Senior Social Worker – Learning Disability & Autism
Essex
Role
Senior Social Worker – Learning Disability & Autism
Permanent, Full Time
£46,574 to £56,027 per annum
Location: Harlow, Epping & Uttlesford
Working Style: Community-based worker
The Team This is an exciting opportunity for a passionate and experienced Social Worker to join an innovative and award-winning Learning Disability and Autism Team covering West Essex. The team strives to improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities and/or autism through the work we do. Working with community groups, family and carers you will ensure advocacy for people with learning disability and/or autism. We take a person-centred approach to practice and support adults with achieving their goals and ambitions, while also meeting their social care needs. This is achieved through direct work, multi-disciplinary approaches, collaboration and building local community links. Most notably the team hosted the learning disability festival in June 2025, focusing on bringing visibility to individuals with learning disabilities and highlighting their unique voices and talents. Joining a LD & Autism team at Essex means you will be working in a supportive and innovative environment enabling you to develop your own ideas to make meaningful changes to the Adult's lives. The achievements with the team truly make a difference in the adults lives we work with and take a step towards changing the opportunities and outcomes for adults in our local community. About the Role Working to support adults, and their families, who have complex social needs and are more vulnerable as a result of disability, exclusion, or diminished capacity, you’ll maximise their potential to live independently. You’ll be a source of specialist advice, managing your own complex caseload as well as supporting colleagues with theirs. You will assess social care needs using a person centred and strengths-based approach and contribute to the development of care and support plans for adults. The role will require you to manage a caseload of adults with complex needs, including assessment of risk through direct work, within a quality assurance process. A focus of the role will be to ensure vulnerable people are safeguarded in line with ECC’s statutory obligations. Your responsibilities will also include: About You To apply, you should be a qualified social worker with current Social Work England registration and be post-qualified 2 years with an in-depth knowledge of complex cases and The Care Act, along with experience of working with Adults with LD and/or Autism. You will be AMHP, BIA or Practice Educator qualified, or have secured intention to complete these qualifications. We require a proactive worker who has a proven record of working complex cases and supporting other staff members. A worker who wants to develop and become part of the management Team. You’ll bring significant experience of social work, modelling good practice and providing advice and guidance in complex situations. We’re also looking for your ability to mentor both newly-qualified and experienced team members. As, as a subject matter expert in relevant professional practice, you should have a comprehensive understanding of current legislation, regulations and guidance. With experience of chairing meetings involving clients, family members, carers and other multi-agency professionals, we’re looking for your ability to develop strong relationships with partner agencies and the local community to provide a supportive framework for vulnerable adults. You’ll also bring: This role involves travelling around Essex. A driving licence and car - or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means - is essential. Why Join Us? With us, you can achieve more – for yourself as well as the vulnerable adults you work to support. We’re always looking for new ways to deliver even better services, Social Workers play an integral role in our preventative approach to Social Care. We encourage our multi-disciplinary teams to share their ideas and experience. We work together to get things done. Bring your positive, proactive attitude, and we’ll empower you to make the most of your experience within Essex County Council (ECC) Adult Social Care services. In June 2025, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated our Adult Social Care services as “Good” with a score of 73% “The local authority had a good structure and processes in place to enable people to be supported successfully, and support people to remain independent and live healthy lives. The workforce was passionate about supporting people to achieve these outcomes and the local authority had good knowledge of their area, the people living there and the demographics.” You can read the full report on the CQC website here. What We Offer We’ll support you to be your best… Whatever you want to achieve in your social care career, you can do it here. *T&Cs Apply. Apply now. For more information please contact Abbie.Mollison@essex.gov.uk In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR)) on our careers site Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying. Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs. At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone. As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Further details can be found on our careers page. Downloads Pay and Reward | Our Ways of Working | About Us | Organisation Behaviours