Senior / Social Worker

About Us

Working for us at West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. The OPMH team has a vacancy for a part time qualified Social Worker. This is an exciting and unique opportunity to work with the OPMH team, coordinating all aspects of Health and Social Care needs for users with severe and enduring mental health challenges.We're embracing a strengths-based approach, and working within a community-led support model that builds on the assets and strengths of both people and their local communities. Together, we'll focus on prevention, enablement, reablement and safety, to promote wellbeing and independence. We'll ensure that residents, families, and communities have the right support in place, and at the right time.We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and offers the right balance between challenge and support. This provides our workforce with what they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for our residents.We work to ensure that innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do, and that we maintain an environment within which our social workers can develop and progress in their careers. If you have the talent and ambition to achieve the best for the people we serve, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your social work career.If this sounds like an interesting opportunity for you, why not join us and let's make a difference to our communities together!

About The Job

Salary: NJC grade 9-11, £35,235-£45,718 full time equivalent salary depending on experience Working Pattern: Part time (29.6 hours per week across 4 days) Contract Length: Permanent Location: Worthing

In this challenging, but rewarding role, you will be required to act as allocated social worker responsible for delivering a statutory social work service to those people who access or need specialist mental health services, to include assessment, planning, implementing and review. This includes being responsible for leading on specialist areas of service delivery, ensuring that key developments are communicated to colleagues and that business change is successfully implemented.You will work as part of a geographically based specialist mental health social work team, providing a service to people who are aged 65 years and over, with occasional contact with people under the age of 65 years where they have a diagnosis of dementia.You will manage a caseload, collaborating with people and family or friend carers, undertake strengths-based assessments and reviews, identifying eligible needs and personalised outcomes. You will be working within a supportive environment to apply your social work skills to develop and implement support plans aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering outcomes, including utilising community assets, and ensuring that eligible needs are met.You will be working within a managed and supportive context, applying learning to further develop capability and professional confidence. You will be supported with professional supervision and assessment and a workload that is appropriate to your level of professional development. You will be required to evidence sound knowledge through your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and readiness to work towards a specialist post-qualifying award (e.g. Practice Educator, Approved Mental Health Professional or Best Interest Assessor).You will work effectively in partnership with other staff, teams and agencies, both internal to the Council and external, including Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. You will act as a professional representative for the service by working with a focus on ensuring the safe and effective delivery of services to people who have complex mental disorder, acting with integrity, professionalism, and respect on behalf of the organisation, ensuring at all times that the needs of individuals and the business are paramount.An excellent understanding of all the relevant health, voluntary and private sector services in the area is essential. The role will involve regular exposure to people who access the service and / or subject matter which may place significant emotional demands on you, for example dealing with unpredictable risk, complex social work cases and leading on safeguarding enquiries.You will also need to be able to travel independently throughout the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.

Experience and Skills

Please refer to the job description relevant to your level of experience for key skill and qualifications and / or experience information.

Key Skills:

1. Ability to analyse and interpret complex people-related information and data in order to prioritise needs and formulate plans for intervention and service provision. Ability to work proactively as a member of the team to make an accurate assessment of needs and negotiate and implement effective plans and outcomes.2. Ability to undertake direct work with those who access or need the service in order to support individuals.3. Ability to remain up to date with key legislation and apply legislative requirements within social work practice. Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, and to seek appropriate support, advice and supervision.4. Ability to work in partnership with carers, colleagues and a variety of external agencies in order to deliver the most effective service.5. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both written and oral format including the ability to explain complicated information to a wide range of people and negotiate and persuade others to adopt a particular course of action.6. Sound and accurate IT and keyboard skills.

Qualifications and/or experience include:

• Degree in relevant professional or equivalent qualification e.g. Certificate of Qualification in Social Work or Diploma in Social Work.• Registration with the relevant professional registration body and responsibility for maintaining registration with that body.• Approved Mental Health Professional (it is a requirement to have AMHP qualification or to be working towards the qualification to be complete within 2 years of appointment and to maintain level of knowledge).• Knowledge of theoretical social work concepts and practices, with demonstrable examples of dealing with a breadth of complex issues and situations as well as theoretical, practical and procedural knowledge of social work and working knowledge of legislation relevant to the specialist area of the post e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act.• Valid, full driving licence - Desirable

Rewards and Benefits

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05478.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Jenny Wenham (Team Manager - OPMH Southern) at [email protected]

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact [email protected].

To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!