Children’s Social Workers – Level 2/3 – PLO and Court Team NEW

Bournemouth, Dorset
BCP Council

Children’s Social Workers – Level 2/3 – PLO and Court Team

Salary Band I £37,938 – £40,476 p.a. plus £4,234 p.a. contractual supplement and Band J – £41,511 – £44,711 p.a. plus £5,719 contractual supplement p.a.

Job Introduction

This is what our current workforce say about working for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) in Dorset.

“As for a social worker, there is career progression that is encouraged within BCP and it’s a a very rewarding job and something that I absolutely love”

“It’s a lovely place to come and live and work. So if if you’re not from the local area, come down to Dorset. It’s a wonderful county and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are vibrant, busy urban areas right on the sea front”

“I’ve never felt so supported”

About our team:

BCP Council Children’s Services have 2 specialist PLO and Court Teams which are made up of 1 Team Manager, 1 Assistant Team Manager, 7 social workers and 1 Family Practitioner. The teams are co located alongside the other Children’s services teams at the Civic Centre Bournemouth, but work flexibly across the BCP area.

Families are presented at Legal Gateway panel by the Assessment service or Children & Families First teams to consider if the threshold for pre-proceedings is met and to devise a plan of support to the family. If threshold is met, the family are invited to a formal meeting (PLO meeting) with their legal representation to hear the concerns and collaborate on an action plan to reduce risks to the child/ren , at which point the PLO and Court Team will start working with the family.

The team works with families to address the needs and risks of children and families jointly , supporting children and families with issues such as domestic abuse, adult mental health and substance misuse along with the use of the Parental Substance Misuse Court (PSMC). Issuing care proceedings in the family courts should be seen as the option of last resort and the purpose of the PLO (Public Law Outline) pre-care proceedings process represents a genuine opportunity to work closely with families by offering help and support to address their recognises needs in a bid to negate the need to issue care proceedings. The focus of the best practice guidance is ensuring that the PLO is followed in all cases with a view to either divert cases that might otherwise have come to court or having these cases that do come to court fully assessed and prepared.

There is significant emphasis in securing a child’s permanency and exploration of the support the wider family can offer in reducing risk and increasing safety. We work together to ensure the right decisions are made for children without drift and delay. For those children that require permanency outside of the home, there is joint working and handovers to the children in care team, or to Aspire adoption team.

Are you also passionate about making a real difference in children’s lives?

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is looking for dedicated, compassionate and experienced Social Workers to join our team at Levels 2 & 3. We are proud to have achieved a GOOD rating from Ofsted in Dec 2024, recognising our commitment to providing excellent care and support for children and families.

At BCP, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to continuing building a diverse and inclusive workforce. Your unique experiences and perspectives will help us continue delivering outstanding care to children in our community.

If you are an experienced Social Worker we want to hear from you. If you are reflective, proactive and resilient, have the desire to make a real difference and ensure children and their voices are at the heart of everything you do, Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council could be the place for you?

It is a really exciting time here in BCP Children’s Services and you have the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of our most vulnerable children and young people and impacting on our improvement journey. We are committed to recruiting, developing and supporting outstanding dedicated social workers, to enable our children to grow and flourish. If you like a challenge, want to work in an authority where you can feel the difference you are making, then please give us a call.

If you are interested in this level of social work, you will need to:

• have experience of a mentoring role in front line SW of less experienced staff including new and newly qualified staff, and SW students on placement;

• have post-qualifying award (e.g Practice Education), and/or be willing to undertake Practice Education training;

• be already working to the DfE Knowledge and Skills statements for child and family practitioners;

• be able to work with very complex referrals and complex casework and have high quality skills in analysis of risk and decision making;

• have strong and confident presentation skills;

• have strong conflict resolution skills;

• have a commitment to continuous professional development;

• develop and maintain a professional network, to share expertise and in order to support the outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

We will require you to:

• be able to travel across the full Council area in a timely manner.

• have significant experience of front line SW safeguarding.

We can offer you:

• Full induction, with a very supportive Practice Fundamentals offer.

• Clear career progression pathway and excellent learning opportunities.

• Manageable and diverse caseloads.

• Regular Supervision.

• 25 days annual leave (pro rata, for those without continuous service), plus bank holidays.

• Competitive salary with access to local government pension scheme.

• Flexible working arrangements in our newly refurbished Civic Offices with Local Offices near to where you need to work.

• Employee Assistance Programme.

• Relocation Scheme.

• Staff network groups.

For an informal discussion about any of the roles above, please contact:

Vanessa Johns, Service Manager for Children and Families First and PLO&Court at

Check out our academy website for more details BCP Partnership Academy

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people. Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline. We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services. By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, word-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package for further details see here

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We have been in a process of collective bargaining since 2019 and have positively worked forward to reach an agreed position with the unions for the new contractual offer. This has taken longer than we hoped and therefore we are having to consider all alternative avenues available to enable us to remove inequality in the organisation as a result of bringing together 3 councils.

We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation, and all colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. We want to reassure everyone that whichever route is taken to reach the new terms and conditions, we can honour continuous service and there will not be any job reduction as a result of the implementation of Pay and Reward. If you have any questions at all about this process, please feel free to raise this with the hiring manager.

DBS

BCP Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the community and expects all staff and volunteers to share the same commitment. Applicants to this post will be required to complete the appropriate level of Disclosure & Barring Service Check. Please refer to the Job Description or Role Profile for more details.

Attached documents

• Social Worker JD and PS BCP.pdf