Social Worker

Do you want to support parents to achieve meaningful and sustainable change and help more children to remain safely within their birth families?

We are looking for a social worker who has completed the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment to join our fantastic Pre-Birth team.

This could be the right role for you!

WHAT IS INVOLVED?
In our Pre-Birth team you will work closely with care leavers, young parents, and families who have previously been involved in care proceedings. By delivering intensive, relationship-based intervention that supports parents to achieve meaningful and sustainable change you will help more children to remain safely within their birth families. Where this is not in the child’s best interest, you will work to find a permanent home for the child as early as possible utilising our early permanence procedures.

Social Workers within the team hold a small case load averaging on 10 cases to support with the intensive intervention offered to families.

You will be joining us at a fantastic time. Inspectors have judged our Children’s Services as outstanding. You can read the full report  here

If you are keen to find out more, please contact Sarah Anavberokhai, Team Manager for an informal discussion. You can contact Sarah by e-mail at View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk

HOW WILL WE SUPPORT YOU?
We are passionate about social work in County Durham. We are committed to providing a culture where good practice can flourish.

We will ensure you are highly supported. You will benefit from high quality professional supervision, a great induction, and access to our strong learning and development offer. 

You can find out more about social work in Durham here Working in children and families social work - Durham County Council

WHAT WILL I NEED?
You will need to be an experienced, pro-active Social Worker who wants to work intensively with families and promote the voice of the child. You will also need:

• Experience of building effective relationships with children, young people, and families
• Experience in producing focused written case notes and reports
• Commitment, enthusiasm, and professional confidence 

Please refer to the attached person specification for the full criteria.

If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure.

OUR COMMITMENT TO SAFEGUARDING
Durham County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore if successful in your application, an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be sought inclusive of a check of the Children’s Barred List and Adults Barred List, due to the position working in regulated activity.

Applicants should be aware that the DBS check will disclose both spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings, in line with current legislation and will confirm whether an individual is barred from working with children, adults, or both.

INTERVIEWS
Interviews will be held week commencing 7th September 2026 onwards.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked after young person, care leaver or a veteran.

OUR OFFER TO YOU
We offer a competitive rewards package that includes attractive salaries, a generous annual leave entitlement of 27 days (rising to 32 after five years’ continuous local government service), membership of the excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme, and a range of flexible working arrangements including hybrid working (home and office) where applicable. Explore the full range of rewards and benefits on our website 

Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions.

Social workers post ASYE in this post are eligible for a recruitment/retention allowance of £2,500 over 12 months (pro-rata for part time workers). Payments are made in equal instalments across a 12-month period alongside your pay. The allowances are subject to tax, National Insurance and pension contributions.

REMOVAL AND LODGINGS
If you are looking to relocate to join us removal, lodging and separation expenses of up to £8,000 may be available to you if you live outside of County Durham and in excess of 30 miles in a straight line from your new base, along with a number of other criteria for eligibility.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION
We are a proud equal opportunities employer and believe a diverse workforce brings fresh ideas and drives service improvement. We welcome applications from everyone and make employment decisions based on skills and ability. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled and neurodivergent people and offer support throughout the recruitment process.

HOW TO APPLY 
Please note, we do not accept CVs. All applications must be submitted online via the Northeast Jobs portal. Use the ‘Person Specification’ section of the form to clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential (and where possible, desirable) criteria. Applications that do not evidence the essential requirements will not be shortlisted.

Please visit our website to understand our position on using AI to support your application and for guidance on completing your application.

If you require assistance when applying for this role, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk on View phone number on northeastjobs.org.uk, or via email View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk

All correspondence relating to your application will be sent from View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk . Kindly check your spam/junk folder regularly to ensure you don’t miss any updates.

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