Senior Social Worker (Children in Our Care) Ref CH04226

Senior Social Worker - Ref: CH04226

Grade: G10; Salary Range: 47181 - 50269

Children are at the heart of Walsall local authority. They receive support help and services that reduce risks for them and meet their needs. (Ofsted 2025)

Do you want to join our OUTSTANDING local authority

If so we have a current opportunity for an experienced social worker within our children in care team as a Senior Social Worker

Children and families are at the heart of our practice in Walsall as identified within our recent Ofsted inspection:

Children benefit from positive trusting relationships with their social workers. Social workers enable children through direct work to share their lived experiences hopes and aspirations.

Children in care benefit from living in stable and long-lasting homes. They experience positive nurturing relationships with their carers and children spoken to by inspectors talked of feeling loved by their carers.

About the job

Within Children in Our Care you will be supported by experienced team managers and skilled social work practitioners who are committed to working alongside you to deliver high-quality child-centred practice.

You will work with children young people carers families and partner agencies to ensure that the voices wishes and feelings of children are at the heart of care planning and review meetings. You will be supported to build meaningful relationships with children and to help them understand their experiences identity and plans for the future.

You will have access to a strong training and development offer including opportunities to develop the knowledge confidence and skills needed to undertake meaningful therapeutic life story work with children and young people.

This is an exciting time to join Children in Our Care in Walsall as we strengthen our ethos of supporting children in care for now while also ensuring that wherever possible and safe children are reunified with their family and wider social networks. We are developing clear pathways to support social workers and specialist practitioners to help children live with the people they love and who are important to them.

About you

We are looking for experienced practitioners who are passionate and committed to supporting children in our care. You will be confident in building meaningful relationships with children and young people as well as with their carers families and wider social networks ensuring that children feel listened to understood and supported.

You will bring a child-centred and relationship-based approach to your practice with a strong commitment to helping children feel safe loved and connected to the people who matter most to them.

Our Offer:

To provide the right conditions for you we are committed to manageable workloads high support from managers essential paperwork only enabling technologies.

Within Walsall we offer a comprehensive training and development programme which contributed to our OUTSTANDING Ofsted grading in May 2025.

There is a comprehensive training offer for workers in Walsall. There is an impressive offer to workers in gaining a social work qualification and for newly qualified social workers developing their knowledge of frontline practice. The general training offer is wide ranging and gives workers the opportunity to learn incrementally about their role.

Wellbeing is at the heart of our work. We offer specialised clinical supervision to support work/life balance flexible working and specialist employee assistance and therapeutic support when it is needed. We know we need to make social work a career people want to stay in.

This post also attracts a retention payment after two years in post starting at 10% and increasing incrementally up to 14%.

Salary Scale

Senior Social Worker

Would you like to talk to us about the realities of working in within the children in our care team If so contact Andy Caville or Deon Rogers who will content you with one of the social workers within the service

Closing date for applications: 10^th August 2026

Interviews: week commencing 17^th August 2026

View: Job Description and Employee Specification

This post is covered by the Governments Code of Practice on the English Language Fluency Duty for public sector workers. The post holder will be required to communicate verbally with customers and provide advice and/or information in accurate spoken English.

Walsall Council takes seriously the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children young people and vulnerable adults entrusted to our care and it is our expectation that all staff will share this commitment. We will ensure continuous development and improvement of robust recruitment processes and procedures that promote a culture of safeguarding amongst our workforce. Completion of an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is a requirement for working with children young people and vulnerable adults.

Note:Applicants appointed to posts that require an enhanced DBS clearance must declare any periods of time that they have lived studied or worked abroad and be prepared to provide an Overseas Criminal Records Certificate (OCRC) or a Statement of Good Conduct (SOGC) relating to anytime they were overseas.

Important note: When completing your online application form you will be asked to enter supporting information. You must enter a detailed supporting information statement describing how your skills abilities and experience meet the specific criteria included in the employee specification. If you do not include a supporting information statement you will not be shortlisted. Please also ensure that you complete the work history and qualifications sections of your application form. Please do not add a CV as we do not accept them. Please see ourInformation for Applicants leaflet for further information.

We kindly request that recruitment agencies do not contact us regarding this job vacancy. We are not accepting agency applications or referrals at this time.

At Walsall Council we appreciate that AI can be a useful tool for ideas or guidance. However we encourage you to make sure your application reflects your own voice and experiences. Over-reliance on AI can make responses feel less personal and we really want to understand what makes you unique. Your experiences skills and perspective are what set you apart so please ensure your application as a whole particularly your Supporting Information reflects your own voice.

Walsall Councils Childrens Services are the only Ofsted Outstanding local authority in the Black Country. During a visit in May 2025 Inspectors described Walsall Council as a place where children were at the heart of. The councils journey of continuous improvement started in 2017 and has since transformed into a service with a clear vision clear priorities and a clear plan all informed by the views of our staff and children. Staff are at the core of delivering great outcomes for children and young people in Walsall which is underpinned by our Walsall Right 4 Children vision. The latest Ofsted inspection demonstrated that staff in childrens services are proud to work for Walsall Council and feel supported to do great work.