Social Worker - Foster Care

Are you a qualified Social Worker looking to make a real difference?

Halton Borough Council are currently looking for both Social Workers and Advanced Social Workers to join our Fostering Team.

Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester.

Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services.

We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’. 

Our Team and Your Contributions:

You will be joining a settled and welcoming team, with access to regular supervision and continued professional development. As a Supervising Social Worker, it is vital that you work well with Foster Carers throughout the process of them fostering children and young people, and work collaboratively across services and with other professional disciplines. Your role will involve assessing, supporting, and supervising foster carers in accordance with the fostering National Minimum Standards 2011 and encourage carers to access their support network and services provided by the local authority and beyond. The ideal candidate will have previous Fostering Social Work experience; a full induction and training programme will be provided.

As part of this role you may be required to complete Regulation 24 assessments and Special Guardianship/Fostering Assessments in relation to the broader family and friends agenda. You may also be required to support with training to foster carers.  

The main responsibilities of the post include the preparation and completion of assessments for the Fostering Panel and the support, supervision, and development of carers post approval in accordance with the Fostering Regulations and National Minimum Standards 2011.

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service
• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• Investment in your personal development
• Free Car Parking at HBC sites
• Flexible working arrangements
• Car leasing schemes

The Market Supplement applicable to the advertised role is as follows: 

For salaries of HBC 7 and HBC8 - £2,710 per annum

For salaries of HBC 9 - £3,710 per annum

Market Supplement's may be subject to early removal should there be rational to do so.

Next Steps:

At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, or learn more about our Fostering Team please contact Jacqueline Evans - Jacqueline.evans@Halton.gov.uk.

Interviews will provisionally take place on week commencing 17/03/2025.

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – resourcing@halton.gov.uk

Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. If you’re interested, please complete your application as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application!