SOCIAL WORKER – LOW MARTINFIELD RESIDENTIAL FAMILY ASSESSMENT CENTRE
Permanent
£43,476.00-£45,708.00 per year
37hpw (Flexible working arrangements will be agreed but with an expectation of some occasional weekend working)
Daily enhancement for being on-call (one week in three) to provide support, advice and guidance to staff outside of normal working hours.
This post is subject to Safer Recruitment measures.
Following the promotion of our current Social Worker, we are recruiting for a Social Worker to join our established team.
We are graded by Ofsted to be a ‘Good’ provider following an unannounced inspection in January 2026.
At Low Martinfield, our aim is to safeguard and promote family welfare through fair, child-centred support and evidence-based assessment of parenting capacity and skills by producing thorough reports and observations.
We aim to offer packages of support and assessment for parents ranging from low, medium, to high support needs depending on risk assessment and family placement plan.
We aim to support the family to successfully move forward to be effective parents with the skills and confidence to be emotionally resilient and self-reliant for living independently by providing a service that allows families and children to achieve the best outcome for the child.
This is enabled by a variety of factors being addressed on an individualised basis. Our well trained, empathetic staff deliver support, guidance, education and advice to provide families with all the tools to make the necessary changes and build on their strengths.
Families are provided with a homely environment that nurtures their abilities in a child-focused manner whilst feeling safe and supported.
One of the biggest challenges for families is a lack of support post-placement. Therefore, the main role of the Social Worker will be to establish and support the family/support network to devise a robust family plan. You will have to build working relationships quickly to give parents the confidence to speak to you about who is within their support network. You will need to be able to support parents in being brave to speak to their network about the challenges they are facing. Part of the role will be to use restorative practice to nurture relationships which may have previously been fractured. You will need to be able to develop, in partnership with parents, a safety plan which may need to be filed to court alongside assessments. There is the opportunity for the Social Worker to complete parenting assessments if they already have the relevant Parentassess training.
Please visit our website https://lowmartinfield.com/about-us/ to find out more about us and the services we provide and to view our Statement of Purpose.
You can view our most recent Ofsted inspection report here; https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50297235
JOB DESCRIPTION
· To work alongside the Deputy Manager to assist with/contribute to their assessments.
· Complete a range of risk assessments including; impact risk assessments, family risk assessments and family time risk assessments.
· Complete weekly reports to a high standard for each family, these will be shared with the court as part of the court bundle
· Complete mid-way and final reports for each family.
· Maintain regular communication with multi-agency professionals.
· Ensure that regular multi-agency meetings are held (minimum of monthly); attend and contribute to them.
· Ensure that record keeping and report writing is maintained and completed to a high standard. As part of your role you will need to quality assure and approve the case recordings completed by Family Support Workers.
· Ensure that Placement Plans, risk assessments, safety plans etc are regularly reviewed and updated accordingly.
· Provide advice/guidance/support to Care Staff- specifically around case recording and safeguarding issues/concerns.
· Build a rapport with parents and their family members and ensure that parents are receiving necessary support from relevant agencies i.e MH Services, Substance Misuse Services etc.
· Confidently, and respectfully, raise professional challenges if/when needed and escalate accordingly.
· Ensure that parents/families are maintaining relationships and contact with their extended family/support network wherever possible.
· Arrange and facilitate Family Group Conferences and Family Network Meetings.
· Contribute to exit/move-on plans and, when appropriate/needed, provide support/maintain contact with the families after they have moved on.
· Deputise for the Deputy Manager for time-limited periods when they are not in work.
· Support the Registered Manager in supervising Family Support Workers when needed.
PERSON SPECIFICATION:
The successful candidate must;
· Be a qualified and registered Social Worker with Social Work England.
· Have a minimum of three years post-qualifying experience in frontline child protection and care planning.
· Have an in-depth knowledge, understanding and experience of the child protection system, care planning, Children in Our Care and Care Proceedings.
· Have significant experience of responding to safeguarding concerns, assessing and managing risk and creating robust safety plans.
· Have strong assessment skills; including risk assessments and parenting assessments.
· Have experience of chairing multi-agency meetings.
· Have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the The Children Act 1989 and Working Together to Safeguard Children (2026) as well as other legislation and safeguarding procedures relevant to the role.
· Have an understanding of the Residential Family Centre Regulations (2002) and the National Minimum Standards for Residential Family Centres.
· Be trauma-informed and have experience of working with and assessing parents who have a range of complex needs.
· Have experience of maintaining effective professional relationships at multiple levels; both within the Local Authority and with multi-agency professionals.
· Be confident in and have experience of raising and responding to professional challenge.
· Have excellent verbal and written communication skills and be able to produce high quality reports and assessments which can be filed to Court as evidence.
· Be flexible and reliable. Working days/pattern are to be negotiated as it will be dependent on stages of assessment and service needs. It will require some early starts, late evenings and weekends but the majority of hours will be during the normal working week. It will not require night shifts.
· Hold a UK driving license, have business insurance and be willing to use their car for work purposes.
It would be desirable (although, not essential) if the successful candidate;
· Holds a Practice Educator qualification (Level 1 or Level 2).
· Is trained in and has experience of using the ParentAssess framework.
· Is trained in Family Group Conferencing and has experience of facilitating and chairing Family Group Conferences and Family Network Meetings (or be willing to complete this training).
· Has experience of mentoring/supervising less experienced staff i.e Family Support Workers.
· Has experience of quality assuring written work.
The successful candidate can expect the following from us as an employer:
· Flexible working arrangements.
· 5.6 weeks annual leave per year.
· Company pension.
· Access to funded training which is relevant to your job role and responsibilities.
· Regular supervision.
· A supportive and reflective working environment.
· Reimbursement of SW England registration fees.
For more information about this role, please contact the Registered Manager; Eleanor Hanna by email; [email protected] or by telephone; 01388 418361 or 07881202658.
Closing Date: Wednesday 24th June 2026. Please send your CV and request application form to: [email protected].
Interviews will take place on Tuesday 30th July 2026 in person.
Pay: £43,476.00-£45,708.00 per year
Work Location: In person
