The Council, its staff and partners, were delighted in 2023, when Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of children’s social care services to be ‘outstanding’!  We were especially pleased that our investment in frontline practitioners and managers was recognised. We have been working hard to create an environment where social workers can do the work they came into the profession to do - to support and help families to stay together where this is in children’s best interests and it is safe enough for this to happen. 
Ofsted judged that we provide strong management oversight of practice, that we have a well – embedded practice framework to enable meaningful family focused help, that we offer clear progress in career pathways, a talent management scheme and a nurturing environment to enable social work to flourish. We believe deeply in relationship based practice and ‘Signs of Safety’ is the vehicle enabling us to do this respectfully and in collaboration with the people we are trying to help. 
We have an established family engagement group, FL.A.RE (Family Learning, Advocacy & Restorative Engagement) who support us with practice development and delivery and front line practitioners have the opportunity to be part of this work. 
Practitioners are invited to contribute to our Learning & Development offer in Bexley and to enhance Continual Professional Development, there is opportunity to co-design and deliver training if this is of interest.  

Here in Bexley, we recognise that our greatest asset is our workforce. Staff well-being is important to us and you will have access to our weekly staff well-being drop in sessions, our Employee Assistance Programme and our corporate offer of emotional and physical well-being sessions.  
If this sounds exciting and reassuring, we want you to get in touch with us. Our workforce is stable with a high level of permanent staff but we are always looking for practitioners wanting to come and practice confidently as part of our team making a difference for families and children. We will invest in you in return for your investment in our families and children. 

Make Social Work at Bexley a profession that is yours to own 
- An excellent working environment at our fantastic offices 
- Professional supervision 
- Mentoring/coaching 
- Opportunities for flexible working with excellent ICT facilities 
- Bexley has a flexible and generous package to support you moving to work in Bexley.  We will pay up to £8k which you can use as you wish, e.g. to pay a deposit or mortgage, to meet housing costs, fees and other expenses. 
- Career progression pathways for training and continuous professional development 
- Signs of Safety Training and the opportunity to become an SOS Practice Lead 
- Opportunity to experience different areas of the service with internal transfers 
- Opportunity to engage in our Aspiring Leaders Programme  
- Reimbursement of Social Work England subscription 
- Our Choices Benefits include a lease car or cash options to the value of £2,700 per annum 
- Excellent local government pension scheme 
- 32 days annual leave per year (plus bank holidays)  
- Performance related pay  
- MyChoice Staff Benefit Scheme – Includes cycle to work scheme, access to high street shopping vouchers and online discount codes. 
- Annual Leave Purchase Scheme

Do you think you have what it takes to join our team of excellent, creative and dedicated social work professionals? 
The Leaving Care Team is part of Bexley’s Looked After Children and Permanence Service which provides support and advice to Care Leavers aged 18-25 as they make the transition from care to independence.  
For this role you will need to be focussed on the needs of young adults leaving care in relation to their employment/education and training, their health needs and their emotional support needs. You will also have an excellent understanding of the legislation, good practice guidance and research pertaining to young adults leaving care.  
You will have experience of working with young people in a professional capacity and have an understanding of the challenges facing care leavers as they make the transition to independence.  You will also have enthusiasm and creativity in engaging with young people.  
Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service 

CVs will not be accepted unless they are submitted with a completed application form. 
 
This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  
This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English Language Requirement for Public Sector Workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages. 
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