The Building Your Futures Team is an aspirational, child-focused service supporting children and young people in our care across foster care, connected and family carers and specialist care provision. We also work with children who have a plan to return home and with children and young people who arrive in Portsmouth seeking safety and asylum.

The Role

You will manage a mixed caseload of children we care for and children seeking safety and asylum, with the balance adjusted according to service demand. Your work will include care planning, direct and life story work, promoting positive outcomes and ensuring children and young people have clear permanence plans.

Working with children seeking safety and asylum, you will develop specialist practice across areas including Merton-compliant age assessments, immigration and asylum frameworks, trauma-informed and culturally competent practice, and safeguarding risks such as trafficking and exploitation. You will work collaboratively with agencies including UKVI/Home Office, legal representatives, NRPF teams and advocacy services.

You will also help newly arrived children access education, healthcare and emotional wellbeing support, while ensuring their identity, culture, faith, language and heritage are recognised within their care planning.

We believe strongly in involving children and young people in decisions about their lives. You will be supported to work creatively and responsively, ensuring their wishes and feelings remain central to your practice. Social workers within the team are offered DDP training and have access to CAMHS consultations to support their direct work.

The ideal candidate

You will hold a Diploma or Degree in Social Work, be registered with Social Work England and have completed your ASYE. For appointment at Band 9, completion of the ASYE is required.

You will bring a sound understanding of social work theory and children's legislation, including the Children Act 1989/2004, along with strong assessment, analytical and communication skills. You will be resilient, collaborative and confident working within a busy environment where children's needs and circumstances can be complex.

Most importantly, you will be committed to child-centred, anti-oppressive and inclusive practice, respecting individual differences and empowering children and young people to have a genuine voice in the decisions that affect their lives.

Knowledge of immigration and asylum legislation, Merton-compliant age assessments, trafficking and the National Referral Mechanism, NRPF considerations or pathway planning for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children would be an advantage. However, willingness to undertake relevant training is welcomed

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

Additional Information

Working arrangements:You will be required to work a minimum of 3 days in the Office per week

Informal Enquiries: If you would like to discuss this role in more detail with the hiring manager, please contact: Vicky Laybourne - Vicky.laybourne@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Interview details: Interviews will be held Week commencing 14th December 2026

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

We strongly encourage candidates to add all Career and Education History to their application, as CVs are not reviewed as part of the shortlisting process.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it. We are not able to offer sponsorship for this role.

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.

Safeguarding

Portsmouth 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. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.