Social Worker – Family Support and Protection, South

About

The Role
Social Worker - Family Support and Protection, South Essex

Permanent, Full Time*

£36,124 to £51,834 per annum

Location:

Basildon

Working Style:
Anywhere worker

Closing Date: 9th September 2026

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

This position is open to Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) and Experienced Social Workers. (The starting salary for a NQSW is £36,124 per annum and this will rise to £38,487 per annum on successful completion of the ASYE programme).

In line with our Skills and Capability Framework, for an experienced Social Worker the basic salary is between £38,487 per annum and £51,834 per annum with 9 entry points across the range.

• 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 having received our 2nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row. There is ‘No Magic’ to it,  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.

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.

I love the team and will really miss it. I am only leaving to take up a new role a senior practitioner. However, I am staying in the same service as I love the work we do with families and the supportive relationships within the teams

I have been in the team since becoming a newly qualified social worker, it has been almost 4 years since I joined and I have enjoyed moving through the roles from all the way through to Senior Practitioner – this team is like a family

The support I have received from everyone in the team during my NQSW year has helped me gain confidence and although things can get a bit tough at times there is always someone on hand ready with a cuppa or on the end of a phone to talk things through with or help me manage difficult situations – I never feel alone

I started coming down to spend time with the team when I was a student social worker and I stayed – I am now a senior practitioner, our manager is really supportive and takes time to get to know you

• A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or Masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work…