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About the Role
The Senior Social Worker provides a high-quality, accountable statutory social work service to children who are looked after, subject to care proceedings, or progressing toward adoption. This includes delivering robust assessment, purposeful intervention, and meaningful case planning and review in line with legislation, Council policy, and the standards outlined in Lewisham’s Senior Social Worker role profile. Working collaboratively with foster carers, birth families, adopters, Special Guardians, education and health colleagues, and other partners, Senior Social Workers ensure that children benefit from coordinated and trauma-informed support. This role is central to promoting stability, timely permanency outcomes, and safe, nurturing futures for children. The successful candidate will contribute to service development and help embed best-practice approaches that reflect Lewisham’s values, legal responsibilities, and commitment to high-quality children’s social care.
Responsibilities
- Manage a caseload of complex looked after children, ensuring their needs, wellbeing, identity, and safety are central to all planning.
- Produce high-quality written evidence for court.
- Contribute to permanence planning.
- Prepare reports for CLA reviews, legal meetings, panels, and multi-agency partners.
- Provide guidance, professional, and informal support to social workers and alternatively qualified staff members.
- Contribute to reflective practice and team development.
- Uphold strong recording, compliance, and safeguarding standards.
- Contribute to service development.
- Help embed best-practice approaches that reflect Lewisham’s values, legal responsibilities, and commitment to high-quality children’s social care.
Requirements
- Value the importance of communication and seeking feedback.
- Can inspire and motivate those they work with, manage and lead.
- Are committed to developing their skills and expertise to deliver an excellent service.
- Are professionally curious and value thinking slowly and calmly in a balanced way.
- Work inclusively and collaboratively with others, recognizing their strengths.
- Take responsibility and make a positive contribution by focusing on solutions.
- Are transparent, appreciative in enquiry, reflect and learn.
- Strong report writing skills.
- Ability to gather comprehensive information and trauma-informed assessments.
- Capacity and ability to work efficiently to meet court deadlines and meet competing demands.
- Must have a degree in social work or equivalent qualification.
- Have relevant professional experience in conducting kinship assessments.
- Be registered with Social Work England.
- The post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.
Skills
- Communication
- Seeking feedback
- Inspiring and motivating others
- Managing and leading teams
- Professional development
- Service delivery
- Professional curiosity
- Balanced thinking
- Inclusive work practices
- Collaboration
- Problem-solving
- Transparency
- Appreciative enquiry
- Reflection
- Learning
- Report writing
- Information gathering
- Trauma-informed assessments
- Efficient work practices
- Meeting deadlines
- Managing competing demands
Location
- Laurence House, Catford, London, SE6 4RU
Work Type
- Hybrid
Experience Level
- Senior
Education Level
- Degree in social work or equivalent qualification
Salary/Compensations
- £45,852 - £47,925 per annum
Benefits
- Excellent training and development opportunities
- Generous holiday allowance
- Local Government Pension scheme
- Flexible working and family friendly policies
- Season ticket and bicycle loans
- A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
- Supportive staff networks
About the Company
- Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!
- We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.
- As part of Lewisham’s Children and Young People’s Directorate, the Senior Social Worker provides a high‑quality, accountable statutory social work service.
Equal Opportunity
- Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply