young people support worker jobs

About Us

West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people we work with and their communities. As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

Our friendly and supportive Adult Safeguarding Enquiries Team is a small specialist county wide team, working entirely on safeguarding that is linked to service providers. This includes residential and nursing home providers, domestic care, supported living providers and health care providers and working with all adult customer groups.

The team focuses on S42 enquiries for individuals and any wider organisational factors. We lead and co-ordinate multiagency work with providers of concern where there are significant safeguarding concerns and / or a wider public interest / possible risk to others.

We asked the team to tell us what it is like working in the Adult Safeguarding Enquiries Team and this is what they came up with:

"The Adult Safeguarding Enquiry Team is a team of highly supportive colleagues who genuinely care for and encourage each other on a daily basis. The team offers a range of training opportunities, with personal and career development promoted within the team. The role is dynamic, which provides a range of interesting experiences each day, and ongoing learning opportunities for practice."

About The Job

Salary: £39,862 to £47,181 per annum (grade 10 or 11 dependant on experience)
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week (hybrid working opportunities available please discuss at interview)
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Horsham office base – please note countywide travel is part of the role
Interview Dates: w/c 26th January - morning interviews

To succeed in this role you need to be resilient, have a good knowledge of adult safeguarding, and engage with people and work collaboratively and flexibly to achieve solutions that improve and sustain lives and care services. You will work as part of a strong and dynamic social work service.

Working as a Social Worker in the Enquiry Team, your role will involve undertaking safeguarding enquiries and help develop safeguarding plans working with adults from 18 years and upwards with physical disabilities, acquired brain injuries, chronic health conditions, older people and people with dementia. You’ll also review the effectiveness of safeguarding plans for both individuals and service providers.

You will need to be confident in assessing risk and be an effective communicator as you will be working with members of the public and professionals from different disciplines and agencies.

As an experienced Social Worker, you will be responsible for ensuring that you are up to date with key developments and that business change is successfully implemented. You will need to remain up to date and compliant with all relevant legislation and adhere to organisational procedures, policies, codes of conduct and the values of West Sussex.

You will need to remain up to date and compliant with all relevant legislation and adhere to organisational procedures, policies, codes of conduct and the values of West Sussex.

Experience and Skills

The following are the short listing criteria so please ensure you cover with information on how you meet each of the criteria in your application.

Key Skills:
1. Theoretical, practical and procedural knowledge of social work, with up-to-date working knowledge of legislation relevant to the specialist area of the post e.g. The Care Act and the Mental Capacity Act.
2. Good understanding of the necessity of working with partnership agencies including health, housing, learning, statutory, voluntary and independent sector.
3. Able to use own initiative where appropriate, in a context of good support and supervision.
4. Organise own workload and respond independently to unexpected problems and situations (With support of line manager for advice and guidance on serious problems).
5. Able to support people who access or need the service and / or subject matter which may place emotional demands on the individual.
6. Able to deal with challenging behaviour from people who access or need the service.

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 CAFHE06101.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Shaun Labelle (Team Manager) at shaun.labelle@westsussex.gov.uk. For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.

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 (if you meet all the essential criteria), 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!