Adult Social Care Social Worker - Working Aged Adults

The Essex Recruitment Team (ERT) is the contracted recruitment partner for Essex County Council (ECC) and has been on site since 2008 - Registering with ERT will give you direct access to all ECC vacancies.

To undertake assessment of risk involving safeguarding of vulnerable adults/carers and their families across a range of settings. Taking responsibility and working with individuals facing complex social and family crisis across a range of settings. Promoting autonomy and development with individuals who have complex needs and are more vulnerable to exclusion. Working with communities, individuals and families to promote their personal strengths.

The Adult Operations function delivers direct provision of services relating to vulnerable adults and their families. These services are delivered against specifications set by the People Commissioning function in line with the County Council's overarching outcomes.

The role reports directly to an Operational Team Manager and will be a member of a small team (10- 15 FTE) of Social workers and Occupational Therapists. Teams are aligned to GP clusters/Districts and focused on one of the following areas- working age adults, older people, or older adult mental health in addition there are hospital assessment teams co-located with NHS colleagues and a number of specialist teams with countywide remits.

The post holder is responsible for working with individuals who have complex social needs and are more vulnerable as a result of disability, exclusion, or diminished capacity, for example, working with people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities or diminished capacity and working with communities, families and individuals social workers maximise or promote personal strengths, social networks and resources.

Role Specific Accountabilities

• To assess, review and provide help to an individual, family or carer with complex family or social care needs, taking full account of appropriate policy and guidance. This will include taking due account of the principles of personalisation, service eligibility criteria and legal framework.
  
• To intervene and provide help to an individual or family whose complex family or social care needs or risks indicate that they need ongoing professional support which they might not normally be willing to accept
  
• To carry out an assessment or enquiry and plan responses with an adult, or their representative or advocate if they lack capacity, to safeguard them from abuse, neglect or exploitation, building effective relationships with individuals and families as appropriate.
  
• To enable an adult who has been abused or neglected to improve their circumstances, where it is unclear whether the person lacks mental capacity to make decisions, or where it is unclear whether their decisions are compromised by the undue influence of others.
  
• To seek to promote social justice and rights by challenging neglect, discrimination and exclusion, and helping to build safe, strong and caring social networks and communities.
  
• To be the lead professional in collaborative work in situations where a social work perspective is needed to inform or drive decision-making, ensuring that a legally based, human rights perspective is applied to when and how interventions are made in the lives of individuals, families and communities experiencing complex social and family problems
  
• To take a lead on community development to assess, identify and maximise the strengths or assets of individuals, their families and their communities.
  
• To help people facing significant personal adversity to improve their health, well-being and social engagement. To build relationships with individuals and families who find it difficult to engage with services but need support to develop or maintain independence or autonomy.
  
• Facilitate service user choice and empowerment through promoting independence as far as possible, by using knowledge and skills to promote quality of life, through the application of the principles of the personalisation agenda, such as support planning, at validation / risk management board discussions and Family Group Conferencing.
  
• To refer, liaise, consult and work effectively with other professionals in order to identify and meet service user / carers needs e.g. Social Care Staff, Essex Equipment Service, Health Care Professionals, District Councils, Housing Teams, Home Improvement Agencies and contractors. In integrated teams, to positively contribute to the achievement of joint working practices.
  
• To hold a caseload of a level of complexity and provide case management, guidance, support and expert advice to social care staff, students and newly qualified social workers, as and when required. Accountable for making recommendations about whether a case has reached the threshold for statutory intervention.
  
• Record, investigate and respond to safeguards and risk management boards, complaints and compliments, and provide detailed and professional responses in accordance with relevant standards and time frames.
  

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Diploma/ Degree in Social Work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent or Diploma of the College of Occupational Therapists or B.Sc. O.T. or other professional qualification recognised by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists.
  
• Registration with the Health Professions Council as an Occupational Therapist and/or Registration with HCPC.
  
• Approved Social Worker status (specific to Older Adult Mental Health).
  
• A good working knowledge and ability to use information technology and related systems.
  
• R equired to be mobile throughout an operational area. To be able to attend meetings or provide cover in other locations. Driving licence and car or access to other effective transport arrangements 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 visit:

Please note that Essex County Council has determined that the off-payroll working rules will apply to this assignment and where a worker elects to provide their services through an intermediary (such as a personal services company) then income tax and primary national insurance contributions will be deducted at source from any payments made to the intermediary.

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.


We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.

If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please contact the Essex Recruitment Team on *.

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