time each year to enable our Social Workers to maintain their Continuous Professional Development. 

Please read our benefits brochure attached for more information.

The role is in the Regional Adoption Agency with the Assessment Team. The role offers a varied work role including assessing adoptive parents and working with children and their permanent placements. A unique aspect of this role is that you will participate in delivering and developing training of adopters to ensure that they are full supported in their role as an adoptive parent.

The team is committed to continuous learning and share our learning and resources across the team, including supporting Student Social Workers in their work-based placement. This is something you will participate with and contribute to. There will be an opportunity to develop an area of specialist expertise in this area.

We're looking for confident and dynamic individuals who enjoy making a difference in their local community, are curious and spot things that others might not see, enjoys building relationships and likes to explore possibilities.

You must:

• Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration
• Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide, and out of county, independently

We would welcome applications from a diverse range of workers who are willing to work flexibly to enhance our existing workforce.

For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off.   We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered.  We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers