Social Worker

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

To undertake a range of asset and strength based assessments and interventions to ensure that adults with care and support needs and carers achieve their desired outcomes and wellbeing. To determine eligibility for adult social care service set against the national standard. To work with adults with care and support needs and carers to develop personalised care and support plans that represent best value. To ensure that adults with care and support needs and carers are safe from harm. Where harm or abuse is identified ensuring the safety of the person and undertake the relevant safeguarding enquiries.

Operational management:

Undertaking an asset based approach to assessments of need with adults and carers as allocated by your line manager and where requested.

Following assessments, identifying whether or not the adult and/or carers fall within the national eligibility criteria, and communicating this to the adult or carer.

Where the adult or carer fall within eligibility criteria, working creatively and innovatively with the adult with care and support needs and/or carers to develop an agreed care and support plan to achieve the identified outcomes.

Providing professional support and information, advice and guidance to adults with care and support needs and carers on how their needs could be partly or wholly met by access to universal and other non-care services.

Explore opportunities to meet desired outcomes through alternative funding streams for example the voluntary sector or Continuing Health Care funding.

You will support in proactively working towards the increased uptake of direct payments and other service development initiatives including (but not limited to) reablement, personalisation, individual budgets, self-assessment and self-directed care to meet the adult or carers outcomes.

Ensuring value for money and maximise opportunities to generate income for adults with care and support needs and carers.

Undertaking re-assessments and reviews of care pathways as required by your line manager.

Intervening in emergency situations to protect adults with care and support needs or carers and to initiate the appropriate statutory and other actions required, and following the appropriate training and experience to undertake safeguarding adults investigations as Lead Investigator where required by the Team Manager

Maintaining clear, concise and timely records of cases, care pathways and actions in line with the Directorates policies on file maintenance.

Participating in the duty system as required by the Team Manager.

Assisting in the collection of performance data using the appropriate IT systems.

Representing the Directorate in court proceedings and with other agencies as required.

Directly commission packages of support for adults with care and support needs or carers to achieve identified outcomes.

Additional for sensory social workers:

Undertake assessments of need with Deaf, deafened and deafblind people as allocated by your line manager and where indicated, to undertake assessments of need with carers.

Provide social work services to Deaf, deafened and deafblind people or people with vision loss, including:

Community work to help support, develop and stimulate local Deaf communities.

Providing targeted interventions to people requiring help, including safeguarding, in mental health settings and in overcoming everyday barriers to social participation.

Acting as Best Interests Assessor for the whole of Sensory Services following appropriate training.

You will facilitate 1:1 and group sessions with North Yorkshire County Council staff and other professionals working with members of the Deaf community to promote awareness and understanding of Deaf culture. The post holder will work with the Team Manager to contribute to the development of communities to enable the empowerment of Deaf, deafened and deafblind people. Liaising with local, universal and other services to promote vulnerable peoples access to them.

Resource management:

Provide day-to-day advice and support to less experienced staff.

Be a Practice Educator for students who are placed in or visiting the team as agreed with line Manager.

Partnerships:

Participate in training, developmental and project activity including multi-disciplinary and multi-agency activity as agreed with the line manager.

Work with the line manager to contribute to the development of the local community to enable the empowerment of adults with care and support needs and carers. Liaising with local, universal and other services to promote access to them by adults with care and support needs and carers.

Communications:

To maintain clear, concise and timely records of cases, care packages and actions in line with the Directorate's policies on file maintenance, this includes electronic and paper records.

Communicate to the adults with care and support needs and carers in an appropriate manner to enable effective written and oral communication and is in line with Directorate policies and procedures.

Effectively negotiate and manage conversations where there is a disagreement, with the adult with care and support needs and/or their carers and others.

Engage with a range of other agencies to maximise choice and resources.

Communicate effectively and in a manner and timescale appropriate for the level of urgency, to your manager, other colleagues and professionals.

Systems and information:

Ensure that you utilise the current business processes to support the Adult Social Care function in relation to case recording, financial monitoring, ICT. To assist in the collection of client data and make appropriate use of IT systems.

Contribute to the ongoing improvement and development of Adult Social Care processes and systems in conjunction with your line manager.

As agreed with your line manager the post holder will assist in the timely and accurate collection of performance data using the appropriate IT systems and processes.

Safeguarding:

To be committed to safeguarding and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults, raising concerns as appropriate.

Undertake Safeguarding Adults Investigations, as delegated by the Designated Safeguarding Manager and in line with procedures.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable experience of undertaking assessment of health or social care needs in a community setting. (Newly Qualified workers only)
• Demonstrable experience of contributing to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults. (Newly Qualified workers only)
• Experience of undertaking assessment of health or social care needs in a community setting.
• Experience of inter-agency collaboration practice.
• Demonstrable experience of undertaking complex assessment of health or social care needs in a community setting.
• Demonstrable experience of initiating the appropriate statutory and other actions required to undertake adult protection investigations.
• Experience of working positively in a changing environment.
• Relevant community experience for nursing qualified applicants
• For sensory social workers only
• Experience of working in a supporting role in the field of deafness or vision loss Demonstrable experience of undertaking assessments with Deaf, deafened or deafblind people or people with vision loss

Desirable

• Knowledge of the range of equipment available to support people with a hearing and vision loss.
• Experience of undertaking safeguarding investigations.
• Experience of applying asset and strength based approaches into practice.

Occupational Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication and presentation skills. Ability to use persuasion, influencing and/or negotiation techniques to influence others.
• The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
• Resilience skills. Works productively in a pressurised environment and supports others to do so. Ability to act calmly during difficult circumstances and recovers quickly from setbacks.
• Effective time management and planning skills, meets deadlines
• Effective written communication skills communicates effectively in writing to produce documents in a range of formats and styles to suit a range of audiences. Excellent case recording and report writing skills.
• Decision making skills can make decisions within own area of responsibility which may involve considering risks.
• Ability to monitor quality and service standards.
• Good IT skills including use of email, intranet, internet, word, excel and inputting date into the Councils assessment system.
• Flexibility and adaptability.
• Problem solving skills uses creativity and innovation to generate solutions to problems.

Qualifications

Essential

• A professional social care qualification e.g. Social Work, DipSW, CQSW with current registration with SWE
• A commitment to undertake ASYE if in first two years of qualifying as a social worker and not completed already.
• For Social Workers within the Sensory Service
• British Sign Language Level 2

Desirable

• Practice Educator or a commitment to undertake the Practice Educator post graduate programme
• Signature British Sign Language Level 3

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

North Yorkshire Council

Address

County Hall

Racecourse Lane

Northallerton

North Yorkshire

DL7 8AE

Employer's website

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)