The job itself 

We have a great and exciting opportunity available for social workers to join our Children Assessment Service, within Beverley and Goole. 

The social work role is essential to providing effective help and support to children, young people and their families. We are seeking applications from qualified social workers and experienced social workers; whatever your level, your contribution, skills and knowledge are valued. You will experience excellent developmental support, including increased coaching and mentoring support from other qualified social workers.  

The Local Authority offers remote working opportunities and various bases to ensure that social workers have access to an office near them, their team and the children and families they support. Our base at the Children Centre in Beverley offers free parking for our social workers. 

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Children’s Services have been rated GOOD by Ofsted following our recent ILACS inspection. Since the last inspection in 2019, the leadership team has made significant and sustained changes in all the practice and leadership areas identified for improvement. Through extensive engagement with external partners and scrutineers, the improvements in the service mean that children and young people in East Riding receive a timely and effective response and intervention when they need it. Senior leaders and councillors are clear about what their strengths are and what still needs to be improved in service delivery, and their self-evaluation is accurate. They have ambitious plans and have secured significant investment to develop their services further as part of their continuous improvement journey. Senior leaders lead by example, and this has supported practitioners to embed the relational model of practice with the families they work with. 

The right candidate 

We are looking for energetic and creative social workers who can demonstrate tenacity and enthusiasm in making a positive difference to the lives of children and young people. You will have experience of working with children, young people and their networks and experience of working within a social care setting, as well as a demonstrable commitment to the values of family involvement, relational approaches and empowerment. You will be passionate about ensuring our most vulnerable children are supported to achieve their full potential.  

In East Riding we really value positive relationships. Therefore, it is essential that the post holder is able to work relationally with others with a flexible and adaptable approach – always demonstrating their commitment to working to the highest possible standards whilst remaining at all times child centred. You will be able to build positive working relationships with children and young people, professionals and carers, as well as respectfully challenge when appropriate. You will be able to work on your own initiative but also perform as part of a wider team.  You will be able and committed to writing child’s records, plans and reports to a high standard each evidencing the voice of children, young people and families throughout. 

Why work for East Riding? 

We really value our social workers and it is our fundamental belief that our staff are the most important asset in fulfilling our responsibility to provide a quality service to children, young people and their families. For more experienced social workers this means offering high quality learning and development opportunities that support your interests and the development of your practice. We care about your career and will help you to identify your own goals and work with you to support you to achieve that within East Riding.  

Our social workers and practitioners describe East Riding as ‘a family’; we really value our relationships with each other, with the families we support, and our partner agencies. We offer flexible working approaches because we want you to be able to enjoy your own family time and we know that this is important to our staff. We listen to what our social workers and practitioners are telling us and work hard to respond and make a difference. 

Other benefits of being a social worker in East Riding include: 

• Social Work England fees reimbursed 
• Licence for Community Care Inform to support with evidence-based practice and CPD 
• Regular reflective supervision with a focus on your wellbeing, your development, and what is working well  
• Flexible working options  
• Strong management support at all levels  
• A service wide commitment to celebrating best practice and practice strengths  
• A service wide commitment to promoting social work wellbeing and support 

Take a look at our recruitment web pages and our Children’s Social Care information page for a full range of benefits and support. 

Our model of practice 

Stronger Together: ‘You can, I can, We can’ 

We have created a bespoke practice model that reflects and connects our vision, our value base and our behaviour as one East Riding of Yorkshire approach to working with children, young people and their families, which is nurtured and grown from within East Riding of Yorkshire CYPSSS and owned by our workforce. 

We remain committed to Signs of Safety as a practice framework, but this is set within a much wider, values based, model of practice that clearly connects Signs of Safety with the East Riding value base, and our overall approach to making and sustaining relationships with children, families and communities. Our Stronger Together approach is strengths based, solution-focussed, and relational recognising that the very best work with families takes place within the context of excellent, collaborative relationships.  

A well embedded model ensures we all have something to centre our practice on so that, while the work may be different, all of our teams are grounded in the same values, beliefs, theories and approaches. Having a well-developed practice model helps to create a common language for the service and enables everyone to understand how we go about doing the right things, in the right way and for the right reasons for children and their families. 

Other important information 

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and is pursuing equality of opportunity in employment. 

These posts are subject to an enhanced DBS Check.