Social Worker - Family Support & Protection, West Essex

Social Worker - Family Support & Protection, West Essex

Permanent, Full Time

£34,902 to £50,081 per annum

Location: Harlow

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Closing Date: 15th January 2026

This position is open to Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) and Experienced Social Workers. (The starting salary for a NQSW is £34,902 per annum and this will rise to £37,185 per annum on successful completion of the ASYE programme).

Essex County Council understand how important flexibility and wellbeing is for our colleagues working across children's Social Care and that we need to think differently. We have therefore developed a nine-day working fortnight for full time frontline Social Workers within Children’s services. If you would like more information on this, please follow this link .

Have you ever been interested in how Family Support and Protection’s social work practice differs from other teams?

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It’s an exciting time to join us. Not only have we been named Outstanding by Ofsted, but we are also delighted and at the same time humbled to have been crowned Social Work Employer of the Year for the second time in the last three years!

There is ‘No Magic’ to it, click here to see why

We are looking for motivated social workers, who are passionate about making a difference for children and their families, to join our team.

Family Support & Protection

The Family Support and Protection (FS&P) teams work with families on Child in Need & Child Protection plans to promote sustainable change. FS&P Social Workers are responsible for building positive relationships with families using systemic and strengths based social work approaches. The work is varied and involves working with Public Law Outline (PLO), Court work including S.7 report and when necessary, taking families into proceedings and some Special Guardianship Order (SGO) assessments. Through regular reflective supervision and access to CPD/Training from the Essex Social Care Academy a BASW accredited CPD provider you will be encouraged to be creative and innovative in the direct work you undertake with families. We believe that giving families a supportive environment, encouragement and insight helps them to navigate and achieve change. This means we can say goodbye to families knowing they have to tools to sustain change.

This is a great opportunity to join a friendly, stable, and dedicated team. If you have a warm and caring personality, are organised, feel passionate about supporting children and their families, believe in a strength-based approach, can work within given timescales, and have a good sense of humour, you’ll fit in well within this supportive and experienced service.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or master’s in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered social worker.
• Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.
• Experience within a social work setting with evidence of challenging social and family situations.
• Strong communication skills and an ability to develop a rapport and engage with diverse groups of individuals.
• Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies and the local community, to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children and families.
• Understand delivery of value for money interventions balanced against need.
• Evidence of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.

To read more about us please visit https://www.workingforessex.com/role/children-families

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us.

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.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

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

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

Follow us on Facebook , Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn . Further details can be found on our careers page .

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