Children's Services

Here at Swindon Borough Council, we are aspirational for achieving the highest standards of practice for the children and families we support and know that this will result in improved outcomes for our most vulnerable children and young people.

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Social Work & Leadership Academy

Want to find out more about the Academy and different routes into Social Work

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Message from David Haley - Corporate Director Children's Services

Family Safeguarding Model - Working together as a multidisciplinary team with a motivational approach

About us

Here at Swindon Borough Council, we’re committed to ensuring children and families feel safe and supported every day. We’re transforming our services and securing even brighter futures –including yours.

Our Children’s Service is rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted but we are not complacent .We have drive and aspirations to continuously transform our service and work towards ‘Outstanding’, to ensure children receive a consistently good service every day.

Ofsted recognised that the quality of leadership and management at all levels is an emerging key strength for us and our permanent senior leadership team, led by our new in post Director of Social Work, is ambitious, energetic and assured in the oversight and delivery of services to children and their families.

We have now implemented the Family Safeguarding Model in 2022, a new multi-disciplinary approach that supports a whole-system change to child protection for children up to adolescence, focusing on supporting the needs of children and adults so that children can safely remain within their families. This is a great opportunity to join us now and be part of this journey from the start.

In addition, we have an established and growing ASYE programme, linked to our Social Care & Leadership Academy, offering mentoring support, fostering a culture of learning and challenge, manageable caseloads and good quality supervision, as we commit and invest in growing our own talent, as well as our experienced social workers. 

Some of the improvements include:

Multi-million pound investment into Children’s Services at a time when authorities all over the country are cutting budgets

Significant restructure creating smaller social worker teams with better supervision, smaller case loads, and more opportunity for CPD

Developed an exciting learning and development programme based on outcome focussed practice, risk assessment, permanencey planning and developing supervision skills, to support our Social Workers to be the best they can be

New intuitive IT system to cut down on desk time and make mobile working the norm

A separate 'Children Looked After' team to make sure we provide the best service for children in care

Our offer to you

We recognise that getting the best outcomes for our Children means getting the best from you and we have listened to what our Social Workers most value.

As a result, we are delighted to launch our revised offer, to include:

  • £3000 “golden hello” payment after 1 years’ service 
  • Retention payments of £2000 after completing 2 years’ service and a further £2000 after 3 years’ service
  • Relocation allowance of up to £8,000 (eligibility criteria)
  • Competitive salaries
  • Free car parking at our central Swindon campus
  • A career average revalued earnings (CARE) pension scheme
  • 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays) rising to 31 days after 10 years’ service
  • Leisure and Legal Services discounts
  • Eating Out, Shopping and Entertainment discounts
  • Flexible working

*Note that the above payments will only be applicable to Social Work roles in core service teams at the following levels: Newly Qualfied, Qualifed, Experienced, Consultant, Senior Practitioner, Assistant Team Manager, Independent Reviewing Officer and Team Manager. 

About You

Your aspirations should be limitless and you will be as determined and passionate about Children’s Services as we are. As a local authority, we continuously drive forward improvements in our services. We want our Social Workers to be part of our transformation, contribute to improving the safeguarding of our children, and we will make sure you have the full support network and training to do it.

Our teams are ambitious and proactive and we are looking for people who will share that ambition and be a part of our journey.

Candidates must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act – for the effective performance of a customer-facing role).

Our commitment to your development

We are dedicated to ensuring that you can progress your continued professional development and access training and learning opportunities linked to the BASW competencies for career progression.

We have an established Social Work & Leadership Academy. The Academy aims to celebrate the best in professional practice in Social Work and Social Care Leadership. The Academy represents an opportunity for us to demonstrate how we support, develop and value the professional disciplines in Social Work and Social Care through a targeted framework of career development and learning opportunities. 

But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what some of our social workers said about working here:

I'm making a difference to vulnerable people while being valued and invested in as a worker and working as part of an enthusiastic and motivated team

I like the support that my colleagues give one another. I work with some really nice people. I have a really knowledgeable line manager, who is able to pass on her knowledge and good practice

The team of people I work with are fantastic. Working with children and families is hard but very rewarding. Knowing you can make a difference to a young person’s life is incredibly motivating.

My Role - Fiona Francis

Principal Social Worker - Children's Services

My Role - Sharleen McIntosh

Assistant Team Manager - Children's Services

My Role - Holger Alsmeier

Social Worker - Children's Services

My Role - Annie Morcumb

Social Worker - Children's Services