Adults Social Worker – Early Help & Wellbeing

Adults Social Worker – Early Help & Wellbeing

Permanent, Full Time

£37,185 to £50,081 per annum

Location: Chelmsford / South Essex

Working Style: Community-based worker

This role is open to Newly Qualified Social Worker’s (NQSW). The starting salary for a NQSW is £34,902 per annum, rising to £37,185 per annum upon successful completion of the ASYE programme.

The Team

The Early Help & Wellbeing Team is a welcoming, compassionate and exciting team to work in, offering preventative and early help to connect people to opportunities in their own communities and provide support that enables them to achieve personal ambitions, goals and aspirations.

Mental health social care is transforming into a new operational delivery model improving our early intervention and prevention offer to Essex residents with a focus on people currently not receiving services or falling through existing gaps. The offer is to ensure care act compliance across the system offering information advice and guidance and providing support to improve wellbeing outcomes. Within this service there will be a mixture of the team carrying out direct work alongside adults and completing care act assessments relevant to wellbeing outcomes  and the completion of care act reviews.

Focus has moved from long-term care and support, to a model with four key principles: - Prevention; Early Intervention; Enablement and Safeguarding. This will enable people, their families, and carers to access information and tools, live healthily and independently.

We are looking for someone committed to person centred work with individuals and families focusing on their strengths, interests and assets within the Care Act (2014). As part of a partnership and collaborative working, you will support the understanding and knowledge of the role of social work within mental health and the importance of the social determinants of health and how they impact people’s lives.

Experience of providing direct support to people to achieve their goals, an understanding of factors affecting positive mental wellbeing and neurodivergent conditions and providing advice and guidance is essential in this role.

This role requires balancing direct work to support people with their own mental wellbeing alongside assessment/review for eligibility for commissioned services. Whilst ensuring they are balancing need with finance.

Working pattern is Monday-Friday, working flexibility to meet the demands of the service. A hybrid way of working to ensure flexibility for the service is essential.

Key Roles, Skills and Responsibilities:

• Experience of developing strong working relationships with partners, other agencies and the voluntary sector to deliver improved outcomes.
• Assess complex social care needs and provide support to vulnerable adults, which enable them to live healthily and independently.
• Develop support plans that gain commitment to solutions that drive the care required for each individual’s needs.
• Accountable for working within the statutory legal framework, policy and guidance and determining when the threshold for statutory intervention has been reached
• Accountable for conducting assessments and plan responses to safeguard a child or vulnerable adult include intervention as required.
• Develop a client centric approach which enables early intervention and prevention and increases independence.
• Work with families, communities and individuals to help people age well supporting the Council’s wider strategic aims.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
• Strong communication skills and an ability to develop a rapport and engage with diverse groups of individuals.
• Pro-actively influences in a range of planning, decision making and case discussions inter-agency.
• Understand the financial implications of care packages commissioned.
• Evidence of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.
• Support consultations around mental health with professionals within Adult Social Care and Children and Families social care within your area.
• Support other primary care services such as the Primary Care Mental Health Team’s with development of social care knowledge.
• Supervision of unqualified social care staff when required.
• Provide a clear picture of how a person’s independence can be promoted and maximised.  Promote conversations to draw on the support around each person, their networks, local community and personal resources and support with delivering statutory responsibilities under the Care Act (2014).
• Establish therapeutic relationships with service users, their families and carers. Supporting them to utilise self help options and bridging them to appropriate services.
• Utilising direct work skills to improve a person’s mental wellbeing.
• Linking in with local communities and services to understand the demographic in which you are working.
• Undertake risk assessments and develop risk management plans.  Ability to support positive risk taking.
• Ability to work in accordance with the relevant legislation, (including the Mental Health Act 1983, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards 2009 and related Codes, the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010 and local policy.
• You will be able to demonstrate specialist knowledge underpinned by theory and relevant practical experience in order to understand service users with complex needs, their families and carers.
• To understand and utilise Health and Social Care commissioned services, demonstrating an understanding of eligibility criteria for social care services, and working in collaboration with nursing and other health care professions in a recovery focused way.
• Support health partners with the understanding of the statutory responsibility for the assessment of carer’s (including young carer’s) needs and ensure advice and information is provided.
• Prepare and present clear assessments and other reports as necessary to set out the basis of decisions made. Maintain all records to a high standard in accordance with relevant legislation, policy and procedures. Provide information, written assessments, reports and statements to support other service professionals, managers and agencies in making decisions related to care.
• Be able to work flexibly across areas and teams as required by the service.
• Complete mandatory training required by ECC.
• You will use digital and technology solutions where they will meet the need and offer a more sustainable approach.
• Review care and support in line with guidance.
•  Evidence of continuing professional development and demonstrable capability of practice in accordance with current professional standards e.g. professional capability framework, knowledge and skills statement.
• Experience within a social care setting with evidence of challenging social and family situations.

About You

To apply you should be a qualified social worker with a current Social Work England registration. You’ll bring at experience in working within mental health and delivering direct work, along with evidence of continuing professional development, and capability of practice in accordance with current professional standards.

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, and the ability to deliver direct work, 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.

Please note that although the job is South based, the role will require you to be mobile throughout the Essex County Council area. Therefore, it is essential the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

What We Offer

We’ll support you to be your best and will offer:

• Ongoing opportunities for continuing professional development
• Flexible working options
• Employee wellbeing and counselling
• Lease Car scheme
• Life assurance of three times annual salary
• Local Government Pension Scheme. View Key Facts and FAQ’s about the LGPS.
• Volunteering leave
• 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), rising with service
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - access to free and confidential information, support, and guidance from a team of highly qualified professionals.
• Employee Networks – communities to support you, connect you and help influence change at ECC
• Payment of your Social Work England registration fees!

Whatever you want to achieve in your social work career, you can do it here.

*T&Cs Apply.

Apply now.

For more information 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